Malcolm Needs ☆ Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 And wedding anniversaries; don't forget they have a very close and intimate relationship with a computer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RR1 Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 (edited) Dear richardsonj, Probably not a good idea to mention the vacation stuff in your business case- could be grounds for rejecting your proposal .... automation inducing strange behaviours in lab techs. Good luck!p.s Malcolm.... too much info!!!....my analysers have a strictly professional relationship with the LIMS. Edited August 4, 2009 by RR1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Needs ☆ Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 p.s Malcolm.... too much info!!!....my analysers have a strictly professional relationship with the LIMS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bday Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 I am looking at automation as well - I am hoping that the decrease in costs of reagents if we are billed at the "automation" level will justify the automation. In addition, we work 2 techs on daylight in a substantially busy blood bank, and can avoid increasing staff if I get automation...I am also from Western PA, and I went to Med Tech school with the old BB supervisor at your hospital!! Small world!!I'll keep you posted if I am successful...keep me posted on your progress... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mawomack Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 You have probably already tried this, but did you go back to Immucor and ask for further justification and/or a reduction in costs? Are you going to purchase or reagent-rental of your Echo. We had a major labor savings by using the Immucor panels on the Echo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Loveless Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 Our focus was patient safety and quality of care. The old adage "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" more than pays off with automation, especially when it is interfaced to directly enter the results and interpretation. There is no human intervention and chance for human error. An example to drive the point home - a gal is pregnant. On her initial type & screen, her Rh is negative. However, because data entry is manual, it is entered as Rh positive. She never gets RhIG. It is not discovered until a subsequent pregnancy when she presents as Rh negative with an anti-D. Did you know that she has 21 years from the date of the error to sue the facility, and each subsequent child she gives birth to has up to 21 years after birth to sue the facility. Now, what jury won't side with the poor gal? Her ability to produce a healthy fetus has been drastically, permanently and irrivocably (spelling?) impacted, all at no fault of her own. And, all because of one simple human data entry that wasn't caught. The automation more than paid for itself. And, that's not even a transfusion event. What about data entry errors that result in incorrect transfusions? Not a pretty picture.Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikescott Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 I worked for an Immucor Sales Rep here in the Midwest during 2002-2004 part-time. I installed and validated an ABS 2000 in 2001 and from my experience was even given a chance to speak at AABB in 2004. Safety and the fact that instrumentation documents the whole process from start to finish are key factors, but not the only factors. Instruments can be performing work when techs are actually performing different tasks. Instruments don't go on vacations very often, call in sick, or have to take their kids to the doctor, dentist, etc. They can work long hours and don't complain very often. The new Echo series has a continous work flow in that it can be performing tests and still start more. Not many techs can multitask stats as well and not compromise patient quality. Cost is not the only factor to consider. Instrumentation was often the extra tech I needed when business was really booming like when I walked in at 6:30 am and was faced with 4 or 5 surgeries that were to start at 8am and no preop work had been performed. Instruments read reactions consistently like no tech can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMcCord Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 I am working under a pretty similar workload to yours and the points everyone has been making are absolutely on the mark. The automation tier for reagent pricing made our cost per test less than what we were paying for gel/tube. The point about using fewer supplies like tubes, pipettes, etc is a good one that can narrow the cost difference for you a bit. You may be able to get a deal that locks in or locks down price increases over a period of time - this can save $$$ over the long haul. Worth looking in to.Patient safety was one of my BIG selling points. The Echo instrument functionality prevents a lot of idiot errors (we can all make them on a stressed out day!), which is something the rotators appreciate. It reads barcodes for the patient sample and the donor so those times where you must process multiple patients at the same time, you have a built in safety cushion. Our Blood Bank is not computerized, so using the barcodes has been a big step forward in process improvement. Patients can't be run if reagents are outdated, QC doesn't work, maintenance hasn't been done...that can save you some paperwork reporting errors, not to mention improving quality of product. The instrument is easy to use. Again, this is something the rotators appreciate. Evening/night shift appreciates the fact that they can complete a GroupScreen with immediate spin crossmatch in about 30-40 minutes, with time to walk away in midrun and do other pesky things, like stats from the ER. We improved our turn-around times pretty dramatically on day shift (think 3-5 crossmatches at the same time). This makes your customers happy (and the administration likes happy doctors ). This gets transfusions started sooner, which makes nursing service happy. Need I mention that this is a good thing for the patient as well. Antibody IDs take the same amount of time as a GroupScreen. That is not generally the case with manual methods. Plus, that ID can be running in the workstream with everything else you are doing, not as a separate test process. I know of another Blood Bank about our size that is planning to bring antibody ID in house for the first time in many years because they will have time to do them with Echo running the panels.Tracking reagent lot#s is a breeze. Echo does it for you. QC is documented by the instrument. Maintenance is documented by the instrument. Visual records of the actual patient results are documented by the instrument. Saves me lots of paperwork time (Time = Money).Good Luck! It will be well worth the bureaucratic hassle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richardsonj Posted October 20, 2009 Author Share Posted October 20, 2009 Well, you all probably thought I forgot to update you on whether or not we got permission to buy the Echo. I haven't forgotten...we just have no news yet. The new offer from Immucor is going to CEO next week so keep your fingers (and toes and legs and everything else) crossed. If they don't sign this time, I don't think they ever will! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Likewine99 Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Fingers crossed in St. Louis. We waited over 1.5 years to get our ProVue, BB automation was just not on the administration's radar.That is until our entire organizatioin benefited from the pricing structure. Once you go to automation you will wonder how you ever lived w/o it.Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richardsonj Posted November 17, 2009 Author Share Posted November 17, 2009 Well, you all asked for me to let you know what the final answer was and here it is:TODAY, I just sent our Immucor rep off with a purchase order and signed contract!!!!! The Echo is on it's way. Since it is so close to the holidays, we are looking at bringing up the capture workstation first thing in January and then the Echo a couple of weeks later. If anyone out there has any insight or tips, hints, whatever on validation and setting up automation, feel free to shower me with information! Thank you to all of you who gave me tips, tricks and moral support. This forum is awesome!richardsonj@acmh.org Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John C. Staley Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Congratulations and welcome to the 21st century. I think you are going to enjoy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clmergen Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Validation isn't hard. Immucor gives you a guide that has all the test cases that you will need to do. Follow the book. As a faciltiy you will need to determine how many tests to correlate. And you will need to write a plan. I will email you what I wrote up for us.You are going to love the Echo and completely ignore the Capture Workstation. Congrats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbbirder Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 Well, you all asked for me to let you know what the final answer was and here it is:TODAY, I just sent our Immucor rep off with a purchase order and signed contract!!!!! The Echo is on it's way. Since it is so close to the holidays, we are looking at bringing up the capture workstation first thing in January and then the Echo a couple of weeks later. If anyone out there has any insight or tips, hints, whatever on validation and setting up automation, feel free to shower me with information! Thank you to all of you who gave me tips, tricks and moral support. This forum is awesome!richardsonj@acmh.orgImmucor gives you a great validation guide. Training is good. Support is good.I hope that you are going to interface it. Interfacing was the worst part of our implementation, but well worth it in the end.Linda Frederick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L106 Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 I think you will be very pleased with the Echo. I agree with everything that clmergen and bbbirder said. (We didn't bother with the Capture Workstation either.) Our installation, start-up, and staff training went extremely smoothly. (Probably my biggest challenge was "tweaking" my standing order for the test strips! I certainly don't mind that kind of "big" challenge!) Good luck!Donna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clmergen Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 After a year we are still tweaking our standing order. Luckily we have enough placed in our system that extra product can be shipped around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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