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Advantaged Workflows in Action: Hořice Hospital’s Story
Labs of different sizes can face different types of challenges. However, they also tend to share a great deal in common—including a growing focus on efficiency and precision.
At Hořice Hospital, a clinical lab in the Czech Republic running approximately 100 tubes a day, the team faces many of the same challenges faced by larger labs: rising sample volumes, increased pressure on quality, and the need to decrease turnaround times.
To help address these pressures, Hořice Hospital conducted a study that highlighted several key components of our Advantaged Workflows philosophy. We asked Silvie Vaingátová, Senior Application and Product Support Specialist to share what makes Hořice Hospital’s experience such a powerful example of Advantaged Workflows in action.
The Study
In this study, the Hořice Hospital team compared the performance of its two current standalone analyzers (AU480 Chemistry Analyzer and Access 2 Immunoassay System) to an integrated DxC 500i Clinical Analyzer. Laboratorians compared turnaround times, manual workloads, costs, and efficiency—and the results were clear.
Advantaged Workflows in Action:
Flexible Instrumentation and Scalable Automation Pay Dividends
When instruments and automation systems are designed to adapt to labs of all sizes, the possibilities for performance improvement are virtually endless. Hořice Hospital certainly found this to be true, experiencing a 40% reduction in turnaround time for test results with the integrated DxC 500i system.
“Automation is a broad concept, and it can look different in labs of different sizes,” says Vaingátová. “Hořice Hospital is a small hospital and a perfect example of this. By choosing a flexible analyzer that integrates multiple types of testing, they found a right-sized, scalable automation solution that works for them—and the results speak for themselves.”
Advantaged Workflows in Action:
Streamlined Operations and Workflow Optimization Are Non-Negotiables
Advantaged Workflows also take people into account, helping to eliminate unnecessary errors, manual touchpoints, and repetitive steps. In Hořice Hospital’s study, the team found that shared/combined test tubes helped reduce their manual workloads, allowing them to focus on more complex tasks.
“Our philosophy of Advantaged Workflows is less about which technology a lab uses, and more about how it can help the people in that lab spend their time how they need or want to,” explains Vaingátová. “During the evaluation at Hořice Hospital, a more efficient testing workflow helped the team spend less time managing test tubes, so they could focus on other priorities. It could also include improvements like streamlining maintenance tasks or spending less time manually aliquoting samples—and, of course, these come with cost savings and environmental benefits, as well.”
The Right Workflows Can Create Unique Advantages for Smaller Labs
“The concept of an Advantaged Workflow is central to how we support labs of all sizes, all around the world,” says Vaingátová. “So when we read stories like this one, where laboratorians are choosing scalable technology to support workflows that create unique advantages for them, it’s really gratifying.”
Dive Deeper with the Full Case Study
Read more about the results of Hořice Hospital’s study, including discussion of other ways integrated chemistry and immunoassay testing can help labs optimize workflows and support better patient care, in the full case study.
