When you go to St. Mary’s Medical Center for treatment, it’s likely you’ll need some type of lab test or blood work during your time there. And, while most people don’t actually see the work that’s done in the multi-service clinical laboratory, patients directly benefit from the experience of the staff and the cutting-edge technology found in the laboratory.
Each month, laboratory employees perform more than 100,000 tests in areas ranging from microbiology, immunology and toxicology to blood banking and pathology. Many of the 87 professionals who work in the lab have more than 25 years’ experience on the job. That longevity shows in the quality of the lab results produced every day. These results are used by physicians to diagnose patients and by hospital staff to carry out treatment plans for patients while at St. Mary’s Medical Center.
“We’ve always been a silent part of the medical center,” said Laboratory Director Jane Roberts. “Most people just associate the laboratory with drawing blood, but they don’t realize everything else that goes on behind the scenes. We don’t promote ourselves a lot. We’re here to provide technical services for the best possible patient care.”
Anyone who joins the laboratory staff at St. Mary’s has to meet a high standard of excellence in education and training. “The education of our employees ranges from those with two-year associate degrees to masters degrees, and everyone has a national certification in laboratory science.” Roberts said. “We also provide everyone we hire with specific orientation and training in the areas they will be working to ensure everyone is well-educated and highly qualified to work in the department.”
In addition to the laboratory technical staff, there is an administrative director and supervisors, a quality assurance coordinator, a laboratory information systems coordinator, an office manager and various support staff. All laboratory staff and testing are under the direction of a physician with specialty training in clinical and anatomic laboratory sciences. The senior pathologist serves as the medical director of the laboratory.
The laboratory department is located on two floors in the medical center, with the main laboratory on the first floor and the pathology/cytology laboratory on the second floor.
While some smaller hospitals may have to send their laboratory testing to other laboratories to get results, St. Mary’s lab is able to perform almost every type of needed test. Services include microbiology, virology, serology, immunology, toxicology, chemistry, hematology, coagulation, urinalysis, parasitology, flow cytometry, histology, cytology and molecular pathology. These are words most of us would have to look up in the dictionary to know the exact meaning, but the staff members behind the testing are knowledgeable in all these areas and provide these important services to their patients.
St. Mary’s laboratory uses the latest technology for testing procedures. This includes SpecTRACK, a robotic track system that processes laboratory specimens to several instruments at a high rate of speed and accuracy. “It’s really neat because instead of having four people to operate four instruments, we have one person run all four analyzers using the SpecTRACK,” Roberts explained. “That allows us to use those remaining employees for more specialized testing.”
The histology laboratory also offers same-day tissue processing – a new addition within the last year. “Previously, when tissue came in to be processed, it would usually have to fix overnight,” Roberts said. “The new, same-day tissue analyzer allows physicians who submit samples early in the morning to get results back in the same day.”
The blood bank also is a very active part of the laboratory, supporting St. Mary’s Regional Heart Institute, which continues to lead the way in local heart care. “We’re very involved with the local Red Cross and blood drives that help support our heart program. We also are one of the largest users of blood products in the region, and our well-qualified staff members ensure compatibility of donors with our patients,” Roberts said.
Another improvement to patient services at St. Mary’s laboratory is the recent addition of a STAT lab within the emergency department. The STAT laboratory operates 16 hours each day and was designed to improve turnaround time in the ER, resulting in shorter emergency stays.
The laboratory also operates a phlebotomy center in the outpatient facility to accommodate those who are required to have their blood drawn on an outpatient basis. The phlebotomy center offers convenient hours and valet parking.
A patient who spends a few days at St. Mary’s or an outpatient who spends just a few minutes there will likely never see the intense work going on behind the scenes in the laboratory. But these patients can take comfort in knowing their test results are accurate and performed in the quickest possible time to get them back home to their families.
For more information about the services offered in the laboratory at St. Mary’s Medical Center, call 304-526-1060.
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