How to Achieve Optimal Lab Efficiency: Tactics and Solutions

Newer, higher-quality equipment can be a major capital expense. But the investment can make a real difference for lab efficiency. High-quality, well-maintained equipment can return higher-quality results, run higher volumes, and reduce time wasted due to technical problems.

Older lab equipment may run more slowly and break down more often. This not only takes it offline for future testing but can cause problems for the test that was underway when the equipment failed. The failure may even waste the sample, possibly requiring recollection, increasing the time and resources needed for the test.

Equipment maintenance is crucial for enhancing lab efficiency. Following all manufacturer recommendations for cleaning, calibrating, and caring for your equipment will help keep it working accurately and efficiently—and may even extend its life. Regular maintenance can also help identify minor problems before they become bigger issues.

People are the heartbeat of a lab. Their skills, knowledge, and adherence to processes can make a lab function like a well-oiled machine. Efficient labs often have effective human resource departments, which are tasked with finding, retaining, and supporting qualified personnel.

Internal communication is also vital. Everyone should understand their roles and responsibilities, as well as the lab's workflow processes. Formalized processes ensure that tasks are completed in the same way, no matter who is performing them, leading to greater efficiency and consistency within the lab.

Clutter and chaos are a recipe for inefficiency but can be remedied. Careful organization starts with the floorplan—place equipment and workspaces in areas that complement each other and enable an efficient workflow. Be sure to give large equipment enough room for easy operation. Then, organize tools, supplies, and smaller equipment so they are easy to access. Label everything to make it easy to find. Finally, reduce the use of paper as much as possible to clear away the clutter.

Every laboratorian knows that details matter. This holds true for fine-tuning the laboratory itself. The details matter and can make a big impact on a lab's effectiveness. Whether it's people management or equipment and digitation, fixing inefficiencies can help the whole operation rise to the growing demands that it faces.

Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programs set the gold standard for patient care, but the work that goes into AMS efforts can be grueling. Antibiograms, or profiles that summarize the susceptibility of pathogens to certain antibiotics, are a crucial component when it comes to AMS, but creating just one can take months of work, which is too much to ask of understaffed or overworked labs.

With the integration of CLARION, labs can offload the tedious task of data collection and automate the creation of stewardship reports. At the click of a button, laboratorians can create highly specific antibiograms that give clinicians the information they need to guide patient therapy away from unnecessary antimicrobials.

Moreover, CLARION can help improve culture contamination reporting. By automating the process, the solution can more accurately determine contamination rates, thereby eliminating potential antibiogram inaccuracies.