New Technology Will Improve Patient Safety

New Technology Will Help Prevent Lab Mix-Ups and Improve Patient Safety

TAURANGA, Friday 7 June 2013: Pathlab has become the first pathology service in New Zealand to install a state-of-the-art tracking system in its laboratories to help prevent surgical specimens from being mixed up and patients receiving the wrong diagnosis.

The Cerebro Specimen Tracking System improves patient safety by electronically monitoring each sample as it passes through the laboratory rather than relying on staff members to manually check its identification.

Dr Richard Massey, director of Pathology Associates Limited, says New Zealand laboratories operate to a very high standard and mistakes are rare. But the nature of processing pathology specimens is vulnerable to human error.

“A momentary lapse in concentration can lead to samples being misidentified. And incorrect or insufficient labelling can have devastating consequences for patients. By investing in Cerebro, we are taking all possible steps to eliminate the potential for this to happen,” he says.

Manufactured by Leica Biosystems, Cerebro is an FDA registered Class 1 medical device which allows laboratory staff to clearly see every action and event associated with each surgical pathology specimen.

Each specimen carries a unique barcode, to prevent errors associated with transcription and handwritten labels, and is electronically monitored as it progresses through each histology processing stage, enhancing patient safety.

“This creates a secure link between patient and specimen and ensures every container, cassette and slide is associated with the right patient.

“Instead of people checking the identity of each specimen is correct, the Cerebro system will now do that throughout the laboratory process. This frees up the science staff to concentrate on the testing of the histology specimens,” says Dr Massey.

A panel of experts convened by the Ministry of Health to review previous New Zealand biopsy errors, said automated, individualised mechanisms for specimen labelling and handling should be the ‘gold standard’ for reducing the risk of sample mix-ups.

“That is exactly what Cerebro will deliver for Pathlab patients,” Dr Massey says. “We are committed to implementing state-of-the-art technology to improve patient healthcare and workplace practices for our staff.”

Cerebro has been installed in Pathlab’s Tauranga and Hamilton laboratories. Pathlab’s histopathology department handles hundreds of biopsies and surgical resections each day.

Glossary of Terms

Histology – the study of the microscopic structure of tissues.

Biopsy - the removal of a sample of tissue from a living person for laboratory examination to allow diagnosis of the nature of the larger lesion.

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