Under One Roof
Continued from page 2
Medical technologist, Johnny Santiago, right, in the new Microarray lab.
Medical technologist, Meghan Nowicki, works in the new Bacteriology area.
“Considering the size and scope of our operations, the golive went considerably well,” said Allen, noting that hundreds of people and pieces of equipment were moved four miles from Strong Memorial Hospital, as were staff and automation from the Ridgeland Road facility. Testing officially went live at the new central laboratory on June 24. Since then, the department has successfully moved all outpatient testing to Bailey Road. It has been a team effort from day one, from couriers adjusting to new routes to workflow for receiving and testing specimens to meet critical turnaround times for clients. “Everyone worked very well together despite the usual golive hurdles,” said Allen. These included some technical hiccups but, “Overall, there were no major issues for go-live, which was fantastic.” The specimen work was moved in phases, starting with a percentage of outpatient and microbiology testing. The second phase was moving the remainder of work collected at patient service centers, followed by nursing home and home draw work. Large new automation – most notably for chemistry and microbiology – brings greater capacity for growth as we continue to take on work from hospital affiliate sites who need centralized support. Liz Peterdy, assistant director of operations for the Central Lab, said the approach to the transition was thoughtful throughout the process over the last several months. “I am so proud of all the effort and hard work of the lab staff who made the move happen for all aspects of workload shifting, validation testing, and implementing new workflows,” she said. “I’m very excited to see lab stabilization and new opportunities to grow the Central Lab with our regional affiliates and collaborations.”
September marked the opening of Shell A, an addition to the original design for Phase I of the project. This frees up square footage to help enable the Emergency Department at Strong Memorial to proceed with its plans to expand. This space is home to the protein lab, toxicology, donor testing, computer support, and some automated chemistry equipment. This coincided with the teardown of a plastic “wall” that divided the core lab from a wall of exterior windows. This allows natural light to stream into the core laboratory – a game changer for those who have grown accustomed to working in windowless labs for years. “Shell A gives us windows in the lab,” said Peterdy. “It feels great because any large automated space is usually in the basement of a hospital somewhere.” October marks the beginning of the final moves for Phase I at Bailey Road. At that time, groups including the phlebotomy administrative team, Client Services, and the rest of the Clinical Trials group will begin moving into their new offices. Plans are now in motion for the onsite relocation of ground floor laboratories at Strong Memorial that will move into the G-2100 and 1-2100 areas, both of which are being gutted and redesigned to bring more onsite teams into new, well-lit space within the hospital in 2020. This next step is the next major hurdle for the next six months, Allen explained, but it’s another opportunity to improve workspace for staff. “Many of our folks have been on the ground floor of the hsospital in extremely antiquated space that has needed updating for a very long time,” said Allen. “Having been through the Bailey Road project I can say with confidence that we will get there, and it’s going to be better no matter what.”
2 URMC DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOGY AND LABORATORY MEDICINE