Becomes First Hospital on the East Coast with New Type of Laboratory Automation
March 19 - Officials at Danville Regional Medical Center proudly announced today installation is complete for three new chemistry analyzers and a specimen processing system (Automate) in the hospital’s laboratory. DRMC is the first hospital on the east coast to have the Automation for the pre-analytical phase of testing.
The equipment will be housed in the laboratory at DRMC. Two of the chemistry analyzers perform all of the routine basic chemistry and organ specific panels such as liver profile and renal profile. The third analyzer measures tumor markers, hormone levels, cardiac markers and B12 and folate levels.
The additional piece of equipment known as the Automate controls the up-front specimen processing (pre-analytical phase of testing) such as centrifuging samples, splitting samples, labeling tubes and placing those tubes in the designated rack for chemical analyzers.
“The analyzers are the work horses of the laboratory,” explained Peggy Simpson, administrative director of laboratories at Danville Regional Medical Center. “The pieces monitor the functioning of most organs of the body including the kidney, liver, heart, pancreas, etc. With the installation of this new equipment we’ll receive results quicker, allowing physicians faster access to information to assist in the diagnosis of their patients.”
Physicians rely on laboratory test results to confirm or monitor diagnoses for approximately 70 percent of their patients. With this added equipment, there is a greater capacity for more testing at the hospital. As a result of the increased testing capacity, the laboratory has added three new tests to their test menu.
“We are proud to be the first hospital on the east coast to install laboratory automation of this type,” said Jerel Humphrey, DRMC CEO. “To know that our physicians are able to see results faster and reduce the amount of time it takes to diagnose an illness or monitor ongoing treatment is exciting. This is a huge improvement in the level of healthcare we can provide at DRMC.”
