Laboratories are the unsung hero of the global healthcare system. With 70% of all clinical decisions based on laboratory data, accurate lab testing is immensely valuable to every professional in the medical community. Laboratory experts are essential in aiding physicians find a diagnosis, which not only helps expedite a plan of care for the patient, it allows insurance companies and government programs the ability provide healthcare to the population at a lower cost.

However, instead of laboratories being recognised as a requisite asset in the health community, they’re in danger of becoming a mere commodity. With labs being judged on the volume of activity, not the value of our analytical performance, their true merit is getting lost. If the value is defined as the utility of the product, along with its importance in terms of benefit to the patient, then laboratories are one of the most valuable players in the medical field.

In order for healthcare professionals outside the lab to appreciate the vast importance of lab testing, laboratorians must begin taking initiative and leveraging their expertise with innovative practices. By focusing on ways to improve how a patient proceeds through the healthcare system, positives shifts can be made.

Identify how you can help

For starters, examine evidence of clinical effectiveness – what practices and tests consistently perform accurate results – and relay that information to ordering physicians, nurses, surgeons. etc. Try to identify if there are any unmet needs of either the patient or doctor that you could help assuage or fulfil. Appraise the link between outcomes and financial flows, is there be a better way to manage quality control and minimize the need for retesting?

If you’re struggling to narrow in on a procedural issue that needs improvement, step outside of the lab for fresh insights, and create a dialogue with other clinicians. Find out if there are common ongoing problems in the testing process, or shared recurrent errors.

Clinical actionability

Charles Mathews, Vice President of Boston Healthcare Association encourages laboratorians to “sell” the values of diagnostics to hospital administrators and technology adoption committees in order to realign the value proposition of diagnostic technology to meet their needs.

For example, Dr Robert Christenson discusses during his presentation, blood sample haemolysis occurs more frequently in emergency departments (EDs) than in any other area of the hospital, which leads to unreliable results or delays in re-collecting samples. This is a big practice problem. So, is there something you could do to help reduce haemolysis rates when collecting blood samples from patients in the ED?

Begin by reading through all the studies already completed on the topic. For this particular issue, there’s collected evidence for using both straight needle venipuncture and catheter starts. Looking at the graphs, it’s clear straight needles are much more effective in reducing haemolysis. Taking that extra step to communicate this information to others in the medical community can lead to an improvement of practices in EDs everywhere. 

Open communication

It’s crucial to start asking questions and challenging the nicks found in the healthcare system. While stepping outside the lab has far-reaching benefits, engaging with the other technicians on your staff can also be invaluable. Collectively, laboratorians can help one another solve a wide range of issues, and improve upon already vetted methods. Quality lab work enhances the healthcare process across the board, while also mitigating costs for insurance companies, patient families, and government programmes.

The benefits of having easily accessible, efficient labs embedded within the healthcare system are limitless. To accomplish this goal, laboratorians must step out of the comfort zones and market the importance of lab medicine to the C-suite and other medical professionals. Establishing visible labs will not only create solutions for rising costs in healthcare, but it will also make it easier to give patients to get the care they need.

This article Is based on a presentation: Leveraging Laboratory Expertise to Bring Value to Healthcare at Roche Efficiency Days (RED) 2017 in Taipei, Taiwan.