Medical Laboratory Observer articles from January 2009

Medical Laboratory Observer archives from January 2009

Happy birthday to you.(From the editor)(Editorial)
January 1, 2009... Another year has begun: 2009. Most of us are filled with excitement about the possibilities of the coming 12 months, particularly those of us at MLO. This month begins our year-long celebration of the magazine's 40 years of success--and that...

Lab medicine's hero.(Readers respond)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2009... I just picked up the November (2008) issue of MLO and saw the Executive Snapshot of Westgard ("Westgard's trilogy for analytical QM, page 34). This guy is a Lab Medicine GOD and should have an entire ISSUE, not just an Executive Snapshot! ...

Volunteer doc seeking analyzer.(Readers respond)
January 1, 2009... I am a primary-care physician who is interested in helping a poor hospital in St. Lucia where I have volunteered. For several years, St. Jude's Hospital has been without a chemistry analyzer that can measure glycohemoglobin levels, despite this...

Status of the med-lab-science pros.(Readers respond)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2009... Over the years in the course of my interactions and practice of the medical laboratory sciences in the United States, I have become, to an extent, disillusioned about the prospect of real change and the fierce urgency of a pragmatically...

RFD Boys star "down under".(Readers respond)
January 1, 2009... You may remember me; I'm a pathologist in Michigan and a bluegrass fiddler of long standing with the RFD Boys bluegrass band. We once exchanged thoughts about your possibly buying a mandolin. Did you? I play a bit on mandolin. Our band just got...

Future flu pandemic could cost $3 trillion.(Global diseases)(Report)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... * Future flu pandemic could cost $3 trillion. A joint report by the United Nations and the World Bank, "Responses to Avian Influenza and State of Pandemic Readiness," estimates that a flu pandemic could kill 71 million people worldwide and push...

TB 3,000 years older?(Global diseases)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... * TB 3,000 years older? A PLoS One article details the discovery of the earliest known cases of human tuberculosis (TB) in bones--thought to be those of a mother and baby--found submerged off the coast of Haifa, Israel. Examination of DNA from...

Chip allows POCT.(Nanotechnology)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... * Chip allows POCT. According to ICT Results news service, scientists working with Surface Enhanced Micro Optical Fluidic Systems--a multidisciplinary expertise consortium--are on the verge of perfecting a low-cost, disposable cartridge that...

2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine cites HPV/HIV scientists.(Worth noting)
January 1, 2009... * 2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine cites HPV/HIV scientists. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2008 was jointly awarded to Harald zur Hausen, and Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for identifying viruses. Zur Hausen's...

Joint Commission ruling on labs.(News)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... * Joint Commission ruling on labs. Starting Jan. 1, The Joint Commission's new policy states that laboratory-accreditation decisions will no longer immediately impact hospital accreditation. The policy, comparable to those of CAP and COLA,...

New public-health microbiology certification.(News)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... * New public-health microbiology certification. The American Board of Bioanalysis (ABB) and the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) will offer board certification in public-health microbiology--giving doctoral-level scientists in...

Google Flu Trends introduced.(News)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... * Google Flu Trends introduced. A new public-health tool from Google.org--Google Flu Trends (www.google.org/flutrends)--allows anyone to learn about and track in real time current flu activity in his own state. The online tool uses aggregating...

Re-use of syringes in Canada.(Bloodworks)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... * Re-use of syringes in Canada. For more than a year, a Canadian nurse at Manitoba's largest health authority improperly utilized an Accu-Check single-use finger-stick blood-sampling device and may have exposed 17 patients to bloodborne...

Seeking equipment.(News Trends Analysis)
January 1, 2009... An MLO reader, Mark Chelmowski, MD, FACP, of Milwaukee, WI, is a primary-care physician who is interested in helping a poor hospital in Vieux Fort, St. Lucia, where he has volunteered. For several years, St. Jude's Hospital has been without a...

Conferences.(Calendar)
January 1, 2009... CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS Through Jan. 16, 2009: CLMA announced that ThinkLab '09, sponsored by Orchard Software, launched its "Call for Presentations" website, www.owpm.com/abstracts/CLMA/index.php, for 2009's annual meeting to be held May...

Transfusion medicine today: Mission accomplished?(Cover story)(Statistical data)
January 1, 2009... Although animal-to-human blood transfusions had been performed for several thousand years, and human-to-human transfusions were attempted in the 14th and 18th centuries, it was not until 1818 that a British obstetrician, James Blundell,...

Trends in toxicology.(CLINICAL ISSUES)
January 1, 2009... Part of the work of the lab's toxicology department is detecting drugs (poisons). Emergency--room patients or inpatients who are suffering the effects of a dose of the wrong medication or a "hit" of a dangerous street drug create a situation...

Ergonomics bring safety features to an aging laboratory workforce.(LAB MANAGEMENT)
January 1, 2009... As clinical laboratories' "baby boomers" reach retirement age, many are opting to remain on the job. Some want to retain their health benefits beyond Medicare. Some have not saved for retirement and need the money. Some, with their families...

IL hits 50-year crest with Manent at helm.(Executive snapshot)(Instrumentation Laboratory Co.)
January 1, 2009... Company milestone. At Instrumentation Laboratory, we are celebrating 50 years of "Passion and Results"--our passion for innovation in diagnostics, bringing medical professionals the highest quality, complete solutions, for the most accurate...

Addressing management issues.(Management Q&A)
January 1, 2009... Future of small hospital labs Q What is the future of the small hospital laboratory? Is "mega-commercial management takeover" an inevitability? A Alton Sturtevant comments, "Laboratory testing for hospitalized patients will always be...

Answering your questions.(Tips from the clinical experts)(identifying shiga toxins in escherichia coli)
January 1, 2009... Cost-effective test for E coli Q Our six-physician pediatric office sends stool cultures to the local hospital, which plates them on particular media. If we are looking for Escherichia coli, it is plated on an extra medium--MacConkey agar...

Diversity invites sensitivity.(Liability and the lab)
January 1, 2009... Q We now have a female Muslim applicant for a bench position who wears a head scarf and does not approve of wearing pants, but must wear long sleeves here. While our dress code does not specifically address head scarves, its wording can be...

Plan for 2009: Learn from 2008; the "big 3" violations.(EDUCATION)(Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments )
January 1, 2009... If you managed to survive 2008, then you have a good start for 2009; it is more of the same. With no major changes to CLIA regulations for the coming year, a good idea might be to look at last year's Top 3 violations as a review. The No. 1...

Point-of-care testing (POCT): yes, no, maybe?(SPECIAL FEATURE)
January 1, 2009... The last decade has seen a rapid rise in the discovery and commercialization of new technologies and new detection platforms, the combination of which has spawned an entirely new generation of point-of-care devices. But that is history...

Click and forget.(Product focus)
January 1, 2009... The new, innovative Link2Intranet Module, an extension of this company's document-control software, helps facilitate sharing files among staff members who manage lab policies and procedures (P&Ps) documents and hospital intranet users needing...

Integrates seamlessly.(Product focus)
January 1, 2009... CoPathPlus v.4.0 anatomic pathology software integrates with this company's laboratory information system, and includes numerous new features and technology enhancements designed to automate processes and increase workflow efficiency for...

Facilitate regulatory compliance.(Product focus)
January 1, 2009... UnityConnect is a connectivity solution that allows labs to network with the appropriate Unity QC data-management solution depending on their needs. UnityConnect provides automation, easy set up, and trouble-free operation. Using this company's...

Many new enhancements.(Product focus)
January 1, 2009... Harvest LIS v.8.0 has more than 225 enhancements and added features, 100 of which were a direct result of customers' requests for modifications. Flexible, with configurable rules-based technology, this version allows users to define "if-then"...

New clearance.(Product focus)
January 1, 2009... SoftBank II v.23.2 has the added capability to print ISBT-com-pliant labels for modified blood products. The functionality of the predicate device, SoftBank v.23.1 with database-management system interface, is the foundation on which the added...

Extend existing LIS.(Product focus)
January 1, 2009... e.lixa operates a relational database designed to hold all current/historic patient/specimen information. Advanced search/charting capabilities enable labs to quickly/easily produce detailed statistical reports/graphs for meaningful analysis of...

Network with other clients.(Product focus)
January 1, 2009... The online LabDAQ User Group is designed to give clients online access to vital LabDAQ information and forums in order that LabDAQ clients can network with one another. The secure online user selection gives clients another medium for...

Streamline integration.(Product focus)
January 1, 2009... FFLex eLink is an integration software that delivers needed connectivity between clinical instruments and electronic medical and health records, practice-management systems, or other host system utilizing industry-standard interface protocols....

Evaluate tandem use of bar coding and RFID.(Washington report)(radio-frequency identification)
January 1, 2009... Close examination reveals that bar coding and RFID (radio-frequency identification) are not so much cross generational rivals as brothers in arms, helping to manage increasingly complex information-tracking demands in today's healthcare...