Drug screening in hospital clinical laboratories

Although hospital toxicology laboratories are usually established to assist their emergency services in the diagnosis and treatment of patients, they could and should be used by other departments in the hospital, as well as by other facilities in the area. Overall, toxicology services vary widely in both scope and practice. Comprehensive screens are generally processed by larger hospitals or by university-affilitated medical centers. However, smaller facilities may be able to offer comprehensive services by marketing their efforts in the geographic area of the hospital. The ultimate success of the hospital toxicology laboratory will depend on its ability to communicate its services to its users and to offer a wide range of tests in a proficient and cost-effective manner.     

Points for consideration: transferring and changing hospital clinical laboratories.

BACKGROUND: The laboratories of Carmel Medical Centre were located in the main hospital building since its establishment (1977). Due to expansion of the clinical wards, the laboratories were relocated to a nearby building. The project was utilized for reorganization of the laboratories. METHODS: The basic design addressed the existing hospital needs based mainly on the original organization of the laboratories. The project allowed for the prospective organizational changes. The planning, design, and erection were performed by teams of the hospital and by outside parties, headed by the hospital management and the laboratories' director. The laboratories' staff was involved in all phases of the project. RESULTS: The project laid the foundations for future consolidation, i.e., establishment of a central reception station and merging of chemistry, endocrinology, pharmacology, and segments of immunology. The merging involved performance but not validation of tests. Separation between research and routine work was achieved. By-products attained were as follows: simplification of tube handling, reduction in volume of blood needed, improvements in safety, employees' amenities, general atmosphere, and communication within personnel. CONCLUSION: The successful transfer resulted from appropriate design, close cooperation between management and personnel, and the ability to pinpoint problems at early stages with ad hoc solutions.     

Physiotherapy services in intensive care. A workforce survey of Australia and New Zealand

BackgroundIn Australia and New Zealand, there are currently no recommendations to guide staffing levels for intensive care unit (ICU) physiotherapy services, and there is limited information about the current services provided.ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to document the profile of intensive care physiotherapy services currently offered in Australia and New Zealand.MethodsA binational survey was distributed to physiotherapists. The survey sought information on staffing and service profiles for weekday, weekend, and after-hour services including on-call and evening shifts.ResultsEighty-six sites completed the survey, with responses primarily from Level 3 (47/86, 55%) and public ICUs (74/86, 86%). For weekday services, the ratio of full-time equivalent physiotherapy staff allocated per bed was similar between all intensive care levels (0.11 [0.08–0.15], p = 0.421). Thirty respondents (35%) were satisfied with their staffing and reported higher levels of physiotherapy staff per bed (0.15 [0.1–0.2], p < 0.001). Most sites reported lower levels of staffing for weekend services (76/86, 88%), and many physiotherapists indicated that they were not satisfied with this service (55/86, 64%). Most Level 2, Level 3, and paediatric ICUs had a designated senior physiotherapist, with similar levels of senior physiotherapy staff allocated per bed between all ICU levels (0.05 [0.03–0.08], p = 0.844). Few sites reported dedicated staff attributed to intensive care education, research, tracheostomy service, or outreach roles. On-call physiotherapy services were available in 49 of 86 (57%) hospitals surveyed; however, utilisation of the service by ICUs was mainly reported to be less than once per month (19/49, 39%).ConclusionsPhysiotherapy staffing ratios were similar across different ICU levels. While weekend services are available for most ICUs, staffing levels are reduced. Higher staffing ratios were associated with higher levels of satisfaction to complete professional roles and responsibilities.     

Work environment and workforce problems: a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of hospital nurses in Belgium

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated Belgian hospital nurses' perceptions on work environment and workforce issues, quality of care, job satisfaction and professional decision making. METHODS: All eligible nurses in a selection of 22 hospitals received the BELIMAGE questionnaire for a total of 13,958 potential respondents. Of these, 9941 returned study materials (response rate=71.2%) of which 9638 were valid and useable for statistical analysis (valid response rate=69.1%). RESULTS: The study identified several areas of tension in the nursing profession. The commitment to being competent providers of quality care was remarkably strong among the nurses, but they also perceived the barriers in the work environment to be multiple and complex. Concerns about the quality of leadership and management, insufficient staff, time demands and stressful work environment are experienced as obstacles in providing good nursing care. Four out of ten nurses (39.2%) would not choose nursing again as a career and more than half of the nurses (54.3%) have contemplated leaving the profession at some point in time. CONCLUSIONS: To effectively tackle the professional and workforce issues in nursing, investments should focus on redesigning a work environment that supports nurses in providing comprehensive professional care.     

The changing face of clinical laboratories.

Laboratory medicine has undergone a sea change, and medical laboratories must now adapt to, and meet new, customer-supplier needs springing from shifts in the patterns of disease prevalence, medical practice, and demographics. Managed care and other cost-containment processes have forced those involved in health care to cooperate to develop a full picture of patient care, and this has affected clinical laboratory objectives, the main focus now being on improvement in medical outcomes. More recently, the resource shortages in health care and results of cost/effectiveness analysis have demonstrated that the value of a laboratory test must be ascertained not only on the basis of its chemical or clinical performance characteristics, but also by its impact on patient management, the only true assessment of the quality of testing being quality of patient outcomes. The time is ripe for changing the vision of laboratory medicine, and some of the reasons for this are the availability of results in real-time, the introduction of more specific tests, and the trend to prevent diseases rather than cure them. The information from laboratory tests designed to evaluate biochemical or genetic risk and/or prognostic factors cannot be replaced either by physical examination and/or the assessment of symptoms. Today, the importance of laboratory scientists must be proven in three broad areas: a) guaranteeing the quality of tests, irrespective of where they are performed; b) improving the quality of the service; c) maximizing the impact of laboratory information on patient management.     

A national survey on pediatric critical values used in clinical laboratories across Canada

ObjectiveNotification of critical values to clinical staff is an important post-analytical process in all acute care clinical laboratories. No data are available however on how laboratories obtain or establish critical values, particularly in pediatric settings. This study was designed to examine and compare critical values used for pediatric patients in biochemistry laboratories in Canada and assess potential interlaboratory variability.Design and methodsFourteen clinical laboratories, including two in pediatric hospitals and twelve in hospitals caring for both children and adults, participated in a survey that included 14 pre-selected STAT chemistry tests and 19 pre-selected therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) tests.ResultsAmong fourteen chemistry tests, good agreement was observed for critical values used for sodium and pH at both low and high levels within 14 participant laboratories. Significant interlaboratory variability existed for glucose critical values at the high end, magnesium at high end, and PO2 at the low end. For 19 TDM tests, the majority of laboratories did not have alert values to report values over the therapeutic level but not toxic. For critical values greater than the toxic range, significant variability existed at both trough and peak levels among laboratories surveyed. When asked to provide the source for critical values established at each site, only a limited number of laboratories identified their sources as either internal decision or published references.ConclusionAlthough all laboratories have established and routinely use critical values to alert clinical staff, considerable variability exists in both the critical limits reported as well as the source of such values. There is a clear need for new national efforts to standardize pediatric critical value reporting and establish evidence-based critical limits for all medical laboratories across Canada.     

Flow cytometry instrumentation in research and clinical laboratories.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the basic components of a flow cytometer and the features unique to research and clinical instruments. DATA SOURCES: Recent review articles and textbooks on cytometry or laboratory diagnosis. STUDY SELECTION: Not applicable. DATA EXTRACTION: Performed by the authors. DATA SYNTHESIS: A cytometer is used for counting and measuring the physical and chemical characteristics of cells and other biological particles. A flow cytometer is different from other cytometers in that a single-cell suspension is passed through it in a fluid stream. A flow cytometer is a complex combination of optics, fluidics, and electronics. A labeled cell is forced through the system, causing the cell to scatter light and emit fluorescence. This output is sensed by photodetectors and then amplified and converted to digital signals for storage in computers. This stored data can be displayed or used for further analysis. CONCLUSION: Some instruments can separate cells that meet certain preselected criteria. Therefore, the flow cytometer is widely used in research as well as in clinical immunology and hematology to perform rapid immunophenotyping, cell sorting, and DNA analysis.     

2002-2003年我院临床分离菌的分布与耐药性分析

目的 了解我院临床分离菌的分布及其耐药性。方法 采用Microscan WalkAway-40全自动微生物鉴定仪及配套阳性菌和阴性菌药敏复合板进行菌种鉴定与药敏试验，根据NCCLS标准对肠球菌属细菌重新进行万古霉素耐药表型筛选与确证试验。结果2002年1月至2003年12月我院共分离1947株菌株，其中革兰阳性球菌609株(31．3％)，革兰阴性杆菌1338株(68．7％)。金黄色葡萄球菌(SA)和凝固酶阴性葡萄球菌(CNS)中甲氧西林耐药株(MRSA和MRCNS)各占65．3％和70．7％，未发现万古霉素耐药株和中介株。肠球菌属中粪肠球菌和屎肠球菌万古霉素耐药株(VRE)各占5．6％和3．7％，中介株(VIE)各占15．7％和11．1％。SA、CNS和肠球菌属对万古霉素敏感率最高，其次为呋哺妥因。大肠埃希菌、克雷伯菌属、肠杆菌属、变形杆菌属、铜绿假单胞菌和不动杆菌属对亚胺培南耐药率除铜绿假单胞菌为10．5％外，其余菌属仅O．0％～3．8％，对头孢他啶、头孢曲松、头孢噻肟和头孢泊肟的耐药率除变形杆菌属较低外分别达18．9％～38。6％、27．1％～57．9％、31．0％～55．3％和25．9％～61．4％；大肠埃希菌对环丙沙星耐药率为66．7％。结论临床上MRSA、MRCNS和肠球菌属感染常见，目前细菌耐药现象仍然严重，应合理应用抗生素以延缓细菌耐药性的产生。     

A survey on the position of France in international clinical research as assessed by pharmaceutical laboratories

In order to evaluate the attractiveness of France for conducting international clinical trials, a survey was performed among pharmaceutical companies that are based in France or that have affiliates in France. The survey concerned international phase II and III clinical studies carried out in 2002 and 2003. Ten pharmaceutical companies representing 36% of the French market completed the survey. 134 trials were analysed in total. France recruited 8.3% of the overall number of patients recruited, and 15.0% of those recruited within Europe. France was within the overall mean with regard to the percentage of active centres (78.5% versus 79.5%) and the percentage of patients evaluable according to protocol (86.8% versus 87.3%). In contrast, France ranked within the last third of analysed countries with respect to the speed of recruitment (1.5 versus 1.9 patients/centre/month), and the number of queries per observation (16.8 versus 10.9). The analysis of the qualitative indicators of performance showed that, although the perception of pharmaceutical companies towards the quality of French medicine and administrative authorities is positive, France notably needs to improve the productivity of its clinical research in order to enhance its attractiveness for the pharmaceutical sponsors of clinical trials.