By JAN SEARS
Source:The Press-Enterprise

New equipment in Arrowhead Regional Medical Center's clinical laboratory is enabling the hospital to produce same-day results for some tests that used to take several days or even a week, hospital officials said.

The laboratory has been adding equipment since February 2009. Last week, staff members were invited to see the streamlined operation.

"We had to make a lot of changes in the laboratory ... and we wanted to ensure that it looked nice," said Clarice Choy, laboratory manager. "Mostly, nobody comes down and sees what goes on in the lab."

The medical center's laboratory performs more than 2.5 million tests per year on substances from blood to spinal fluid to body tissue, Choy said. A chemistry analyzer does the bulk of the work, running 2.2 million tests annually, she said.

Before the upgrade, the laboratory would save specimens and run tests in batches once or twice a week. Now tests run around the clock.

"A result can come back the same day," Choy said. "It's really exciting. It helps with the emergency room, when they want tests beyond just the basic electrolytes and we can run them right now."

Arrowhead is a regional trauma center and is soon to open additional patient beds on a remodeled sixth floor. Both add to the importance of quick test results.

The new technology means some normal results can be released without review by a technologist, Choy said, allowing more time to study abnormal results.

That is especially helpful for a lab that may soon lose some of its most experienced staff to retirement.

"The issue is the difficulty in finding qualified technologists," she said.

The hospital is extremely busy and some people may not be comfortable with the fast pace, she said.

Technologists must have a bachelor's degree, a year of training and then pass a licensing exam. It's not a career that young people are flocking to, she said.

"It's hard to get people into this field. We're not like nurses or doctors. Nobody sees us," she said.

Choy couldn't say how much the new equipment has cost the county medical center. Much of it is rented, which enables the hospital to upgrade when new equipment comes out.

"I do know that we actually saved money. I think the vendors are more hungry. The economy is affecting all of us," she said.

Included in the upgrade is new hematology equipment that provides more accurate clinical data and reduced review times.

The new equipment can review 25,000 white blood cells while a technologist looking at a slide under a microscope would see 100, Choy said.

The lab's new chemistry analyzer consolidates testing previously done by seven analyzers.

"With this new technology, we can stay on the cutting edge of clinical laboratory services," said the medical center's Chief Operating Officer Maureen Malone.