LABORATORY MANAGEMENT
Laboratory automation: maximising benefits and reducing risks
While automation of laboratory tests and procedures can bring great efficiencies and benefits to the laboratory and to overall patient care, effective implementation of an automation project requires detailed planning strategy and evaluation, as Renato Gargiani explains.
Clinical laboratories today face increasing pressure to automate their operations due to ever-increasing workloads, the need to reduce expenses, and difficulties in recruiting experienced technical personnel.
Since the development of the first continuous-flow analyser in the 1950s,
laboratory automation has continued to evolve and expand its capabilities. Automated processes are now an indispensable necessity to maximise efficiency and minimise errors by integrating mechanical, electronic, and informatic tools to perform an ever- expanding variety of laboratory tasks.
With increased pressure to reduce
healthcare costs, the use of automation and robotics, from automation islands (task-targeted automation or TTA), to large integrated core-laboratory systems (total laboratory automation or TLA), has become pervasive in clinical laboratories worldwide to achieve faster turnaround times, reduce errors, and improve patient care.
Automation is commonly associated with a number of benefits such as increased productivity, reduced operating costs, standardisation of different steps (preanalytical, analytical, and post- analytical), and an overall improvement in laboratory service. Achieving these benefits requires addressing a profound change in operational processes. Specific criteria should be established to choose the best design for the specific context for which the automation project is intended.
Types and characteristics of automation systems
Laboratory automation is now considered a well-established technology that ensures high-quality, efficient, patient- centred operation and low operating costs.
Laboratory automation is commonly associated with a number of benefits but requires a profound change in operational processes.
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Although there is no single definition, laboratory automation is generally classified according to the complexity of instrument integration, starting from the lowest level, where analysers operate individually (stand-alone), proceeding to the level of ‘partial’ automation, or task- targeted automation, with the adoption of so-called islands of automation, (workstations), where analysers are interconnected and partially integrated with pre-analytical systems and dedicated to distinct work areas, such as the serum area or SWA, (integrating mainly clinical chemistry and immunochemistry tests), up to the level of total laboratory
MAY 2024
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