Trouble-free: Docs have a look at the working of the bar code
system for testing samples at Rajiv Gandhi Authorities Common Hospital in Chennai.
| Photograph Credit score: AKHILA EASWARAN
The lengthy queues of affected person family members ready handy over the blood samples of their hospitalised relations and to gather the check outcomes outdoors the biochemistry laboratory at Rajiv Gandhi Authorities Common Hospital (RGGGH) have come down. The explanation: docs can entry laboratory investigation reviews on their cellphones and on the wards by an internet portal, getting rid of the necessity for affected person attendants to attend outdoors the central laboratory to gather the reviews. RGGGH’s Institute of Biochemistry was the primary within the authorities sector in Tamil Nadu to launch such an internet portal permitting docs to simply entry laboratory reviews. The institute has additionally launched a bar code system that has made workflow clean in addition to hassle-free for affected person attendants.
Over 1,000 samples a day
The institute receives round 1,700-2,000 samples on daily basis. There was a 60% discount within the variety of individuals queuing outdoors the laboratory after the online portal was launched a number of months in the past. In lots of instances, the turnaround time is 2 hours, in response to docs. RGGGH Dean E. Theranirajan says a variety of reforms have occurred within the biochemistry laboratory. “Affected person attendants needn’t come to gather the reviews. This manner, enormous crowding outdoors the laboratory has been minimised.”
Testing samples from the hospital’s emergency unit has been fast-tracked because the pneumatic tube system is operating full-fledged within the final six months. “Samples lifted from sufferers arriving on the emergency ward positioned in Tower 2 are transported and dropped on the three central laboratories (biochemistry, pathology, and microbiology) in Tower 1 by the pneumatic tube system. These samples are instantly processed, and the outcomes can be found in 40 minutes,” says Okay. Pramila, Director, Institute of Biochemistry, Madras Medical School and RGGGH. RGGGH plans to broaden the power to all of the three tower blocks in order that the method of receiving samples and issuing reviews are made simple.
Level-of-care testing
In actual fact, the institute has launched point-of-care testing for cardiac biomarkers within the emergency division, facilitating fast analysis of sufferers with chest ache, she says, including: “When a affected person arrives with criticism of chest ache, cardiac biomarker exams are accomplished on the bedside to rapidly rule out myocardial infarction. This point-of-care testing facility permits clinicians to make a analysis inside minutes.”
This isn’t all. The institute has been doing therapeutic drug monitoring for the final six to eight months during which sufferers who’ve undergone organ transplants (liver, kidney, and bone marrow) are monitored routinely to verify whether or not the dosage of the immunosuppressant medicine prescribed are of the suitable degree. “If the dosage is low, it will possibly result in organ rejection, and whether it is excessive, it might have poisonous results. Primarily based on the reviews, docs can titrate the dosage whereas they’re in admission,” Dr. Pramila says.
The institute has additionally launched testing for inflammatory markers for all sufferers with fever and sepsis for analysis and monitoring functions, and anaemia profile. “The laboratory additionally shares and highlights essential values recognized on testing samples on a WhatsApp group, alerting the respective heads of departments and enabling docs to take up required interventions instantly,” Dr. Theranirajan says.
Printed – February 11, 2025 10:52 pm IST
