COVID-19: The Importance of Lab Professionals

Across the globe, people are applauding the brave healthcare workers that are on the front-line of COVID-19. Last week was Lab Appreciation week, and in the current healthcare climate, it was an excellent opportunity to acknowledge the unseen heroes fighting the global pandemic – Laboratory Professionals.

A reliable laboratory infrastructure is critical in fighting COVID-19. Laboratories require a strong infrastructure to support the rapid testing of patient specimens and information technology to quickly distribute results to nurses, doctors, nurse aides, and respiratory therapists that are on the front lines in patient-facing roles.

Throughout our country, laboratories are ramping up their testing efforts to address the pandemic. While COVID-19 testing availability in America is improving, the requirements and demand for COVID-19 testing still far exceed the testing capacity and supplies that are readily available.

Laboratory professionals have had to make several changes to adapt to coronavirus testing demands and its early limitations. New testing methodologies and technology are actively being deployed to hospital laboratories. Workflows are being re-engineered to better support areas of the lab where demand is the greatest. Meanwhile, laboratory staff is working extended hours, in some cases several days non-stop, to help process COVID-19 specimens.

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic has been overwhelming and disruptive to most, if not all, healthcare organizations around the world.

We recognize the impact that this has had on our partners, and we are doing our part to help deliver services, products, compassion, and care to those working tirelessly every day to protect our communities.

Below are a few examples of how our laboratory consultants at Optimum have been able to help support our laboratory partners in managing the increased demands associated with the COVID-19 outbreak.

Interoperability and Connectivity:

With the addition of new testing and instrumentation for performing COVID-19 testing, Optimum has helped our partners with the implementation of new instrumentation and integration with reference laboratories to help enable more efficient workflows, increase turnaround times, and most importantly meet the demand for testing increases.

Reporting:

To help our partners meet the federal request for reporting COVID-19 cases to the Department of Health and Human Services, Optimum has helped develop Operational Summary Reports and Dashboards as well as implement interfaces with state agencies.

Workflow and Support:

Staffing changes, changes in roles and responsibilities, or even illnesses have impacted workflows and processes that have required organizations to adapt quickly. Optimum has worked with our partners to provide steady-state support necessary to keep up with the rapid changes to workflow processes, educational tools, and production support to maintain business continuity.

We at Optimum, want to take this opportunity to showcase our appreciation and acknowledgment for the sacrifice of our Laboratory Professionals- the unseen medical heroes of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

This article originally appeared on the blog of Optimum Healthcare IT.

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