LabMind ARUP Laboratories

Dr. Eddie Stenehjem, Vice Chair of Medicine at the University of Colorado, knows a lot about clinical laboratories. As an infectious disease physician and former cochair of Intermountain Healthcare’s laboratory stewardship committee, he has deep respect for the knowledge and dedication that laboratory professionals bring to patient care. In this interview he discusses why clinician-lab collaboration is vital, and how labs can improve communication and relationships with clinical colleagues.

There’s plenty of excitement around laboratory automation. But which tasks are good candidates for automation, and which are poor candidates? What risks need to be managed? And what are the implications of automation for lab professionals? In this interview, Dr. Joseph Rudolf, medical director of ARUP’s Automated Core Laboratory, shares his insights along with some predictions for the future.

Diagnosis involves much more than a number on a lab report. This is particularly true when the patient has disordered bleeding or clotting. In this interview, Dr. Karen Moser from the University of Utah Department of Pathology describes some of the ways she works with her laboratory and clinician colleagues to ensure that patients get the answers and the therapies they need.

What does it mean to have a quality culture? Technical competence and strict adherence to protocols are certainly part of the story. But so are factors such as workforce engagement and customer service. In this interview, Nancy Ross, assistant director of clinical pathology and quality at Montefiore Medical System and the founder of Improov, a laboratory improvement consulting company, draws on her diverse career experience to argue for a holistic and people-centered approach to quality management.

A public debate is raging around the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI). One side argues that AI is potentially dangerous and needs to be carefully controlled, whereas the other side argues that any regulation would slow innovation. In this interview, Dr. Ryan Metcalf, section chief of Transfusion Medicine and medical director of Transfusion Service/Blood Bank at ARUP Laboratories, makes a strong case for a safety-first approach to healthcare AI. He also explains why embedding AI development and use within a strong quality management framework could actually lead to more innovation over the long term, even as it prevents patient harm in the short term.

The FDA recently announced a plan to regulate laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) as medical devices. In this interview, Dr. Meghan Delaney from Children’s National Hospital and Dr. Eric Konnick from the University of Washington explain why many tests that are critical to patient care, particularly in the areas of pediatrics, transplantation, and rare diseases, may become unavailable if the rule the FDA has proposed is enacted. Other tests may remain available, but at a significantly increased cost. Dr. Jonathan Genzen, ARUP’s chief medical officer and cohost of this episode, describes how laboratory professionals can provide public feedback to the FDA before the rule takes effect.