When a pandemic like COVID-19 hits, the diagnosis shared with a patient often hangs on a lab test.
Lab employees all over Texas Health Resources are adjusting to changing circumstances on a daily basis. Dr. Beverly Dickson, a physician and director of laboratory services at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, said more change is on the horizon.
“The labs play a key role in how diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 is unfolding at our hospitals in these extraordinary times,” she said.
In the meantime, employees in Texas Health labs are working hard to handle demand.
At Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Denton, 40 full-time and PRN employees work together to make sure patients receive accurate and concise test results while, at the same time, keeping themselves and each other safe.
“We are an acute care lab, so we do testing for anything in the acute care setting,” said Alyssa Hutto, director of Laboratory Services at Texas Health Denton. “We provide results physicians need quickly to properly treat patients.”
The Texas Health Denton laboratory began preparing for a surge of patients in March. Medical laboratory scientist leads for each of the departments within the lab performed inventory audits to determine critical needs, Alyssa said. Par levels for essential items needed to test for influenza and COVID-19 were increased to keep up with the demand.
“The amount of work has stayed about the same, but the amount of time needed has gone up about a third, in part because of wearing additional personal protective equipment,” Alyssa said.
Laboratory supplies were not the only resource taken into consideration.
“We knew if we did not plan for assistance with phlebotomy during a major surge of patients, it would be difficult for lab assistants to keep up with the demand,” Alyssa said. Like other labs across Texas Health, the Denton team is cross-training other staff to help.
Alyssa said phlebotomists learned to don and doff the droplet-plus protective equipment for entry into patient isolation rooms, and the rest of the team primarily have adjusted to working “under the hood” and wearing face masks.
“Lab employees realize the work they do has the potential for bringing joy or tears,” said Jeff Reecer, president of Texas Health Denton. “The entire lab team is focused on making sure they get it right every test, every time, every day working with caregivers across the organization in service of our patients.”
By Jan Taylor • Posted April 6, 2020
