Rockford Memorial Hospital Laboratory is the first hospital-based lab in the region to become fully automated by adding the cobas^® 6000 analyzer series, which analyzes blood samples for routine and innovative chemistry tests ordered by physicians. 

The hospital decided to upgrade the laboratory as demand for more tests continued to grow. This highly compact system consolidates more than 95 percent of routine testing, therefore requiring fewer analyzers, which optimizes lab staff efficiency.

Standardizing and improving turn around time is important in the lab because 70 to 80 percent of all decision making made by physicians about patient treatment or therapy depends on good lab information. Additionally, 30 percent of lab tests come from the Emergency Department where physicians need to make quick decisions.

In the past, laboratories were labor intensive. One test could be touched by humans up to 17 times from start to finish. Lab automation eliminates the potential for human error and automatically handles the labor intensive steps. Once blood is drawn and a bar code is placed on the sample tube, it does not have to be touched again by human hands. Machines read the bar coded tubes and assess which tests are needed for the sample. This eliminates the need to manually decap the vial, and reduces biohazard exposure.

The cobas^® 6000 analyzer is manufactured by Basil, Switzerland-based Roche Diagnostics.