Lee Hwan Tae, Lee So Young, Seo Ja Young, Ahn Jeong-Yeal
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Gil Medical Center, Gachon University College of Medicine, Incheon, Republic of Korea.
Department of Laboratory Medicine, BS Hospital, Incheon, Republic of Korea.
Lab Med. 2023 Sep 5;54(5):495-501. doi: 10.1093/labmed/lmac156.
Modular workcells could be a better solution than total laboratory automation (TLA) in hemostasis laboratories. Here, we evaluated the impact of implementing a modular workcell (HemoCell) with an intelligent data management facility (HemoHub).
We compared the turnaround times (TATs), numbers of rerun samples, and rerun times pre- and postimplementation of the HemoCell at Gil Medical Center. Prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), D-dimer, and fibrinogen were evaluated.
The TAT standard deviations (SDs) and maximum TAT values decreased after HemoCell implementation, although the mean TATs for PT, aPTT, and D-dimer were increased. Numbers of rerun samples were increased (18.1/day vs 44.7/day). However, rerun times were reduced, and SDs were decreased during the post-HemoCell period compared with pre-HemoCell. Additionally, technologists needed smaller working space and less labor.
The modular workcell could improve quality and efficiency by providing more consistent TATs and shorter rerun times in the hemostasis laboratory.
