Overview:
The AutoLab concept was implemented in 1998 when high volume hematology and clinical chemistry testing were combined in a single facility around a Beckman Coulter IDS robotized specimen processing and transport system.
High sample throughput in the AutoLab has enabled the Pepper Laboratory in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) to become one of the most productive university hospital laboratories in the nation. The laboratory’s efficiency is enhanced by the widespread use of bar coded patient information which eliminates the need for paper requisitions, and by rapid specimen transport to the processing area via a pneumatic tube system.
Highlights:
- AutoLab integrates specimen preparation area into high volume Hematology and Chemistry testing areas, where urinalysis and high volume coagulation testing is also performed
- AutoLab is built around two parallel specimen processing tracks—one for hematology and coagulation tests, the other for chemistry tests
- Chemistry track performs, without human intervention, centrifugation, uncapping, aliquotting and labelling
- Specimens scanned for hemolysis, icterus and lipemia, and transported to cross-calibrated Ortho Vitros 950 analyzers
- Simpler hematology track design interfaces Beckman-Coulter STK-S analyzers directly to the track
- Average throughput time of specimens from receipt acknowledgement to test result is 38 minutes for chemistry, 18 minutes for hematology.
Contact:
Location: 7 Founders
Donald Young, MD, PhD, Director-AutoLab
215-662-3435
donaldyo@mail.med.upenn.eduLarry Kricka, PhD, Director-General Chemistry
215-662-6575
kricka@mail.med.upenn.edu 
