CCH Celebrates Perfect Score in Lab Testing
The Laboratory Staff at Conejos County Hospital recently participated in a series of proficiency tests required by federal law.
In order to maintain the ability to provide laboratory services to patients, CCH and other hospitals are mandated to participate in such tests and score at or above a certain level.
CCH was pleased to learn that the Laboratory Staff scored a perfect 100% on each of the measures they were tested on.
“This was a stellar achievement by Brent Lehto and his team,” said CCH Administrator Kelly Gallegos. Lehto is CCH’s Laboratory Manager.
The proficiency tests are administered by the American Association of Bio Analysts, an organization that provides hospitals and their labs with a series of specimens that contain unknown substances or specific levels of particular analytes that must be evaluated and quantitated. The laboratory staff is then required to use the individual services they perform on a daily basis to test and provide a result of what is present in each individual specimen.
“The American Association of Bio Analysts will then compare our responses to what everyone else received,” said Dr. Kendal Knaus, SLV Health’s Medical Director for Laboratory Services. “They send us back what can be equated to a report card, and we got a 100% (that CCH results were within an acceptable range with the other test results from other hospitals in this same program). This is truly a significant accomplishment.”
Both the CCH and SLV Regional Medical Center labs are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week for inpatient and emergency testing and can be reached at 719-587-1225. Combined, both labs perform approximately 180,000 tests per year.
This article is part of the series “Introducing our Strategy Map: 2014-15” for San Luis Valley Health. This article focuses on the second of four strategies, Very Best in Quality and Safety, that San Luis Valley Health will focus on in the upcoming year.
Pictured: The Laboratory Staff at CCH braved the wind Tuesday afternoon to take this photo. The team recently scored a 100% on a series of proficiency tests.