LP Spring 2018 - 10

L A N C A S T E R M E D I C A L S O C I E T Y.O R G

Best Practices

Senior Technical Specialist
Terri Neibauer prepares
to load specimens into the
Roche cobas® 8100 system.

Robotic arms pick up specimens and
place them into a rack for storage.

dvanced technology brings Penn State Health Milton S.
Hershey Medical Center to the forefront of laboratory
capabilities.

NEW
AUTOMATED
SYSTEM
IMPROVES SPEED,
QUALITY, AND
MENU OF LAB
TESTS

LANCASTER

Most hospital laboratories have the same goals for testing:
faster, better, more. But only so many tests can be done when someone has to manually prepare, process, and review each sample. That's
why Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center opted to
upgrade its lab-to the tune of $6 million in automated equipment,
programming, and laboratory renovations.
"We were looking for a way to consolidate in order to have many
different tests available on one system, connected by a very robust
automation line," says Terri Neibauer, senior technical specialist at the
Milton S. Hershey Medical Center's Automated Testing Laboratory.
"We knew that would allow us to take the sample tracking burden off
of laboratory staff, improve our turnaround time, extend our menu for
tests, and get more reliable results out more consistently."
Since its debut at the end of February, the new system, the Roche
cobas® 8100, has already hit many of those targets. One test in particular, called the cardiac troponin test, experienced a clinically significant
boost in turnaround time. Many hospitals target a 90-minute window
during which patients presenting to the emergency department with
chest pain must be assessed for a heart attack-which requires the
troponin test-and admitted to a catheterization lab for care if needed.
The new automated system shaves 11 minutes off the analytical time.
This upgraded lab technology isn't only helping patients in the emergency department. Technicians are processing draws at this lab from
some Penn State Medical Group locations, including Elizabethtown
and Mount Joy.

PHYSICIAN

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LP Spring 2018