All pathology orders astatine Stanford Health Care are present afloat digitized, allowing for faster results, easiness of tracking and greater diligent safety.
Since 2015, Stanford Health Care has been utilizing a bundle system, Epic System’s Beaker CP, to way the investigation of bodily fluids specified arsenic humor and urine (CP refers to objective pathology). Last month, it rolled retired Beaker AP — AP arsenic successful anatomic pathology — to way the postulation and introspection of tissues and fluids astatine the cellular level by pathologists.
Beaker AP streamlines everything astir pathology astatine Stanford Health Care, including automatic reporting of information to the Stanford Cancer Institute Research Database; monitoring the determination and individuality of insubstantial samples; and simplifying connection betwixt treating physicians, pathologists and patients.
“Beaker AP improves diligent information due to the fact that aft collection, the presumption and determination of samples are instantly disposable and trackable arsenic the illustration goes done its galore stops successful a analyzable enactment similar Stanford Health Care,” said Ann Folkins, MD, an subordinate prof of pathology who helped pb the task to instal the system.
The Beaker AP rollout has been years successful the making due to the fact that of the complexity of pathology astatine Stanford Health Care. Every illustration removed during a process is examined by the multisite Stanford Clinical and Anatomic Pathology laboratory. The anatomic pathology part receives much than 90,000 cases a year, with insubstantial specimens oregon full organs coming from the web of hospitals and clinics that marque up Stanford Health Care and Stanford Medicine Children’s Health. The laboratory besides receives requests for adept reappraisal from aesculapian facilities crossed the country.
Mapping the journey
To hole for the rollout, the anatomic pathology part mapped the assorted paths on the travel that a insubstantial illustration takes, opening with postulation from a diligent until the clip it is reviewed by a pathologist.
“For each country of the lab, we looked astatine however we did things and wrote retired the steps. We evaluated each our workflows and asked if determination was thing we should change,” said Christina Kong, MD, a prof of pathology and vice seat for objective affairs. “We did this astatine a clip erstwhile it was precise challenging to adhd much connected apical of our mean workload.” The laboratory was already successful the process of preparing for the Beaker AP rollout erstwhile the COVID-19 pandemic deed and led to unforeseen stresses connected the strategy and staff.
Beaker AP went unrecorded Nov. 6, 2022, and by the extremity of the archetypal week, things were moving smoothly, according to April Young, manager of laboratory operations for anatomic pathology.
“Considering however large of a go-live this was — each sites were affected, and we had hundreds of radical connected tract from Epic and Stanford Health Care accusation exertion for enactment — the collaboration was impressive. We were capable to code each large issues truthful quickly,” she said.
Tracking insubstantial samples
Before Beaker AP was implemented, galore physicians wrote retired their orders for pathology tests by hand. Once the illustration and accompanying papers arrived astatine the lab, orders had to beryllium entered into the bundle strategy antecedently utilized by the anatomic pathology division.
Now, each illustration is tagged with a unsocial barcode linking it to the patient. In Beaker AP, that barcode acts similar a FedEx shipping number.
Surgeons oregon treating physicians tin nonstop orders straight to pathology successful the aforesaid Epic bundle situation that has hosted physics aesculapian records astatine Stanford Health Care since 2008. This diagnostic is expected to velocity turnaround times by eliminating the request to transcribe and corroborate handwritten orders.
Pathology reports are besides electronically linked to immoderate related tests performed connected the aforesaid sample, which benefits physicians and patients alike.
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