The “hospital central laboratory”: automation, integration and clinical usefulness
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Martina Zaninotto
Abstract
Recent technological developments in laboratory medicine have led to a major challenge, maintaining a close connection between the search of efficiency through automation and consolidation and the assurance of effectiveness. The adoption of systems that automate most of the manual tasks characterizing routine activities has significantly improved the quality of laboratory performance; total laboratory automation being the paradigm of the idea that “human-less” robotic laboratories may allow for better operation and insuring less human errors. Furthermore, even if ongoing technological developments have considerably improved the productivity of clinical laboratories as well as reducing the turnaround time of the entire process, the value of qualified personnel remains a significant issue. Recent evidence confirms that automation allows clinical laboratories to improve analytical performances only if trained staff operate in accordance with well-defined standard operative procedures, thus assuring continuous monitoring of the analytical quality. In addition, laboratory automation may improve the appropriateness of test requests through the use of algorithms and reflex testing. This should allow the adoption of clinical and biochemical guidelines. In conclusion, in laboratory medicine, technology represents a tool for improving clinical effectiveness and patient outcomes, but it has to be managed by qualified laboratory professionals.
Clin Chem Lab Med 2010;48:911–7.
©2010 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York
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- Editorial
- Foreword
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Articles in the same Issue
- HIGHLIGHT: LABORATORY DIAGNOSTICS IN THE THIRD MILLENIUM: WHERE, HOW AND WHY
- Editorial
- Foreword
- Reviews
- Roots, development and future directions of laboratory medicine
- The “hospital central laboratory”: automation, integration and clinical usefulness
- Clinical pathology services: remapping our strategic itinerary
- Stat laboratory testing: integration or autonomy?
- Point-of-care testing in critical care: the clinician's point of view
- Reproductive-endocrine point-of-care testing: current status and limitations
- Laboratory testing in pharmacies
- Laboratory testing during critical care transport: point-of-care testing in air ambulances
- Self-monitoring of blood glucose with a focus on analytical quality: an overview
- Molecular diagnostics: between chips and customized medicine
- Evaluating laboratory diagnostic tests and translational research
- Integrated diagnostics: a conceptual framework with examples
- General Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
- The European Register of Specialists in Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine: Guide to the Register, Version 3-2010
- The prevalence of preanalytical errors in a Croatian ISO 15189 accredited laboratory
- Indicators and quality specifications for strategic and support processes related to the clinical laboratory: four years' experience
- SKML-Quality Mark for point-of-care test (POCT) glucose meters and glucose meters for home-use
- PATHFAST™ NT-proBNP (N-terminal-pro B type natriuretic peptide): a multicenter evaluation of a new point-of-care assay
- Clinical implication of plasma neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) concentrations in patients with advanced carotid atherosclerosis
- Evaluation of the TEST 1 erythrocyte sedimentation rate system and intra- and inter-laboratory quality control using new latex control materials
- Letter to the Editor
- Phlebotomy site haemolysis rates vary inversely with workload
