New robotics system part of renovated Mercy Hospital Southeast lab

The renovated reference laboratory at Mercy Hospital Southeast is the first in the country to use a new form of automation, officials said Thursday, April 11.

Mercy Southeast worked with health care technology company Abbott to install their GLP systems Track that uses robotics to transport blood tubes across the lab.

“We’re so happy to have this day. It’s been a long time coming and a lot of work,” said Lauren Thomas, the executive director of Laboratory and Outreach Services at Mercy Southeast.

When blood tubes are put into Track, they are scanned and organized by a robotic tool to send them on their way to get them to where they need to be tested.

“Before we had this, we had to walk up and you had to grab them one by one, by hand. Now it does that for us,” Thomas said.

Each blood sample can move independently via self-propelled carriers, eliminating manual workflows. Track can move some 25,000 samples per day.

Abbott's GLP systems Tracker works by having automation scan and transport tubes of blood samples to wherever they need to go in a laboratory. This leads to a streamlined workflow and less contact with biological material for laboratory technicians.Christopher Borro ~ cborro@semissourian.com

“Quality lab results is an expectation of the providers and patients we serve — Abbott GLP automation helps us to achieve this by reducing manual steps in lab workflows such as sorting and sample aliquoting,” Thomas said in a news release. “We can track a specimen from collection to result using RFID (radio frequency identification) tech and software to ensure that results are accurate and efficient.”

The reference laboratory uses other Abbott software, including the AlinIQ analyzer management system and Indexor pre-analytics.

The reference laboratory is located at Mercy Southeast’s 1708 Lacey St. location in Cape Girardeau.

Abbott employs 114,000 workers across more than 160 countries.