Medical Laboratory Observer articles from March 2008

Medical Laboratory Observer archives from March 2008

Frankencats, cornstarch, chromosomes, and confusion.(Editorial)
March 1, 2008... Mark Twain knew that "if you hold a cat by the tail, you learn things you cannot learn any other way." Evidently, that is not good enough anymore. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Forgive me, but I never thought I would say "I never thought I...

Roche Diagnostics.(CORPORATE PROFILE)(Company overview)
March 1, 2008... Our passion to improve lives is the driving force behind Roche Diagnostics' innovation in the diagnostics industry. We develop and produce medical tests that provide information to assist medical decision makers in delivering the best patient...

Saddened by scrofulousness.(Readers respond)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2008... Yesterday, when I read your column ["Retirement challenge looms," p. 4] in the most recent MLO [January 2008], I was saddened. Sad, because you used the word "scrofulous" to define how you feel and even more sad (sic) because you wrote: "But...

Too harsh.(Readers respond)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2008... I do enjoy reading your editorials in MLO. It is a publication I have read for many years; decades, if I am honest with myself. By the way, I think scrofulous is a bit harsh. --Ken Schill AAB Proficiency Testing Service Director...

On seeking recognition and fair pay.(Readers respond)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2008... I read your article ["Retirement challenge looms," p. 4, MLO, January 2008], and I felt that I had to respond. I have been a med tech for over 25 years--and although I have always been proud of my field and happy with my choice of career, I...

Labs Are Vital: survey reveals need to educate students about profession.(Special report to MLO)(Survey)
March 1, 2008... Seventy-five percent of students are unaware of career options in the clinical-laboratory-science field until after college enrollment, according to a recent survey of 4,000 laboratory students and professionals conducted by the Coordinating...

Looming threat to QC in physicians' offices.(SPECIAL REPORT TO MLO)(Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988)
March 1, 2008... The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just granted "waived" status to the Abaxis Piccolo and Abbott I-Stat chemistry platforms for comprehensive chemistry panels, which were formerly in the "moderately complex" category. In a recent...

Key to avian flu in humans discovered.(Infectious diseases)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Science Daily reported in January that Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have uncovered a critical difference between flu viruses that infect birds and humans, which could help scientists monitor the evolution of avian-flu...

Bird flu continues slow march across Asia.(Infectious diseases)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... In late January, the Associated Press reported fears of a global bird-flu pandemic that once dominated headlines have largely vanished in the West; but four years after the virus began ravaging Asian poultry, it continues to spread. Most global...

Seasonal flu epidemic underway nationwide.(Infectious diseases)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... In mid-February, Newsday reported an influenza epidemic is underway nationwide. "We call it a seasonal epidemic," says the chief of the epidemiology and prevention branch in the influenza division of the Centers for Disease Control and...

HIV cases among seniors in Puerto Rico increasing.(HIV/AIDS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... According to the Miami Herald, 238 new HIV cases were recorded among people over age 60 during the year ending in September 2007--a 25% increase compared with the same time period in 2006. Puerto Rico's health secretary says that about 4% of...

Obese cadavers strain medical equipment.(News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... According to a recent Associated Press report, Americans are growing too large to fit at time of death on autopsy tables, so larger equipment is being manufactured. Standard weight loads for autopsy carts used to be 300 or 400 pounds. Now,...

Girl switches blood type.(News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that a now-healthy 15-year-old Australian girl spontaneously switched blood groups and adopted her donor's immune system following a liver transplant in the first known case of its type. The child was aged...

Conferences.(The Observatory)(Calendar)
March 1, 2008... * March 19. AACC and ASCLS will be present a joint audioconference on "Genetic Oversight... The Next Steps." From 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET, this audioconference will cover how the FDA and CMS currently regulate genetic testing, the latest on...

Sysmex America, Inc.(CORPORATE PROFILE)(Company overview)
March 1, 2008... Company Overview: Sysmex America, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Sysmex Corporation (Kobe, Japan), is a world leader in clinical laboratory systemization and solutions, including clinical diagnostics, automation and information systems....

What is on the molecular diagnostics horizon? Part 5b--a brief history of medical diagnosis and the birth of the clinical laboratory.
March 1, 2008... CONTINUING EDUCATION To earn CEUs, see current test at www.mlo-online.com under the CE Tests tab. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Upon completion of this article, the reader will be able to: 1. Recognize important dates on the genetic...

LEAN deploys at Centrex Clinical Labs.(CLINICAL ISSUES)
March 1, 2008... Do more with less. Many laboratories across the country--under pressure to produce high-quality patient results in the face of difficult challenges--have adopted this mantra. In New York State, Centrex Clinical Laboratories (Centrex) confronted...

Improve testing turnaround by looking beyond the lab.(LEAN IMPLEMENTATION)
March 1, 2008... When Jay Jones stepped out of the central lab and started asking questions about blood-gas testing turnaround time (TAT), he discovered a 12-minute gap. "We thought we had excellent turnaround time, averaging about three minutes," says...

Endangered species vanishing from medical labs.(ANNUAL SALARY SURVEY)
March 1, 2008... Around the world, the existence of various animal species is threatened due to environmental changes (polar bears) and mysterious illnesses (honeybees). The threatened species that most concerns MLO, however, is that of the disappearing medical...

Pogorzelski grows Genzyme Dx.(Executive snapshot)(Company overview)
March 1, 2008... Three phases of evolution. In my 20 years, Genzyme's evolution segregates into three phases: survival, growth and diversification, and, finally, today, continued growth--but with a patient focus for all our businesses. Initially, our plan was...

OSHA enforcement activity on BPS: an update.(SPECIAL FEATURE)(Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
March 1, 2008... The number of federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) hospital inspections in which the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard (BPS) was cited increased from 30 in 2001 to 55 in 2005; the total number of BPS-related citations went...

Competitive salaries.(Addressing management issues)
March 1, 2008... Q We have a problem with our Human Resources (HR) director and laboratory wages. We are told that our hospital is competitive with other local hospitals concerning wages. Many of our phlebotomists and technologists, however, are leaving/have...

Get better ROI meetings, conferences.(Addressing management issues)
March 1, 2008... Q What can I do in advance of sending staff to association meetings (CLMA, AACC, ASM, and so forth.) to get "maximum return" from our "investment" from their attendance? A Marti Bailey points out, "I totally agree that the opportunity to...

Urine colony counts.(Answering your questions)
March 1, 2008... Q Could you give me the "pros and cons" of doing a total colony count on a urine culture vs. doing individual colony counts on pathogens in a urine culture. We are in the process of standardizing several labs in our system, and this is an issue...

Venipuncture/finger-stick correlations.(Answering your questions)
March 1, 2008... Q Does any research relate to electrolyte discrepancies between serum from venipuncture and finger stick? A The discrepancies found for serum electrolytes can be broken down into two issues. The first deals with the site of collection and...

Centrifuge selection.(Answering your questions)
March 1, 2008... Q We are interested in purchasing a tabletop centrifuge for our rural hospital/clinic lab. Today, we had a small, quiet centrifuge delivered for evaluation. It has a "Quick Spin," which is 30-second cycle for immediate separation of red cells,...

Billing for confirmatory tests.(Answering your questions)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Q Can we bill for confirmatory tests for urinalysis? We do Ictotest for bilirubin and Clinitest for pediatric urinalysis. There is an 81099 CPT for unlisted urinalysis procedure. Or we could do 81000.51 for multiple procedures. We also do a...

HIPAA guides answering services.(Liability and the lab)
March 1, 2008... Q Our lab personnel have concerns about the practice of leaving laboratory results--especially critical ones--with an answering service if the physician cannot be reached. What are the legal issues? A Like many situations in lab medicine,...

Fully automated reagent.(Product focus: Glucose testing supplies)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Synchron Microalbumin (MA) Reagent is used for the quantitative determination of albumin in human urine by a turbidimetric method. This reagent is fully automated when run on any of the UniCel DxC Synchron Systems or the IMMAGE immunochemistry...

Reimbursable testing options.(Product focus: Glucose testing supplies)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... The Chemcard Glucose Test is a simple, effective screening test used to identify abnormally high fasting-plasma-glucose (blood sugar) levels, which are often a warning sign of diabetes. Chemcard Glucose is a three-minute test that requires a...

Engineered for safety.(Product focus: Glucose testing supplies)
March 1, 2008... The OneTouch Flexx Blood Glucose Meter uses the glucose-oxidase testing method. This method provides accurate results in the presence of maltose and its metabolites, enhancing safety while reducing complexity. It uses OneTouch Pro Test Strips,...

Simple, rapid, accurate.(Product focus: Glucose testing supplies)
March 1, 2008... The StatSensor Creatinine measures creatinine and calculates estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) by MDRD or Cockroft-Gault equations. This advanced hand-held system enables simple, rapid, and accurate assessment of renal function by...

Lab accurate results.(Product focus: Glucose testing supplies)
March 1, 2008... The CLIA-waived in2it is a small, portable, and fully automated point-of-care A1C analyzer. Designed for simplicity, convenience, and speed in near-patient testing, in2it provides lab-quality results in minutes. Requiring only a small...

Effective screening test.(Product focus: Glucose testing supplies)
March 1, 2008... The Glucose 201 Analyzer is a professional-use glucose device that is FDA cleared for point-of-care screening, diagnosis, and monitoring of diabetes mellitus. It offers reimbursable testing options for which most glucose monitors are not...

Pre-measured glucose load.(Product focus: Glucose testing supplies)
March 1, 2008... The Oral Glucose Testing Beverage is for use with an in vitro diagnostic oral glucose-tolerance test (OGTT) in the evaluation of diabetes mellitus and related disease conditions. This beverage provides a pre-measured glucose load of either 50...

First-class optical quality.(Industry spotlight)
March 1, 2008... Designed for years of high-quality use, the Eclipse E100 upright microscope has outstanding optical performance combined with elegant ergonomic touches. The Eclipse E100 incorporates the exclusive CFI infinity optical system made by this...

Rapid detection.(Industry spotlight)
March 1, 2008... RELY H pylori Test is a CLIA-waived (for whole-blood specimens) rapid test for the detection of H pylori in whole blood, serum, or plasma. Easy, quick, and reliable detection means enhanced patient options, and all testing materials in the kit...

Instantly read and interpret.(Industry spotlight)
March 1, 2008... The BIOMIC V3 microbiology system now instantly reads and interprets the quality control of species identification (ID) test panels based on proposed CLSI M50-P guidelines. This provides efficient, standardized means to record ID QC results....

Adjust speed and stroke.(Industry spotlight)
March 1, 2008... The OLS200 is a highly flexible orbital/linear shaking water bath, which features a magnetically coupled shaking mechanism that provides reliable and quiet long-term use, as well as easy switching from one mode to the other. Shaking speeds and...

Years of reliable use.(Industry spotlight)
March 1, 2008... PriorLab Laboratory Microscope provides a high-quality yet economical choice for a broad range of lab needs. A focusing, centerable substage condenser features Kohler illumination and ensures crisp, high-resolution images across the field of...

Assess CVD risk.(Industry spotlight)
March 1, 2008... As the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) rises, assessing CVD risk factors grows in importance. This company is now offering a full lipoprotein profile, including HDL, LDL, small dense LDL, and apolipoproteins, which are the main...

Heavy-duty stand.(Industry spotlight)
March 1, 2008... A new, heavy-duty MacroView MVX 10 motorized stand is available. With a large footprint and sturdy construction, the stand provides a stable solution for high-resolution florescence imaging, features dual-speed, motorized z-axis travel, and...

Minimize manual effort.(Industry spotlight)
March 1, 2008... The EM AMW automated microwave system for tissue embedding streamlines lab workflow. It automatically dehydrates, infiltrates, and polymerizes specimens in resin. It reduces specimen preparation time to hours instead of days, and allows results...

Creating a mutually beneficial approach to CBD project.(Washington report)
March 1, 2008... Section 302 (b) of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) mandated a Medicare Part B clinical lab competitive bidding demonstration (CBD). The purpose of this project is to determine whether competitive...

Beckman Coulter, Inc.(CORPORATE PROFILE)
March 1, 2008... Beckman Coulter: Improving patient health and reducing the cost of care with products that simplify, automate and innovate complex biomedical testing. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] From a basic panel of tests for wellness physicals to...