PPMC's Lab Professionals
Up on the top floor of Wright-Saunders, a busy lab unit hums along as fluids and tissue are being meticulously analyzed. It's just another day in the PPMC labs which includes the inpatient and outpatient lab, blood bank, surgical pathology, STAT lab, and point of care testing. Another day, but with more visitors than usual.
Lab director Michael Atweh, who has headed the PPMC lab for almost two years, opened the doors on April 20 for a behind-the-scenes tour of the lab. He reminded the more than 30 visitors all about our diligent laboratory professionals during National Laboratory Professionals Week, April 18 - 24.
"Our lab conducts more than 1.1 million tests per year, and we are very focused on conducting accurate tests as efficiently as possible," said Atweh. "In addition to our staff, who are tested and re-certified annually, we've also made significant technology and equipment upgrades in the last two years that improve our accuracy and turnaround times."
A group of students from the School of Medical Technology came to see how PPMC's lab operates. The budding lab technicians observed how our talented team rotates seamlessly around the multiple areas, each transitioning periodically to keep all of their technical and procedural abilities up-to-date.
In this highly regulated field, where standardization and exacting methods are key to quality outcomes, PPMC's pathologists and laboratory technicians work diligently to get it right.
The PPMC Lab, by the numbers:
- 73 employees
- 24/7 operations over three shifts
- 1.1 million tests per year, including:
- 12,000 units of blood cross-matched
- 7500 units of blood transfused
- 10,000 tissue, skin and other biopsies
