Steve Halasey, CLP.
Today’s clinical laboratories operate in an environment of rapid technological change, marked by such advances as benchtop instruments for point-of-care molecular diagnostics, increasingly sensitive capabilities for detecting cancer biomarkers in a variety of body fluids, clinically relevant applications of next-generation genetic sequencing, vastly improved systems for digital pathology, increasing use of data analytics to help understand the relationships among pathological agents and the phenotypes they produce, and expanding clinical roles for technologies that have long been used only in research settings.
Unquestionably, the tests and technologies that are being developed and used in clinical labs today offer vast potential for improving the timeliness and accuracy of patient test results, making a significant contribution to improving both the healthcare system and the health of individual patients, while also reducing overall costs.
The work of creating such advanced methods of clinical testing has long been the focus of in vitro diagnostics manufacturers that develop, manufacture, and commercialize technologies with the approval of regulatory authorities in the United States and abroad. In the United States, clinical laboratories have also played a vital role in such progress, through their development of laboratory-developed tests and procedures that satisfy requirements established by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee, which is managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But whatever route advanced testing methods may take to reach the marketplace, responsibility for the quality and consistency of patient test results ultimately falls to the clinical laboratories and laboratorians who perform the testing. Especially in a time of rapid technological change, it is important for labs to ensure that the products and components they use are appropriate for producing an accurate test report.
CLP’s 2017 Buyer’s Guide lists more than 370 companies with specialty interests in fields related to clinical laboratory medicine—including manufacturers of finished tests and instruments as well as suppliers of every type of component from antibodies and reagents to robotics and software systems. Using the products of such qualified vendors can help laboratories ensure that even the products of rapid changes in testing technologies can be handled responsibly.
Steve Halasey
Chief Editor, CLP
[email protected]
(626) 219-0199
