APHL 2019 POSTER ABSTRACTS
Team for review. The Validation Team reviews the document for data
integrity, data accuracy and cohesiveness of writing. The goal is to
provide strong documentation that will not only satisfy the ISDHL
Director and auditors, but also explain to other external entities and
future employees how the conclusions were reached.
At the end of 2017, the Validation Team composed a list of the “Top
Ten Things We’ve Learned” in regards to study design, and in 2018
incorporated those lessons into updated study plan and validation
templates.
Also in 2018, the Validation Team designed and led a Validation
Workshop at ISDHL. The target audience for this workshop was
Indiana clinical microbiology laboratorians, and attendees were
asked to bring a project idea with them that their laboratory would
be validating/verifying in the near future. During this workshop, the
Validation Team presented each section of the study plan template,
demonstrating with real-life examples of why each element was
important. Following each lecture portion, participants worked on
their own study plans to immediately solidify the lessons learned.
The event received excellent reviews, and ISDHL will likely turn this
into an annual workshop.
Looking ahead to 2019, the Validation Team hopes to present the
Validation Workshop internally to assist those new to validation with
study design, execution and analysis.
Presenter: Cassandra Campion, Indiana State Department of
Health Laboratories, Indianapolis, IN, [email protected]
Milwaukee’s Laboratory System Improvement Program
2018 Reassessment and Next Steps
T. Dasu, J. Plevak, B. Pfotenhauer, R. Pinhancos, N. Leigh, T. Cobb,
M. Stevenson, K. Schieble and S. Bhattacharyya, City of Milwaukee
Health Department Laboratory
Introduction: Continuous improvement is essential in public health
laboratories (PHLs). The Association of Public Health Laboratories
(APHL) provides a framework for assessing the quality of state and
local laboratory systems via the Laboratory System Improvement
Program (L-SIP) based on the 10 Essential Public Health Services
(ES). As the first local PHL (LPHL) to ever conduct an L-SIP
assessment (in 2010), the City of Milwaukee Health Department
Laboratory (MHDL) in 2018 also become the first LPHL to complete
an L-SIP reassessment.
Methods: MHDL identified LPHL system stakeholders and
collaborated with APHL on event planning and facilitation. Nearly 50
stakeholders representing more than 25 agencies participated in
the full-day event, held at the Milwaukee County War Memorial on
May 10, 2018. The event started with a plenary session to evaluate
Essential Service #2 (Diagnose and investigate health problems
and hazards), with all stakeholders then breaking up into three work
groups to assess the remainder of the 10 ESs.
Results: ES#3 (Inform, educate, and empower people about health
issues), #6 (Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and
ensure safety) and #7 (Link people to needed personal health
services and assure the provision of health care when otherwise
unavailable) were identified as system strengths. ES #9 (Evaluate
effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-
based health services) was found to have low activity within the
system and will be targeted for system improvements. MHDL also
identified two moderate performing ES for targeted improvements
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– #2 (Diagnose and investigate health problems and hazards) and
#5 (Develop policies and plans to achieve health goals). Three to
four priority next steps were identified under each of the ES targeted
for improvement (ES #2, #5 and #9). System wide resources
were identified that all partners can benefit from, with increased
involvement with the LPHL system.
Conclusions: In light of new system partners and priorities since
Milwaukee’s first L-SIP assessment was conducted 8 years ago,
it was time to reassess system’s performance. MHDL’s previous
assessment and subsequent system improvements provided a solid
groundwork from which to approach the reassessment, streamlining
planning in many ways. Approximately 80% of the attendees were
entirely new to the assessment process thus posing a challenge to
the host laboratory in conveying the purpose of the event (laboratory
centric vs. system improvement focused). The system partners were
engaged in open discussions on system strengths, improvement
areas and partner interests in support of the greater laboratory
system. Plans are in progress to spearhead system improvement
efforts with identified next steps in 2019.
Presenter: Trivikram Dasu, City of Milwaukee Health Department,
Milwaukee, WI, [email protected]
Development of Sample Receiving and Handling System to
Support for a Large Population Study
C.D. Riker, C.H. Yu, R. Servis and Z. Fan, New Jersey Department of
Health
Introduction: In 2014 the NJDOH embarked on population study
requiring the processing of 1000 urines, 3000 bloods and 1000
serum samples within 2 years time frame. This new project would
require both the accommodation of hundreds of samples in daily
submission and the long-term storage for future analyses. Because
of the limitation of our existing form driven system that could only
accommodate 20-40 daily sample submissions, it is imperative
to further develop and optimize our sample management system
to expand its capacity of receiving and handling large number of
samples.
Objective: The overall goal of our study is to: 1) develop a
sample receiving system with both expanded capacity of sample
accommodation and robust sample identification check protocol;
2) to develop a durable label, suitable for long term cohort frozen
storage and containing key identification and storage location
elements needed to be developed.
Approach: To accomplish the first objective, a customized sample
collection spreadsheet (SCSS) was designed for the collection of
the sample demographic information. The SCSS includes the data
that match with the selection criteria, which can filter and double
check the information when entered by the provider and reviewed
by our sample receiving staff. The SCSS is then reformatted for the
simultaneous electronic uploading of all sample data and testing
requirements into the Laboratory Information Management System
(LIMS). To accomplish the second objective, cryogenic labels were
selected due to the permanent adherence properties necessary for
long term frozen storage (-70oC). The label has been designed to
include both the unique NJDOH lab ID number and the barcoded
version, to facilitate processing. Additionally, the label has unique
location ID code specifying freezer ID, shelf, rack number and
position of sample within the rack. This will allow for easy access for
the samples for both current use as well as for future use.
Summer 2019 LAB MATTERS
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