News
Patients prefer email, patient portals for lab result alerts
Most patients prefer receiving their laboratory results online via email or the patient portal, despite some data privacy and security concerns, according to a study published in the American Journal of Managed Care.
In a survey of 200 patients with internet access, the research team found that 98% of patients wanted lab result alerts via short secure messaging services, and 100% preferred viewing their lab results online through an email or the patient portal. Preferences for accessing lab results via email versus patient portal were about evenly split. Slightly more patients (53%) preferred accessing lab results via email than via the patient portal (48%). About 82% of patients preferred to receive both normal and abnormal test results through the patient portal, a result the researchers found striking. Understanding how patients want to receive their lab results will facilitate better patient-provider communication and patient satisfaction.
World’s first malaria vaccine to be tested by 3 African countries
Three African countries have been chosen to test the world’s first malaria vaccine, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced. Ghana, Kenya and Malawi will begin piloting the injectable vaccine next year with young children. These countries were chosen for the pilot because all have strong prevention and vaccination programs but continue to have high numbers of malaria cases. WHO is hoping to wipe out malaria by 2040 despite increasing resistance problems to both drugs and insecticides used to kill mosquitoes.
Developed by GlaxoSmithKline, the partially effective vaccine has the potential to save tens of thousands of lives if used with existing measures, the WHO regional director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, said in a statement. The vaccine will be tested on children five to 17 months old to see whether its protective effects shown so far in clinical trials can hold up under real-life conditions. The challenge is whether impoverished countries can deliver the required four doses of the vaccine for each child.
Canadian task force rejects calls for widespread hepatitis C-testing
The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care, an influential panel that crafts guidelines for family physicians, released its first-ever recommendations on screening for hepatitis C. Most of the task force’s advice is uncontroversial: The panel suggests that blood tests for hepatitis C be reserved for those at elevated risk of contracting the virus, namely people who have used injection drugs, spent time in prison, received blood products before 1992 or immigrated from countries where hepatitis C is more prevalent than it is in Canada. The task force also rejected calls from hepatologists to screen all the baby boomers who may have been exposed in the middle of the last century, when the then-unknown virus spread via the reusable glass and metal syringes common in the medical world at the time.
Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott said she supports the task force’s guidelines. “They’re actually very much in line with many other jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom… They’re based on what would be the best way for us, given our Canadian context, to most rapidly identify people who are as yet undiagnosed.”
Leadership
Cross-training in the laboratory
Cross-training is often thought of as a routine staffing event designed to provide additional flexibility and backup for the laboratory’s day-to-day operation. However, it is far more than that; it is strategic management. It affects all aspects of the laboratory operation from staff development to test menus, from operating hours to customer service. Borrowing a term from IQCP programs, cross-training is a form of risk mitigation, in that the increased staffing flexibility allows the laboratory to better respond to sudden changes in workflow, as well as sudden changes in personnel, minimizing disruptions in service to physicians and for patient care.
Operationally, the benefits of cross-training your laboratory staff include:
- Improved employee awareness of their roles and responsibilities within the laboratory team.
- Increased flexibility for scheduling, including multi-shift capabilities.
- Increased opportunities for employee advancement.
- Opportunity to improve customer service with more knowledgeable employees.
- Potentially reduced absenteeism and employee turnover.
- Increased ability for managers to evaluate employees across an array of roles.
Read the full article for suggestions on how to create effective cross-training programs.
Bridging the generation gap for better patient safety
Clinical laboratory practice is as susceptible as any global workforce to the inherent challenges posed by both real and perceived discordances between age group generations. There are now as many as four distinct generations working together in the lab, each with unique beliefs, attitudes and biases. As lab managers, finding common ground to foster the best working relationship between these generations is an obstacle.
In order to establish a common ground, clear methods of intergenerational communication must be established. This should be based on the situation at hand and seek to incorporate all communication styles equally.
Key points each generation should consider when facing obstacles to an agreement include:
- Keep an open mind and accept that the best idea may not be your own
- Do not be afraid to ask questions. Questions allow us to better understand the perspectives of others, particularly when it comes to the use and integration of technology, both professionally and personally/socially
- Maintain an attitude of compromise and be prepared for change
Microbiology
New drug in fight against antibiotic resistance developed in Winnipeg
Medical researchers at St. Boniface Hospital have developed a new weapon in the fight against antibiotic resistance. Hospital officials say no new antibiotics have been discovered since 1987. Research on the antibiotic drug PEG-2S will be published in the Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology. Scientists say it will fight two of the top 10 "priority pathogens" the World Health Organization recently flagged. The drug works by cutting off an energy supply to the harmful bacteria, without damaging healthy cells.
"It influences the energy of the bacteria and therefore can kill the bacteria and can prevent its growth. So it's a breakthrough by attacking a completely different target," said Dr. Grant Pierce, (University of Manitoba professor of physiology and pathophysiology. The paper explains that a variety of bacteria have a unique respiratory sodium pump (NQR) that supplies the bacteria with energy. The drug inhibits the function of the pump and prevents the growth of the Chlamydia trachomatis bacteria. The drug only affects bacteria with the NQR pump and is not toxic to healthy cells.
Molecular Genetics
Genetic privacy bill to go to Supreme Court
The federal Liberal government has signalled that it will be referring a public bill by the Senate on genetic privacy directly to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) once it has been given royal assent. The bill, which passed earlier this month, criminalizes the illicit sharing of genetic information and adds genetic characteristics as a prohibited ground for discrimination under human rights and federal labour laws. However, in the move to send the bill to the SCC, insurance lawyers say they are concerned about further delays in getting clarity around what kind of evidence can be used when it comes to medical histories, which could have an effect in terms of how a person could work when making a claim for lost earnings.
Carissima Mathen, a law professor at the University of Ottawa and former constitutional litigator, says the SCC may have an issue with the use of criminal powers to combat discrimination. The move to refer the bill to the SCC is unusual, say lawyers, considering that the cabinet is challenging a bill that parliament has already passed.
Interested in your legal rights? Read this law article for a detailed discussion.
Research
IHMRI researchers discover link between streptococcal infections and blood type
Published results by Australian infectious disease researchers at the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute have found that people with the blood type O (the most common blood type among Australian patients) could be at higher risk of developing streptococcal infections than those with other blood types. “Rather than focussing on how Streptococcus spreads like other studies, we took a different approach. We know that some people are more susceptible to Streptococcal infections. We wanted to see if there are other biological reasons that increase the risks, and understand why some people suffer repeated infections,” explains senior research fellow Dr Martin Sanderson-Smith.
The researchers studied Group A Streptococcus (GAS) and found that the sugar molecules on type O blood may create a ‘bridge’ for colonisation – leaving type O carriers more susceptible to a particularly virulent clone of GAS (M1T1 GAS) present in many invasive infections. The next step for the researchers will be a new project studying saliva samples taken from people colonised with GAS, in collaboration with researchers at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.
Australian scientists use blood bank to develop 'vaccine' for diabetes
Australian scientists are optimistic that a bank of blood donations will help them develop a vaccine for Type 1 diabetes. Because of this blood bank, the team from the St Vincent's Institute of Medical Research became the first researchers in the world to observe immune cells destroy insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.
They discovered that the immune cells targeted the C-peptide molecule and are now developing a blood test to measure the immune response to the molecule, which they believe causes Type 1 diabetes. "The next step towards this is to measure that immune response in blood samples so we can try to detect it before people develop symptoms of Type 1 diabetes… What we would really like is a blood test that we can do after a much shorter period of time so that we can see if the immune response is going in the direction we want it." The team received the Diabetes Australia 2017 Millennium Award recently, which comes with a grant worth US$100,000.
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.