News
National Medical Laboratory Week
This week is all about coming together as medical laboratory professionals to help educate the public about what happens between giving a sample and getting results.
Here are a few highlights from the week:
Global News - Highlighting the important work done by med lab professionals
Grand River Hospital’s automated lab celebrates its first anniversary by decreasing wait times by 10 percent
The launch of the automated lab at Grand River Hospital (GRH) one year ago has resulted in big changes to the laboratory process, quality of testing and wait times for patients. The automated lab system is the first of its kind in Canada and is manufactured by Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Sysmex and Stago.
Although the installation cost of $3.2 million is high, this technology is used for approximately 2.2 million patient tests a year and resulted in an immediate 10% reduction in test result turnaround times, as well as reduced treatment delays and patient length of stay. "The automated system has certainly played a big role in optimizing lab performance by improving our workflow," says Cherrie Martinez, a medical lab technologist at GRH. "It has made our job a lot easier and we can get more tests done faster."
The system is linked through a single integrated track, allowing for the carrying of specimens to various pieces of equipment that prepare, test and retrieve samples for further testing.
Looming shortage of medical laboratory technologists will hurt patient care in Canada
The Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science (CSMLS) was on Parliament Hill last week speaking with parliamentarians regarding the shortage of medical laboratory technologists (MLTs) in Canada. "The federal government can play a lead role in ensuring that ALL Canadians have access to essential medical services," said CSMLS President Chris Hirtle. "Possible strategies to address the shortage are increasing the number of new graduates, better integration of internationally educated lab professionals into the Canadian workforce, and incentive programs to recruit MLTs to rural and remote communities."
CSMLS discussed with parliamentarians three simple solutions to proactively address the shortage.
Educational programs cannot increase seats without corresponding clinical placements, making this a bottleneck in the system. These spots are scarce due to staffing shortages, crushing workloads and lack of dedicated education personnel. What is needed: targeted funding for dedicated clinical educators and research into the value and effectiveness of clinical simulation.
Most internationally educated laboratory professionals require education upgrading to bring them up to Canadian standards. What is needed: long-term and sustainable funding for bridging programs.
Recruiting MLT graduates to rural and remote communities is a significant challenge for Canadian medical laboratories. What is needed: the federal government should commit to forgive a portion of Canada Student Loans for MLTs similar to other health professions in order to increases employment in these areas.
Alere shares sink after Abbott CEO fuels speculation deal at risk
Chief Executive Miles White of Abbott Laboratories Inc. made a comment, during a post-earnings conference call that it would not be appropriate to discuss whether his company had a continued commitment to buy Alere Inc. for $5.8 billion. The acquisition of Alere would promote Abbott to become the leader in point-of-care diagnostic testing. The statement has fueled speculation around the deal, which was agreed upon in February but may not close.
In March, Alere was subpoenaed by the US Department of Justice to provide documents relating to sales practices and would, therefore, delay filling their annual report. Due to the delay in filling their proxy and shareholder vote, White signaled a potential hesitation in his comment. Thereafter, Alere's stock tumbled approximately 18% to $40.51.
Medical photo-sharing app gains 1 million users
First launched in 2013, a Toronto start-up company called Figure 1 produced an app (iOS and Android) that allows for image sharing of medically relevant cases to spur discussion and inquiry around the world. Described as "the Instagram for doctors and healthcare professionals", the app has gained over a million users.
To upload a picture, the user must be a verified medical professional (not limited to physicians). The range of images is expansive and includes everything from enlarged tongues and rashes, to petri dishes full of deadly bacteria. In addition to case solving purposes, the app has been used to share interesting diagnoses as well as new procedures and technology. It may act as a valuable resource for academic programs to demonstrate and share images.
Log in and check this app out for some "clinically significant and arguably beautiful" images!
Related Blog: A snapshot of modern medicine in 100 cases
Clinical Chemistry
No need to fast before a cholesterol test
A new study examining more than 300,000 participants from Denmark, Canada and the United States suggests that cholesterol and triglyceride testing does not require patients to fast. In Denmark, the use of random, non-fasting cholesterol testing at any time of the day irrespective of food intake has been successfully implemented since 2009.
Published in the European Heart Journal, the study signifies the first international recommendation that fasting is no longer necessary. It represents a joint consensus statement from the European Atherosclerosis Society and European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine involving 21 world medical experts from Europe, Australia and United States.
Given the inconvenience of fasting, the decreased compliance rates when fasting is required, and the inability to conduct testing on patients that cannot fast, the research is hoped to "improve patients compliance to preventive treatment aimed at reducing the number of heart attacks and strokes, the main killers in the world," says Clinical Professor Borge Nordestgaard, Department of Clinical Medicine, Herlev Hospital, University of Copenhagen.
Microbiology
Clever tuberculosis bacteria have a secret hiding place
As the leading cause of bacterial death globally, Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the bacterial species behind tuberculosis infections. Published in Nature Immunology, a group of international researchers discussed the ability of Mycobacteria, within mice models, to avoid destruction by the immune system.
"Mycobacteria manipulate macrophages to make certain cuts in their bacterial DNA so they can express more microRNA-33, a small RNA that promotes bacterial survival by inhibiting macrophage ability to "package" bacteria for degradation. Normally, macrophages recruit phagosomes to envelop foreign particles and lysosomes to break them up into pieces. By avoiding this process, Mycobacteria can then exist freely in the cell’s cytosol.
Macrophages also incorporate a back-up process for removing foreign objects, called autophagy. This process also controls lipid levels and recycles old cell parts and Mycobacteria have a way around autophagy too. The researchers found that bacterial proteins activating an immune signaling pathway that prompts a protein complex called NFKappaB to produce even more microRNA-33, which in turn disrupts autophagy so lipid levels are left uncontrolled.”
Scientists are hopeful that they can develop a new drug to fight tuberculosis.
Safety
Tackling hospital-acquired anemia : Lab-based interventions to reduce diagnostic blood loss
Hospital-acquired anemia (HAA) is a fairly common condition associated with poor patient outcomes and increased hospital resource utilization. Labs can help limit diagnostic blood loss by implementing strategies that reduce the amount of blood required for testing and encourage appropriate test ordering.
A growing body of evidence suggests that patients with normal hemoglobin levels on hospital admission who subsequently develop HAA have increased risk of morbidity and mortality compared with those who do not. These patients also experience increased length of stay and consume more hospital resources. In general, hospital labs collect up to 12 times more blood than the required analytical volume, with the majority of the sample being discarded.
Studies suggest that most labs can decrease collection volumes without compromising their ability to report reliable and timely results. Using small volume blood collection tubes for at-risk populations, drafting a minimum sample volume chart for each test, and using previously collected samples for “add on” tests where appropriate are simple lab-based interventions to reduce diagnostic blood sampling volume and waste. Other blood conservation strategies include increasing the use of point-of-care testing in certain settings and monitoring blood volumes drawn from susceptible patient populations.
Research
New way found to grow rare life-saving blood stem cells
Published in Nature, researchers from McMaster University's Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute (SCC-RI) have discovered how a key protein contributes to the regulation and control of stem cells in humans.
It was found that Musashi-2 regulates the function and development of important blood stem cells. The investigation examined umbilical cord blood stem cells, which is an under-utilized source for treatment of adult blood cancers. Given their unique transplantation, accessibility and adaptability properties, it is believed that they provide greater safety and effectiveness in transplants. Approximately 5% of all blood samples actually contain enough cells for a transplant, the research opens new recourses that could contribute to the current stem cell shortage.
Kristin Hope, principal investigator and assistant professor with McMaster University's Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, believes, "Providing enhanced numbers of stem cells for transplantation could alleviate some of the current post-transplantation complications and allow for faster recoveries, in turn reducing overall health care costs and wait times for newly diagnosed patients seeking treatment."
World’s first blood test for Parkinson's disease
In order to diagnosis Parkinson’s disease, disease progression must occur. This devastating delay is required as only a neurological examination has been able to diagnosis the disorder until recently (lack of a clinical biomarker to test). By the time symptoms are developed and an exam possible, vital brain cells have already been destroyed.
However, according to research produced by La Trobe University, the first blood test for Parkinson’s disease has been created and validated in a small group of 38 people (control and experimental groups). "La Trobe's blood test will enable doctors to detect with unprecedented reliability the abnormal metabolism of blood cells in people with Parkinson's, which will allow them to provide treatment options much earlier."
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research and the Shake It Up Australia Foundation, have granted La Trobe more than $640,000 to further develop the diagnostic blood test and its application in a sample of 100 people. Assuming positive results from the study, the test could be publicly available in as little as five years if sufficient funds can be raised for rapid development.
Thank you!
Thank you!
We appreciate that you have taken the time to read LabBuzz. This is a CSMLS venture to provide relevant medical laboratory news to its members.
We need your help to grow this newsletter! Please pass along the subscription link to any colleague you think would benefit from hearing about med lab news.
If you have any suggestions to improve LabBuzz, we would love to hear from you. In fact, if you have a news or publication link you would like us to consider for a future issue, please send it to labbuzz@csmls.org