Pathology’s New Chemistry Analyzers Bring World-Class Diagnostics to Patient Care
On the early morning of June 1, everyone in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) Pathology’s Finard 3 Clinical Chemistry was holding their breath. The team was minutes away from the One BILH Epic go-live and launching a new system of fully automated chemistry analyzers on the BIDMC East Campus. The clinical pathology team’s ability to process patient samples and perform hundreds of assays at-scale was about to leap 20 years ahead. A go-live of this magnitude was almost considered impossible but at the stroke of dawn, the chemistry analyzers went online alongside Epic, and our pathology team succeeded against the odds.
The Pathology department made onboarding new chemistry analyzers a strategic priority for several years. Investing in this technology has helped maximized the team’s efficiency, managed larger capacities of patient samples, and decreased test turnaround times. The previous analyzers were outdated, subject to frequent malfunctions, and required more manual oversight. Improving testing efficiencies is essential to keep up with current and future clinical demand and improving patient care.
Of note, a second line of latest generation BIDMC Pathology chemistry analyzers had a soft launch on the West Campus in March 2024. However, the analyzers were always designed with Epic in mind, and their true potential could not be unveiled until go-live on June 1.
More efficient, seamless testing
The new analyzers offer a more agile approach that eliminate many bottlenecks. To start, the specimen orders have corresponding bar codes that sync a patient’s sample to their instance in Epic. A bidirectional interface connects the analyzer’s “brain,” Infinity, to Epic to ensure that all required assays are conducted.
The analyzer’s engine, Infinity, drives samples through processing and sorting onto the network of Cobas analyzers across the system, and oversees the analyzers’ load balance. The analyzers conduct sophisticated patient laboratory tests seamlessly, and samples migrate from one analyzer robotically to the next with ease. The technologists can focus their efforts on managing more complex samples that require oversight.
The analyzers can run a seemingly endless number of assays , including numerous types of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. For instance, there are tumor marker assays that may signal liver or kidney cancers; immunoglobulin A (IgA), immunoglobulin G (IgG), and free light chain tests that are associated with multiple myeloma; or high-sensitivity PSA tests for detecting prostate cancer recurrence.
The analyzers are online 24/7, ensuring that there is rarely downtime across the entire medical center. The tests undergo quality control tests daily.
Providing world-class personalization precision diagnostics for patients and providers
These new analyzers symbolize the future of Pathology at BIDMC – automated workflows, intelligent design, big data generation, and industrious testing at-scale. The BIDMC Clinical Pathology team has made great strides with this technology, and its potential will serve providers and patients greatly now and in years to come.
“I would like to thank and congratulate our expert staff, scientists, and physicians in Pathology at BIDMC for their dedication and hard work to take a quantum leap and make the future a reality. Our team generates more than 6.5 million quantitative test results annually that benefit all of our patients 24/7. The two new clinical chemistry instrumentation lines on BIDMC’s East and West Campuses are a major step forward in our strategy to build world-class Personalized Precision Diagnostics for our cancer patients. We are very proud of this accomplishment”, says Dr. Michael H. Roehrl, chair of the Department of Pathology at BIDMC and noted researcher, clinician and educator.
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