London, Ont., hospitals are making major strides in clinical microbiology with the unveiling of state-of-the-art automated technology, allowing for improvements in research and patient care.
On Thursday, London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) and St. Joseph’s Health Care London unveiled the installation of a Total Laboratory Automation (TLA) system within the clinical microbiology laboratory, the first of its kind to be installed in the world.
According to health officials, the BD Kiestra™ 3rd Generation TLA system will build lab capacity while enhancing the detection of infectious diseases and generating high-quality results faster than ever before.
“This has been an evolution of technology over a decade plus,” said Jeff Fuller, clinical microbiologist and division head of the clinical microbiology department of pathology and laboratory medicine at LHSC. “We are to benefit from this latest version of technology, which now has a number of innovations that will continue to advance what we’re able to do on the microbiology side of things to contribute to improved patient care.”
The system automates bacterial culture investigation into patient specimens, working to transform laboratory operations, health officials explained.
Fuller, who is one of five microbiologists leading the program at LHSC, highlighted that the newly designed track mechanism and integrated workbenches provided through the TLA system will allow researchers and clinical microbiologists to work seamlessly through automated workflows “from plate labelling to inoculation, incubation, imaging, culture reading and results reporting.”
“The track system actually moves the agar plates that we require for culture across the system,” he said. “That significantly improves the time required to complete the tasks involved in the work that we do every day.
“The automated system will allow us to accommodate increased volumes in diagnostic testing and innovations within the system will help optimize productivity of staff, test accuracy, and the time required to report a test result,” Fuller added.
Other notable features of the BD Kiestra™ 3rd Generation TLA system also include a higher resolution 25-megapixel camera for advanced image quality.
Located at LHSC’s Victoria Hospital, the state-of-the-art microbiology lab and TLA system will serve hundreds of thousands of patients across Southwestern Ontario every year.
“On a teaching perspective, on a research perspective, and on a patient care perspective, this is very exciting,” said Karen Perkin, vice president of patient care and chief nurse executive at St. Joseph’s.
“It started with a vision; Recognizing the need to really focus on our patient care, which is a common goal for both organizations,” she continued. “Then it was wanting to elevate that, from a safety point of view, from an efficiency point of view, and then beginning to plan.”
According to Perkin, Thursday’s unveiling was over five years in the making.
“With growing demands on microbiology services, there is a tremendous need for innovative solutions,” she said. “St. Joseph’s is pleased to be part of this investment in London for faster, more accurate diagnoses, which will enhance the safety of those in our care, our community and our region.”
John French, clinical diagnostics executive of laboratory services and medical imaging at LHSC, added that “this investment supports our vision of transforming health together within our walls and for patients across our region.”
“By making a targeted investment in the TLA system, LHSC is working to advance excellence in health care for better patient outcomes,” he said.
In partnership with BD-Canada, Nick Petropoulos, vice president of life sciences, said London is now an “international flagship site for innovation in clinical microbiology.”
“We’ve been partnering with London and lab services for several years now and their approach to lab medicine has been visionary,” he told Global News. “They had already been thinking about this automation and the timing really worked out when they were going to market for this type of technology as our third generation was just getting ready to launch.
“The stars just aligned.”
Petropoulos, who is also a longtime London resident, stressed the impact the TLA system will have on local healthcare teams and clinical microbiology research.
“London and the surrounding areas should be really excited that our health care system now has this technology in our home hospital, which will enable better health care for all of us,” he said.
Ivy Parks, president of BD-Canada, added that “this cutting-edge laboratory optimizes lab space to automate and streamline the workflow of medical lab professionals so they can focus on what matters most – serving patients across Southwestern Ontario.”
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