INFECTION DIAGNOSTICS :: URINALYSIS AND BODY FLUIDS
Automating body fluid analysis B
By Matt Rhyner, PhD, MBA
ody fluid cellular analysis is used by physicians to get substantial information regarding a patient’s medical conditions, including inflammatory diseases, infection, hemorrhage and malignancy.1
is performed manually with an optical microscopy, which is con- sidered the gold-standard method for cell counting.2
Traditionally, body fluid analysis However,
manual counting is time-consuming, labor intensive, and subject to high inter-observer variability and potential poor reproduc- ibility.3
The challenge for laboratories Laboratories and healthcare systems across the world have been placed under sustained pressure during the COVID-19 pandemic.4
The burden of body fluids analysis is only increased with the high pressure, low resource environment we live in today.
according to Medical Laboratory Observer’s 2021 annual salary survey of laboratory professionals, 80% of respondents noted shortages having a “moderate to large impact” on operational efficiency.5
This is exacerbated by the shortage of labor. In fact,
The challenge of labor shortages cannot be overcome
easily as between 2007 and 2017, the number of active patholo- gists in the U.S. decreased by approximately 17.5%, a trend that has continued.6
This dramatic lack of supply and demand
equilibrium demands laboratories to do more with less, and this is where automation has a role to play — to help to reconcile this in equilibrium and deliver high-quality results. Despite wage growth, the labor force participation rate remains near its lowest level since the 1970s. In the face of this shortage, hospitals are turning to automation.7
Automated
methods for body fluid cell counts have been rapidly replacing manual hemacytometer methods, while technological advances
24 JANUARY 2022
MLO-ONLINE.COM
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