‘A Different World’ for This Norwegian Hospital
In a biochemistry department, it is not uncommon for additional tests to be ordered after a sample has been processed. Up until recently, the biochemistry staff in used to spend a lot of time searching for samples with outstanding tests, as these are run at the end of each day. That is, until their new 鈥渂est friend鈥 came along.
The 鈥渂est friend鈥 is a PathFinder 350A Archiver robotic workstation. It is used for capping and archiving of sample tubes that have been processed by one of two . The samples are loaded directly onto the 350A in the sample rack carrier trays from the Architect. The 350A is also used to archive some capped tubes that are presented in a separate input rack.
Lab Supervisors, Liv B. Larsen and Trine-Lise Kristensen, explain what their new Archiver means to them:
鈥淚t solved all our troubles, and it is super-easy to look up samples now! The entire staff has 鈥渇allen in love with it鈥 and some of them call the 350A their 鈥渂est friend鈥.鈥
Efficient Searching
The 350A is archiving about 1100 samples per day in Drammen Hospital. The location of every sample (rack and well number) is stored in the 350A鈥檚 in-built database, which is accessible from any PC in the laboratory鈥檚 network.
鈥淪toring samples and searching for samples is much quicker with the 350A than before. It cannot be compared, it is a different world!鈥
Cost Saving
On the 350A, tubes are capped with a foil seal before they are transferred to a storage rack. This saves lab staff from work-related injuries and stress, since they don鈥檛 have to re-cap tubes. There is also some saving on the cost of caps, but the main saving is in time. Staff have been freed up, so they can now spend time on more productive tasks.
Easy Training and Setup
Ms. Larsen and Ms. Kristensen also commented that all staff found it 鈥渟urprisingly easy鈥 to train on. In fact, they enthused, 鈥渨e have never had an instrument that everyone accepted and learned this fast before! We started it in routine straight after installation.鈥
Overall, the consensus from the biochemistry lab at Drammen hospital is that the PathFinder 350A Archiver is: 鈥渆asy-to-use鈥, 鈥渇ast鈥 and creates 鈥渧ery satisfied laboratory personnel鈥.
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