Medical Laboratory Observer articles from April 2003

Medical Laboratory Observer archives from April 2003

Soldiers in a different kind of war. (From the Editor).
April 1, 2003... Fall 1918 After four years, the "War to End All Wars" was coming to a close, with the help of American soldiers who had joined the Allies in their effort to defeat Germany and its Axis partners. Then suddenly, in various homes around the...

Acronyms crowd the agenda, and the "old guard" changes. (CLIAC Updates).(Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee)
April 1, 2003... The Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee (CLIAC) met in Atlanta, March 12-13, 2003. The meeting included routine updates from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for...

FDA requires barcodes on drugs and blood products. (News).(United States Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... All blood and other biological products, as well as medications, will be required to be barcoded if a rule proposed by the Food and Drug Administration recently attains the expected final adoption. The proposed rule and other material related...

New Down syndrome screening protocol encouraged. (News).(St. Bartholomew's and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... British researchers are urging that prenatal screening for Down syndrome be based on maternal age and four markers in the mother's blood. In a study published in the March 6 issue of the British medical journal Lancet, Dr. Nicholas Wald and...

Rapid pre-screening of Pap smears effective as quality control. (News).(Scientific Institute of Public Health)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Quick partial preview scanning of Pap smears can improve the quality of cytology programs, according to a report in the Feb. 25 issue of the journal Cancer. Dr. Marc Arbyn of the Scientific Institute of Public Health in Brussels and his...

Medicare raises fees for pathology services effective March 1. (News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Medicare reimbursements for pathology and other physician services rose an average of 1.6 percent effective March 1 to comply with a revised 2003 Physician Fee Schedule published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. According to...

Executive War College May 6-7 in New Orleans. (News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Two market forces--patient safety and quality/productivity--are changing how the nation's clinical laboratories are organized and managed. Both trends will be front and center at this year's Executive War College on Lab and Pathology...

pPSA improves prostate cancer detection. (Lab Tests).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Proenzyme prostate specific antigen (pPSA) does a better job of detecting prostate cancer and helping prevent unnecessary biopsies than free PSA (fPSA) does, according to the results of a preliminary study reported in the February issue of...

New colon cancer blood test approved. (Lab Tests).(Targeted Diagnostics & Therapeutics Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Targeted Diagnostics & Therapeutics Inc. (TDT) announced recently that it has received regulatory approval to begin offering its new blood test, called GCC-B1, for the detection of recurrent colon cancer. TDT has been certified under the...

Criteria for tumor marker evaluation and utilization. (Cover Story).
April 1, 2003... At present, cancer remains a major health problem in the United States and in most developing countries. It is estimated that in 2003 in the United States, approximately 1.3 million people will be diagnosed with cancer. More than 500,000 people...

Changing demands and market needs drive Doug Harris, Greiner Bio-One's VP of sales and marketing. (Expert Opinion).(Interview)
April 1, 2003... Interview by Celia Stevens Celia Stevens: What do you see as the key trends that will most affect the future of the clinical diagnostics industry over the next few years? Doug Harris: Key trends I see include: * further automation...

Best little lab by a dam site: Family Doctors of Boulder City near the Hoover Dam wins the 2003 Medical Laboratory of the Year Award. (Medical Laboratory of the Year).
April 1, 2003... A few miles from the grand Hoover Dam, and about 20 miles from the glitter and glamour of Las Vegas, sits Boulder City, NV With a population of around 20,000 residents, Boulder City prides itself on a quaint, small-town atmosphere, quality...

Addressing management issues: disposal of sharps containers for outpatients, responsibility for infant metabolic screening program and definition of sexual harassment. (Management Q&A).
April 1, 2003... Disposal of sharps containers for outpatients Q How should outpatients dispose of their sharps containers? Our hospital is not in the business of handling outpatient biohazardous waste. A Alton Sturtevant recommends, "Contact your...

Answering your questions: book donations, pipette calibration intervals and comparing two analyzers. (Tips From the Clinical Experts).(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2003... Book donations Q Please give me a list of agencies or lab organizations that accept donations of journals, lies, books and equipment that may be of use to them. A A number of organizations distribute medical books, journals, supplies...

Telemedicine: look before you leap. (Liability and the Lab).
April 1, 2003... Q: The pathology group in charge of our laboratory is a large one, covering hospitals in several surrounding cities. Ours is one of the smaller labs. We usually see the pathologists several times a week, although they will come to our lab on...

Data management systems for POC glucose testing. (Product Focus).(Point-of-care)
April 1, 2003... National Diabetes Statistics reveal that 17 million people, or 6.2 percent of the population of the United States, have diabetes. Of these, 11.1 million have been diagnosed; 5.9 million have not. Diabetes was the sixth leading cause of death...

Readers respond. (Letters to the Editor).
April 1, 2003... Difficult draw I enjoyed reading Dr. Harty-Golder's response to "When should a phlebotomist ask for help with a difficult draw?" (January 2003). It's an issue every phlebotomist struggles with. She is correct that there is much to consider...

Clarifications for January 2003.
April 1, 2003... From "Driving forces in cancer diagnostics," p. 11, the numbers in Figure 1 were misplaced. It should have read: From "Clinical Issues: Creatinine Ratio," p. 30, correct listing of footnotes should have been: (17.) Warram JH, Gearin G,...

Data management. (Industry Update).
April 1, 2003... New QC OnCall software system can improve QC in the clinical lab by easily managing QC data, assessing effectiveness of current process control and quickly receiving peer reports via the Internet. The product continues to offer UNITY...

Safety-drive tissue processor. (Industry Update).
April 1, 2003... Shandon Excelsior Tissue Processor, a fully automatic solution for tissue processing and reagent storage/handling, helps improve processing quality and meet laboratory standards. Automatically rotating reagents eliminate manual pouring/filling,...

All-in-one analyzer. (Industry Update).
April 1, 2003... The Stat Profile Critical Care Xpress Analyzer, with recent FDA clearance for a full 19-test menu including co-oximetry, is 20 to 40 percent smaller than comparable analyzers--easily transportable on its mobile cart. The analyzer also offers 29...

Hard-to-find clinical lab products. (Industry Update).
April 1, 2003... Winter/Spring catalog for 2003 offers 180 pages of unique and hard-to-find products for the clinical laboratory. Needle shield tray caddy, phlebotomy tray covers, microscope armrests, specimen storage/retrieval systems, and many other items...

Front-end automation. (Industry Update).
April 1, 2003... QS 1 automates the presence of sample conditions, which can affect analytical results. Detects clots in serum/plasma; differentiates icteric, lipemic and hemolytic samples by visual inspection. The flexible system means customers' individual...

Clear-cut results. (Industry Update).
April 1, 2003... Improved BD Directigen EZ RS V test uses an elongated, triangular device with dried reagents already applied to testing strip to reduce testing procedure workflow to two steps. Results are clear when easy-to-read double line appears, indicating...

Automated HeP-2 ANA and titer. (Industry Update).
April 1, 2003... VisiQuant Anti-Nuclear Antibody Test System, with HyPrep Plus robotic workstation for complete slide prep, is automated version of semiquantitative measurement of ANAs with indirect immunofluorescent assay. HyPrep Plus with VisiQuant microscope...

Hand-rub with aloe. (Industry Update).
April 1, 2003... New CDC hand-hygiene guidelines recommend alcohol-based hand-rubs to reduce risk of spreading infections. GBG Aloe-Gel, specially formulated ethanol-based (62 percent) band-mb, contains aloe vera/glycerin to protect hands from drying and a...

LDL test. (Industry Update).
April 1, 2003... Recently introduced Liquid Select LDL is a homogeneous, completely automated direct LDL test for use on clinical chemistry analyzers -no off-line pretreatment or centrifugations steps are needed. This new concept requires clinicians to...

Online store. (Industry Update).
April 1, 2003... Fast, convenient online supply order/management at www.cardinalMD.com offers a physician catalog of more than 30,000 items or an expanded catalog with 500,000 products. Easy-to-use website also provides current product information, material...

Combination of demands sharpens pinch of personnel shortage. (Washington Report).(Demand for medical lab personnel is growing)
April 1, 2003... The new Homeland Security Department ad campaign kicked off in February with its Ready.Gov website, full of information compiled for citizens to prepare for biological, chemical or nuclear events. The threat of bioterrorism has not only...