Patient Testing Set to Be Overhauled with Automation to Tackle Lab Workflow and Staffing Challenges
New integrated automation system consolidates 25 tasks typically handled manually by lab staff
Highlights:
- Increased patient testing and less lab staff to perform manual tasks have created a bottleneck for care
- Now, automation found in high-volume labs is accessible no matter a lab’s footprint or volume
- Clinical lab professionals’ new extra set of hands alleviates patient testing pain points
Tarrytown, NY — October 29, 2024 — Siemens Healthineers now offers Atellica Integrated Automation on the Atellica CI Analyzer,1 to consolidate 25 tasks typically handled manually by clinical laboratory staff. This offering redefines automation for clinical labs and has been shown to reduce the manual workflow steps laboratory professionals perform by 75 percent.2
What is total laboratory automation?
Traditional total laboratory automation uses a track to transport patient samples throughout the laboratory to sample preparation equipment and then onto connected analyzers for testing.
Read More: Should Lab Staff Be Concerned About Automation?
Atellica Integrated Automation incorporates sample management, decapper, and sealer functionality within the Atellica CI Analyzer. With Atellica Integrated Automation, laboratories with lower patient testing volumes or a finite amount of space in their laboratory now have access to automation capabilities incorporated primarily within high-volume testing or mega-labs.
Automation is increasingly important for labs of all sizes.
Patient testing volumes continue to grow and so does the pressure on laboratory professionals to perform more patient testing with fewer staff.
In the US, vacancy rates in laboratories are estimated to be 7–11 percent, and as high as 25 percent in some geographies. The UK and Europe face a similarly serious shortage of skilled lab workers, with medical laboratories among the worst affected.
For laboratories trying to maintain operations with fewer staff, Atellica Integrated Automation becomes laboratory professionals’ extra set of hands.
“Successful automation addresses the lab’s specific needs, while standardizing routine and repetitive tasks that safeguard quality and safety,” said Sharon Bracken, head of Diagnostics, Siemens Healthineers. “When it’s customizable, and implemented thoughtfully with input from key stakeholders, automation can save time, more efficiently produce quality test results, accommodate shifting testing demands, and eliminate biohazards for staff. All these improvements create a better working environment.”
Necessary, yet repetitive, tasks that are performed to achieve quality patient test results cause friction in a laboratory’s workflow. Ninety-five percent of laboratory professionals indicated in a recent study that adopting automated technologies will help them improve patient care, and 89 percent agreed their laboratories need automation to keep up with demand.5 Further, time spent on maintenance undermines the clinical value laboratory staff can deliver. With Atellica Integrated Automation, a single technologist can manage calibration and QC, daily sorting, and archiving processes in minutes—tasks that historically may have taken hours. Fewer repetitive, manual tasks enable laboratory professionals to reallocate their time to value-add or growth activities, such as training and mentoring employees, or quality control efforts.
Automating these processes also reduces waste, increases the number of samples a laboratory can run, and creates opportunity for laboratories to run a wider range of tests to support patient care as testing needs shift. Every time a patient sample is outsourced it creates obstacles for providing patients with the best care possible, including time delays, expense, and greater potential for errors. Optimized sample handling with Atellica Integrated Automation enabled 65 percent of samples to achieve faster turnaround times than competitor systems.2
“Regardless of volume, laboratory footprint, or geographic location, laboratory staff deserve technology that will help them overcome their laboratory’s current growth limitations and improve patient care in the communities they serve,” said Bracken.
Atellica Integrated Automation also supports laboratories with high testing volumes. The offering first became available on the company’s flagship analyzer, the Atellica Solution. Now, both the Atellica Solution and the Atellica CI Analyzer provide standalone automation capabilities with Atellica Integrated Automation or they can connect to track-based automation for expanded efficiency and throughput. More information about the Atellica Integrated Automation can be found here.
References:
- Product availability varies by country and is subject to varying regulatory requirements. Future availability cannot be guaranteed. Please contact your local representative for availability.
- Las Vegas Clinical Laboratory UMC Prioritizes STAT Runs, Streamlines Through Consolidation; Dark Daily Jan 2022. The outcomes achieved by the Siemens Healthineers customer described here were achieved in the customer’s unique setting. Since there is no typical hospital or laboratory, and many variables exist (e.g., hospital/laboratory size, case mix, level of IT adoption), there can be no guarantee that others will achieve the same results.