The laboratories of Monument Health perform over 2 million tests per year. The Rapid City Hospital lab accounts for about 65% of those. It’s an impressive number, considering we live in a state with less than a million people. The lab doesn’t just process and test samples originating at Monument Health locations, either. RCH lab has contracts with numerous other organizations including nursing homes and medical facilities in western South Dakota.
However, the aging lab automation line has begun to break down with increasing frequency.
That’s why last winter, Emily Leech, Associate Vice President Lab and Imaging, and Tina Rearick, Director Laboratory, began the project to update and upgrade RCH’s laboratory equipment. Thanks to our longstanding relationship with diagnostic laboratory company Beckman Coulter, the lab team was able to work up a plan of what the project would look like and how long it would take.
“Once we knew that we were moving forward with the automation line, we determined that we needed a lab refresh, too. To be able to take the automation line out and do new floors, plumbing and electric, we had to do it in separate phases. And we had to get everything out of the middle of the lab,” Tina says. “So we had to displace all of our instruments into hallways and offices. That started at the beginning of August.”
Improvised lab work spaces were created to make room for 5-20 extra construction workers and equipment implementation team members. This ad hoc game of musical chairs with machines and work spaces will continue through November. Yet, the lab team has taken it all in stride.
“The laboratory team has truly done a tremendous job working in a construction zone with no automation. Everything is manual, and our volumes haven’t changed,” says Emily. “Our turnaround times have maintained at 80% of our laboratory goal, which is truly amazing. It really shows the laboratory staff’s dedication to quality and patient care — being able to work in these adverse conditions and still maintain turnaround times is top quality.”
On October 14, two semi-truck loads arrived full of lab equipment from Germany. Individual pieces were wheeled down to the lab and connected together, Erector Set-style, into a brand new, L-shaped, state-of-the-art automation line for specimen processing. The equipment also includes two new immunoassay instruments, all of which are currently undergoing validation and calibration with Beckman Coulter implementation technicians.
“Specimen tubes are put onto the automation line that then move along the conveyor belt which is equipped with numerous cameras,” says Tina. “The cameras take pictures of the barcode on each tube and the automation line then takes it to the correct analyzer for testing. Machines connected to the line perform chemistry, hematology, immunoassay, and other specialty testing.”
Despite all of the space management and effort to keep the lab operating, the updates are two weeks ahead of schedule. Training the lab team on the automation line begins Nov 4. The soft go-live date is Nov. 24.
“This new technology improves our efficiency, accuracy, and effectiveness which will allow us to process high volumes of samples with improved turnaround times consistently. The team’s goal is to provide fast, quality results to our patients. That’s why we’re here — for the patients,” says Emily
For the curious, Tina and Emily invite Caregivers to come and take a look at what’s happening in the lab. However, they do ask for a heads up so they can be there to show people around.
Story and Photo by Kory Lanphear