Biomaterial Database

Total Laboratory Automation: What Is Gained, What Is Lost, and Who Can Afford It? 2019

Richard B Thomson, and Erin McElvania

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, NorthShore University Health System, 2650 Ridge Avenue, Evanston, IL 60201, USA; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. Electronic address: RThomson@northshore.org.

The first clinical microbiology laboratory in the United States adopted total automation for bacteriology processing in 2014. Since then, others have followed with installation of either the BD Kiestra TLA or the Copan WASPLab. This article discusses commercially available automated systems in the United States; why automation is needed; and quality improvements, efficiency, and cost savings associated with automation. After learning how these systems are used, gains and losses experienced, and how one can afford the most expensive equipment ever purchased for clinical microbiology laboratories, the question is, how can one afford not to purchase one of these microbiology automation systems?

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D012051	Reimbursement Mechanisms	Processes or methods of reimbursement for services rendered or equipment.	Mechanism, Reimbursement,Mechanisms, Reimbursement,Reimbursement Mechanism
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001419	Bacteria	One of the three domains of life (the others being Eukarya and ARCHAEA), also called Eubacteria. They are unicellular prokaryotic microorganisms which generally possess rigid cell walls, multiply by cell division, and exhibit three principal forms: round or coccal, rodlike or bacillary, and spiral or spirochetal. Bacteria can be classified by their response to OXYGEN: aerobic, anaerobic, or facultatively anaerobic; by the mode by which they obtain their energy: chemotrophy (via chemical reaction) or PHOTOTROPHY (via light reaction); for chemotrophs by their source of chemical energy: CHEMOLITHOTROPHY (from inorganic compounds) or chemoorganotrophy (from organic compounds); and by their source for CARBON; NITROGEN; etc.; HETEROTROPHY (from organic sources) or AUTOTROPHY (from CARBON DIOXIDE). They can also be classified by whether or not they stain (based on the structure of their CELL WALLS) with CRYSTAL VIOLET dye: gram-negative or gram-positive.	Eubacteria
D001424	Bacterial Infections	Infections by bacteria, general or unspecified.	Bacterial Disease,Bacterial Infection,Infection, Bacterial,Infections, Bacterial,Bacterial Diseases
D057205	Automation, Laboratory	Controlled operations of analytic or diagnostic processes, or systems by mechanical or electronic devices.	Laboratory Automation