According to national statistics, the data and results obtained from a hospital or health system’s laboratory drive more than 70 percent of health care decisions. At Lancaster General Health, the Laboratory department supports clinical services at Lancaster General and Women & Babies hospitals, Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute, 16 ambulatory locations and 25 extended-care facilities, resulting in more than 2.3 million tests a year. The department is unique in that it is also able to supply 90 percent of the blood needed for health system patients through the LG Health Blood Donor Center.
In April, the Medical Lab Observer (MLO) announced that LG Health was named the 2019 Lab of the Year for its commitment to excellence and scope of work. The award recognizes laboratories that demonstrate excellence in customer service, productivity, teamwork, education and training, strategic outlook and lab inspections/accreditations.
“As a department, we have grown and matured over the years, not only physically with the lab expansion and upgrade, but we have also observed great outcomes from the standard of work and Continuous Improvement techniques our team has implemented,” said Brian Stambaugh, Enterprise Diagnostics manager.
In fiscal year 2018, the LG Health lab met and achieved various laboratory accreditations requirements, while also growing into a 15,000 square-foot expansion and renovation. Sue Steele, Quality analyst, who was part of the application process, explained, “It takes a village to provide excellent patient care, and we wanted to make sure our application reflected the work that each individual contributes to our system.”
More than 200 employees contribute to the success of the LG Health laboratory system, using technology to reduce waste and improve the turn-around time of results through huddles, ongoing audits and standard-of-care models. By doing so, the team has significantly improved processes in phlebotomy, point-of-care testing, pathology labeling and Blood Bank platelet production, to name a few.
“We are honored to receive this award. Our department functions as one of the little giants behind the scenes of patient care. This award recognizes the collective and individual effort made to provide high-quality outcomes for our patients,” Stambaugh said.