Feb 4, 2013 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Telemedicine allows U.S. pathologists and other specialists to boost revenue by consulting with international partners.
Pathology laboratories in the United States are among the first adopters of a trend toward international telemedicine.
Pathologists working at a handful of well-known healthcare organizations here in the United States are forming partnerships with other hospitals and health systems worldwide, particularly in China. (more…)
Feb 1, 2013 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Advanced DNA sequencing is poised to provide pathologists with a new tool for the management of infection control in hospitals
This may be a first for medical laboratory medicine. In England, researchers used real-time advanced DNA sequencing to contain an infectious disease outbreak at a hospital. Rapid gene sequencing technology allowed them to bring the outbreak to a quick close. This saved other patients from harm and saved money for the hospital.
Clinical laboratory managers will be interested to learn that this ground-breaking episode occurred at Cambridge University Hospitals with the participation of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge. Researchers from these institutions used insights gained from DNA sequencing to help stop a potentially deadly outbreak of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) at one of the Cambridge hospitals. The journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases published the report. (more…)
Jan 30, 2013 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations, News From Dark Daily
Speakers lay out clear path for medical laboratories at the 11th Annual Frontiers in Laboratory Medicine
DATELINE: Birmingham, England—Pathology laboratories in the United Kingdom are undergoing change at an unprecedented pace. The impetus for change comes from both a shift in how medical laboratories will be paid, as well as the regional integration of medical laboratory services, which is occurring in communities throughout the nation.
These two powerful trends were given strong emphasis by speakers during the first day of the 11th Annual Frontiers in Laboratory Medicine (FiLM) conference, Jan. 29 and 30. What makes these two trends quite profound is that one trend revises—in a significant manner—how pathology laboratories will be paid going forward. In turn, that affects the ability of individual medical laboratories to access needed capital to acquire new instruments and new diagnostic technologies. (more…)
Jan 23, 2013 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Computer diagnostics could offer opportunity for pathologists and clinical laboratory managers to add value to clinicians in diagnosing diseases
Efforts are intensifying to develop computer software that successfully emulates the skills of highly proficient diagnosticians. The motivation is increased pressure to reduce medical errors, including misdiagnosis. This is welcome news to many pathologists, who often see physicians ordering the wrong laboratory tests.
Diagnostic mistakes account for about 15% of errors that result in harm to patients, according to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), a story in The New York Times reported. (more…)
Jan 18, 2013 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
In the future, pathologists and clinical laboratory administrators may need to plan for a canine addition to their traditional laboratory staff
See Cliff sniff C. diff! No, that’s not a line from a new reading primer. In fact, it refers to one hospital’s innovation for early detection of Clostridium difficile (C. diff): a two-year-old beagle named Cliff. Cliff the Beagle is faster at detecting certain infections than the standard clinical laboratory tests used daily in hospitals throughout the world.
Researchers from Vrije University Medical Center (VUMC) in Amsterdam successfully used the trained beagle to detect the smell of C. difficile in hospitals. The researchers believe trained canine disease detectives like Cliff could be a cheap and effective way to conduct routine C. diff screening in hospitals. (more…)
Jan 16, 2013 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations, Uncategorized
Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers take note—this peptide chip microarray may have a role in point-of-care testing
At the heart of a new point-of-care technology is a prototype silicon chip that contains up to 9,000 peptides and allows real-time analysis in just minutes. Researchers say this technology can significantly reduce the time-to-answer when compared to existing clinical laboratory testing technologies.
This new prototype silicon chip is an on silico peptide microarray. It could help researchers better understand how proteins interact in the body. In turn, that will lead to improved diagnoses of numerous diseases. (more…)
