St Paul’s Hospital is a 500-bed private hospital in Hong Kong that recently invested in an automated molecular diagnostics system with a compact size, broad assay menu and simple, easy-to-use interface. The system will support the hospital’s testing workload for SARS-CoV-2 and other infectious diseases, enabling their lab to continue providing short turnaround times and high-quality results for their patients.

To learn more about why St Paul’s Hospital installed this system, as well as the short- and long-term benefits that they expect from it, Lab Insights spoke with Ms Jacbby Koo and Mr Choi Siu Pui, two medical technologists who oversee their lab’s molecular and microbiology operations.

Reasons for upgrading

One reason St Paul’s upgraded its molecular operations was to improve productivity without overburdening their lab staff. In its quest to drive greater efficiency without increasing headcount, the hospital wanted an automated system that staff without deep experience in molecular diagnostics could learn to operate.

“It is great to have a system that is easy to interpret and with short handling time,” says Mr Choi. “This is especially true for labs at smaller hospitals that don’t already have a dedicated team for molecular testing.”

St Paul’s also sought a molecular system that offered the flexibility to expand their testing menu on a single platform. By consolidating their operations, they would have the ability to offer an ever greater volume of tests without having to make additional instrument purchases, reducing costs and increasing versatility.

Another priority was finding a system with a compact size to overcome space limitations, which are common in places like Hong Kong with high population density and exorbitant real estate costs. The small footprint of their new system now gives the hospital the option to place the instrument outside of the PCR room if needed.

Finally, they looked for a system with remote connectivity features that could allow senior lab staff to review results or monitor instrument status from offsite locations. “Remote access is a key function, especially for urgent cases during night shifts or public holidays when we may be short staffed but still need to get reports back to clinicians quickly,” says Ms Koo.

Another benefit of remote connectivity is that it also allows instrument manufacturers to conduct predictive maintenance that improve uptime, reduce maintenance costs and streamline operations. In the near term, however, St Paul’s is focused on integrating their new system with their LIS in order to make lab workflows more seamless across departments.

Plans for the future

Looking ahead, Ms Koo and Mr Choi believe that this new system will pave the way for new efforts to improve scale, reduce costs and increase quality in the molecular lab at St Paul’s Hospital.

They are also excited to expand the scope of services, and are already thinking about extending the menu to cover more travel-related diseases like malaria as borders reopen. Another possibility is working with the histopathology department to increase oncology PCR testing.

“All kinds of labs can benefit from automation and consolidation of their molecular testing capabilities,” says Ms Koo. “Just like how the smartphone replaced the digital camera for so many people, this is the next step in the evolution of the clinical lab.”

Whether you are actively planning to upgrade your molecular lab or just working to streamline your current workflows, the path to superior performance starts with operational excellence. Consider taking the new Molecular Lab Benchmarking Survey to assess your operations and compare your results with your peers.