Trusted lab results through Lean Daily Management

  • Published
  • By Kimberly Gaither
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Located within the Wright-Patterson Medical Center, the Core Laboratory conducts multiple in-house laboratory tests, and processing of patients’ samples for shipment to other Department of Defense laboratories, all in an effort to satisfy physicians’ requests.

The Core Laboratory element currently staffs 22 members and has five main sections, which include Chemistry, Hematology, Urinalysis, Coagulation, and Shipping and Processing. The Core Laboratory, and other larger hospital labs, also conducts extension training for new Airmen out of tech school.   

“Our Airmen have a good support system in place to ask questions to experienced lab techs when they are trained in larger laboratories, an environment suited to teaching because of its size,” said 1st Lt. Robert Pilla, chief of Core Laboratory.

Technical supervisors are able to manage their section’s technicalities, write operating instructions, test the competency of the techs, and conduct regular proficiency test surveys from an outside accrediting agency.  Pilla oversees the technical supervisors as the administrative leader and helps to incorporate a Lean Daily Management culture, which immediately identifies processes that can be bettered. 

“We constantly identify practices we can improve by using Lean Daily Management, a tool geared towards the initiation of process improvements. Our lab is always looking for what the next big project for that quarter can be,” said Pilla.

The Core Laboratory now also uses more technical instruments, as opposed to conducting tests manually.  These instruments are able to produce exact results with specific values that physicians can rely on. And redundancy has been built into the labs process to ensure results are readily available for the providers who count on this information.

“We build redundancy into the laboratory processes pretty successfully to make sure at least one instrument is up and running, capable of producing good results,” stated Pilla.

Pilla sets a goal for the staff of completing two LDM projects each quarter.  Currently, one project is focused on tracking maintenance downtime of the chemistry analyzers in an effort to better streamline the steps involved.  Daily maintenance is executed every night by a technician responsible for shutting down instruments, flushing lines, and adding new reagents, among other tasks. 

The other project is to identify where patient recalls, or when a patient is required to come back to provide another sample, can be avoided.  While infrequent, patients can be called back due to a mishap which occurs before laboratory testing.  Pilla wants to reduce that already low occurrence.

“This process of completing LDM projects, and improving our processes, is good for the Core Laboratory.  We can share the data we collect with other departments as well, especially in cases where they may be facing the same or similar issue,” stated Pilla.

Pilla stated that the process improvements and other quality control measures the lab runs daily are all part of a larger focus to ensure all results from the lab can be trusted by nurses, physicians, and patients.

“We take pride in our work which allows us to be a Trusted Care partner in the medical group,” said Pilla.