Summary
UHS Wilson Medical Center standardized its automation solutions with QuidelOrtho’s Vitros Systems, increasing both testing volume and quality.
Takeaways
- Efficiency and Consistency: Standardizing with Vitros Systems has streamlined lab processes, reduced manual tasks, and enabled consistent patient results across UHS facilities.
- Advanced Technology: The Vitros XT 7600 Integrated Systems and XT MicroSlides significantly enhance productivity and efficiency, with features like minimal maintenance and no water requirements.
- Positive Impact on Quality: The automation solutions have led to high-quality, reliable results, reducing the need for repeat tests and lowering operational costs while handling increased testing volumes.
UHS Wilson Medical Center standardized its automation solutions with QuidelOrtho’s Vitros Systems. While testing volumes have increased, so has quality.
By David Singleton, PhD
As one of the largest healthcare providers in the Southern Tier of New York, United Health Services (UHS) offers an extensive variety of laboratory services, spanning four hospital-based clinical labs and several outreach labs.
The core laboratory facility located at the UHS Wilson Medical Center provides 3 to 4 million diagnostic chemistry and immunoassay test results per year and is steadily growing in alignment with the construction of a new state-of-the-art six-story clinical tower to help expand the hospital’s services. The new Wilson Main Tower will be the “front door” to UHS’ services going forward and is the first expansion of the UHS Wilson Medical Center campus in more than 30 years.
Improving Lab Efficiency Despite Limitations
Like most laboratories, core lab space is tight, and staffing is a challenge. As a result, there is a definite need to maximize productivity and efficiency through optimization of staff and reduction of laborious manual tasks.
At the same time, quality goals must be met under pressure to deliver optimal quality patient care, ensure clinician satisfaction and provide confidence in reported test results, all within the expectations of fast turnaround times.
One way to drive efficiency is through lab standardization. In the past, UHS had a history of using multiple diagnostic providers for chemistry and immunoassays across its network of laboratories.
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This lack of standardization increased the complexity of training lab personnel, created a need for maintaining different standard operating procedures, increased reagent usage and consumable waste, and provided challenges in the interpretation of results from potentially different reference intervals. This created issues for patients who, depending on location and need, could utilize services at multiple laboratories in any given period of time.
Solving Challenges with Automation Solutions
UHS addressed these issues in recent years by transitioning to Vitros Systems through QuidelOrtho based on the need for:
- High-quality results
- Operational efficiency
- Reliability
- Strong support
“Within the last 3 years, we’ve worked as a team to ensure that all of the laboratories within our system are using QuidelOrtho products, with two of the four closest laboratories adopting the XT slide technology with the Vitros XT 7600 Integrated Systems,” says Angela Armato, MT (ASCP) MBA UHS core lab manager. “We want to make sure that we have the same consistency and reliability across our system so that patients can confidently receive optimal care and results no matter which facility they visit.”
Standardization provides many benefits to the laboratory system, including providing consistent patient results, enabling reagents and consumables to be shared across the network, reducing waste and insulating the system against supply chain interruptions. In addition, it allows for streamlined processes for enhanced ease of use, easier training, improved lab practices, and overall, drives the system toward lower total operational costs.
The Vitros XT 7600 system use of XT MicroSlides (with two paired analytes tested on one slide), boosts productivity that is particularly important for high-volume tests. With the Vitros XT 7600 system, throughput is doubled while requiring decreased sample volumes and allowing for ease of use with minimal maintenance.
Additionally, the MicroSlides incorporate dry-slide technology with no requirement for water and drains, which Armato considers a big advantage of the Vitros system.
“It’s not just all about the water, which we need to conserve as it is. There’s no more reliance on having to place a drain and there’s no more reliance on having a bulky water system to maintain that runs the risk of being contaminated,” she says. “And the footprint and the integration of being able to do every test we needed in one box makes life so much easier.”
Armato also finds Vitros Automation Solutions to be valuable.
“In my particular laboratory, we have three Vitros XT 7600 systems, and they are attached to the Vitros automation system, or VAS, consisting of an entry-exit module, a decapper, a recapper, and light poles which allow us to see what’s going on with any part of the track or instruments at a given time,” Armato adds.
More than 90% of samples can be loaded onto the Vitros automation solutions track to reduce manual tasks and optimize staff workload, resulting in approximately 85% of results that are automatically verified1. Increased auto-verification allows technical staff to focus on additional value-added tasks within the laboratory, and subsequently improves quality.
“We all love working with the Vitros. It makes our lives easier, especially with the automation. Being able to load things on the fly is huge,” says Alexis Pasquale, a UHS clinical laboratory technician. “It’s faster to produce the analyte results because two slides are now merged into one, so as the analyzer is analyzing them, it takes less time.”
Because there aren’t many interferences, quality and stable results are a given, and that is another benefit of the Vitros automation solutions, according to Armato.
“And in addition, now when we calibrate, I feel like I have much more confidence in the calibrations that are performed because there’s a greater factor of stability and quality involved,” she says. “Overall, it’s much more efficient and it really allows us to expand the number of tests that we’re able to perform.”
Delivering High-Quality Results
As a 24-hour trauma, stroke, and chest pain center, it’s critical that the clinical laboratory at UHS Wilson Medical Center delivers high-quality results along with quick turnaround times. UHS consistently achieves world-class or excellent sigma metrics for key cardiac assays, including Troponin, NT-pro BNP, CK and CK-MB2. Higher quality instills greater confidence in results, meaning:
- Fewer repeats
- Lower cost
- Reduced staff burden
This is because there is a quality result the first time. This quality is achieved by excellent lab processes in managing specimen workflow, paired with the intelligent design of the Vitros systems and assays.
With Vitros technology, UHS has improved sample efficiency by up to 13%3. XT Slides reduced comprehensive metabolic panel turnaround time by 5-10% at peak times and troponin tests are completed in under 23 minutes once loaded onto the system1.
Although the workload has increased by 60% over the previous 5 years at UHS, the upgrade to the Vitros XT 7600 system has retained the same analytical footprint and the on-track troponin turnaround time has remained at 23 minutes (95th percentile). In addition, median turnaround times for both routine and STAT tests have decreased from 12.24 to 11.04 minutes, and 11.21 to 10.29 minutes, respectively1.
Automation Solutions’ Other Benefits
With Vitros automation solutions, labs can overcome the daily pressures of needing to do more with less due to rising test volumes, staffing challenges, and tightening budgets through the right solutions and provider partnerships.
Armato commented about the changing nature of health care and the importance of flexibility in diagnostic systems.
“I think the number one thing that we find in health care is that it’s not a static environment. It’s very dynamic. What we love most about our partnership with QuidelOrtho and the instrumentation and the VAS that we do have is the flexibility to grow and expand our test menu,” she says. “The flexibility to focus on the things that we need allows us to mimic that flexibility needed to handle the day-to-day changes that you see in any healthcare environment.”
Importantly, laboratories can’t sacrifice quality for efficiency. So, they must find the right solution that delivers high-quality results the first time to ensure patient and clinician satisfaction that leads to positive patient outcomes.
Armato has been pleased with the partnership between UHS and QuidelOrtho.
“With 100% certainty, I can say to any hospitals that are out there looking for something that can grow and adapt with them, something that can make their lives a lot easier and something that they can rely on for patient care, that a partnership with QuidelOrtho, it’s the number one right choice to make,” she says.
It’s certain that standardization and increasing productivity are key as health systems grow and expand their services. Value-based healthcare across the health care continuum means delivering high-quality results the first time to improve patient satisfaction, ultimately leading to positive outcomes, which is exactly what the laboratory at UHS Wilson Medical Center is focused on providing to their community.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Singleton, PhD, senior medical writer, Scientific Affairs for QuidelOrtho. He has a background in cancer research and 12 years of experience as a medical writer in the medical device industry.
REFERENCES
- Crosley, H. and Huhnholz, D. (2023). UHS Wilson Automation ValuCheck. QuidelOrtho ValuMetrix Services, Customer presentation.
- Miller, J. (2024). Sigma Metrics for UHS Wilson. QuidelOrtho, Customer presentation.
- UHS Wilson Hospital Productivity Tool Summary. (2023). QuidelOrtho, Customer presentation.
