Every minute can count in the medical field.
It’s why researchers are always looking for ways to do things faster in health care, without sacrificing accuracy. It’s also why Bristol Hospital recently invested in new equipment that can deliver lab results much faster than it previously could.
“It’s state of the art,” Cindy Dubowsky, director of laboratory services at Bristol Hospital, said of the new Roche Diagnostic’s Cobas Analyzers.
Bristol Hospital is “one of 50 hospitals in the country” with this equipment, Joe Moorhead, regional account specialist at Roche Diagnostics, said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday at the hospital. He added that the faster diagnoses lead to “better patient outcomes.”
The system includes two Cobas 6000 Analyzers and one Cobas 8000 Analyzer - which are all housed in the hospital’s Laboratory Automation Room. The system can perform 100 different tests.
One of the biggest benefits of the Cobas Analyzers is their ability to do a plasma test of troponin levels - a marker for a heart attack. By doing the plasma test, and not having to wait for the blood to clot, half an hour is saved in learning if a patient has experienced a heart attack.
“The faster they get that, the faster they can treat the patient,” said Kelly Bombard, chemistry supervisor at Bristol Hospital. “It’s better for patient care.”
The equipment Bristol Hospital previously used was not capable of conducting a plasma test.
“It’s a huge, huge thing,” Bombard said.
“All the cardiologists want it,” said Sharon Dichtl, account executive at Roche Diagnostics, adding that the Cobas Analyzers have faster turnaround times in all of their tests.
One test, for example, for the thyroid-stimulating hormone, can be cut down from an hour of waiting to only 18 minutes.
“These instruments are really well made,” Dichtl continued, adding that its maintenance is also simpler compared to other similar equipment.
The Analyzers were brought to the hospital in late November. They have been in use since March 20.
“For the majority of tests with our older equipment, a STAT or emergency request for specific lab tests would take about 21 minutes to analyze, Dubowsky said. “Now with the Roche Coba system, those STAT tests take only about nine minutes to get the results.”
With the quicker turnaround time, there will also be a significant cost savings for Bristol Hospital.