Overcoming the challenges of distributed working #3

Expertise on tap

Like so many small laboratories, VIHA’s more remote spoke sites found it difficult to attract experienced technicians, and were therefore more vulnerable to the widespread staff shortages affecting both the region and the profession as a whole. They relied upon morphology experts based at the larger sites when faced with challenging or unusual cell morphology. ‘Difficult’ slides needed to be transported to larger sites—which could take as long as 48 hours.

Prolonged turnaround times affect everyone: laboratorians, ordering physicians, and, crucially, patients.

“Say that someone feels unwell, and goes to a small hospital that is hours away from our central hub,” explains Brian. “When reviewed, the peripheral blood smear meets the local criteria for an abnormal slide, so the technologist sends the slide to us for review. By the time the slide reaches us, it’s been 24 or even 48 hours. What if we find blast cells and it’s a child with acute leukemia? To offer top patient care, we want to return results while that child and their family are sitting in the emergency room, not days after they’ve gone home.”

Their digitized, connected DCM workflow is enabling VIHA to do just this: offer patients fast, accurate, location-independent care, without the need to transport delicate physical slides by courier. It renders irrelevant the physical presence of on-site expertise by providing remote data sharing and review capabilities that like bringing an expert to any site. “We have a virtual pathologist any time 24/7”, says Dr. Berry.

Taking the heat off

The technology also reduces the pressure of heavy or unmanageable workloads, relieving burdens on busy technicians and minimizing the growing threat of increasing staff shortages. “Technologists are overwhelmed by the amount of work they’re doing,” says Brian. “DCM allows us to manage that by centralizing some of that workload and taking some of the heat off so they can work in a less pressurized way.”

“A technologist can only do so much work,” adds Brian. “The beauty of the DCM technology is that you can load it and walk away and do other tasks. One person can only analyze so many slides manually, but with CellaVision it’s unlimited: it can perform as many as you can load.”

Looking to the future

With DCM, VIHA have opened up a new way of working: a way that rethinks and changes up how hematology laboratories work. By bridging the gap between hub and spoke, the organization aims to guarantee consistent, reliable services island-wide. Their DCM-enhanced workflow is becoming increasingly centralized, streamlined, connected and seamless.