BRISTOL, Conn.—Just in time for Medical Laboratory Professionals Week—which takes place in late April—Bristol Hospital has unveiled a battery of new laboratory equipment which will result in enhanced capabilities and quicker turnaround times for patients undergoing lab tests.
The hospital has gone live with its new Roche Diagnostic’s Cobas 6000 Analyzers which are a new platform to perform state-of-the-art tests in its hospital-based laboratory. The Cobas system—which is housed in the hospital’s Laboratory Automation Room—can perform 100 different tests and analyze up to 150 samples at one time. One of the many new features is a specific cardiac diagnostic test which will determine if a patient has experienced a heart attack.
“Bristol Hospital is one of a handful of hospitals in Connecticut to have installed the Cobas technology,” said Bristol Hospital Laboratory Director Cindy L. Dubowsky, MS, MLS, (ASCP) who leads the lab along with Medical Director Michele P. Normandin, MD. “For the majority of tests with our older equipment, the average lab test would take about 21 minutes to analyze. Now with the Roche Coba system, those same tests take only about nine minutes to get the results.”
With the quicker turnaround time, Dubowsky said there will be a significant cost savings for Bristol Hospital. The equipment was delivered and installation began in late December. The analyzers went live on March 20.
“Our team is very dedicated to providing the best patient experience,” Dubowsky said. “This equipment gives us a means to do that with the results being available in a much more timely fashion.”
Bristol Hospital’s federal- and state-licensed, nationally accredited, full-service clinical laboratory provides a comprehensive set of quality services. Each service provides a vital, specialized function assisting physicians in the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions.
“Having the Coba Analyzers up and running is the perfect way to celebrate National Medical Laboratory Professionals week which takes place from April 22 to 28. This is a special week to celebrate medical laboratory professionals and pathologists who play a vital role in health care and patient advocacy,” Dubowsky said.