5 Lab Improvement Ideas To Help Boost Efficiency

This means that, for laboratories across the country, standard quality control measures aren’t enough; to remain competitive, you need an improvement plan that elevates your laboratory operations without draining your budget.

There are numerous ways to achieve this, even if you’re implementing changes across multiple labs. The key is to identify underlying challenges and choose solutions that address them both individually and holistically.

Here’s a look at some of the top lab improvement ideas for increasing overall efficiency.

Understanding common laboratory challenges

Improving laboratory performance requires a careful approach that considers everything from equipment and ordering to training programs and data management. This is because most common laboratory challenges are actually a combination of smaller issues from different parts of the operation.

Here are a few examples:

1) Turnaround times

Whether because of slow processes, unnecessary steps or human error, delayed turnaround times can be costly. Waiting for test results and other crucial data hinders multiple processes, impacting not just the teams relying on this data but also the people relying on them. One small issue early in the process can spiral into missed deadlines, frustrated lab teams, and possibly, compromised patient care.

2) Staff shortages

With graduate numbers too low to fill vacancies and demand increasing¹, the clinical laboratory workforce shortage could impact many parts of your operation. It could be partly to blame for other issues like delayed turnaround times, but it has its own challenges as well — including scheduling issues, unmanageable workloads for current lab staff and the resulting potential for increased human error. Additionally, the high attrition rate in the Clinical Laboratory Profession is leading to a lack of highly-skilled lab personnel².

3) Alignment

Laboratories should align with treating physicians’ needs, capabilities and processes. A constant back-and-forth comparison is crucial for consistently performing the correct test for the individual patient³ — and if that back-and-forth responsiveness lapses, you could be left with an outdated lab design that falls short of physician and patient expectations. It’s essential to ensure the testing process and results are of the highest quality so providers can accurately diagnose, treat, and monitor every patient’s therapy. Keeping up with the technology advancements and adapting to the ever-changing clinical landscape helps ensure optimal patient care.

4) Cross-team collaboration

There are plenty of reasons cross-team collaboration can become a challenge, including competing priorities, siloed operations, resource constraints and the communication barriers inherent between differing levels of medical expertise. The results often include slow, disjointed laboratory processes and reduced performance.

5) Data management

Although big data has undoubtedly created new opportunities for clinical labs, it also introduces challenges like ethical, legal and privacy issues³. Managing data across different systems and formats in a lab is challenging, often leading to problems like poor collaboration and slower turnaround times. Data management and interfacing of instrumentation within the laboratory helps ensure accurate and timely results for the provider and patient. Clerical error is one of the most common mistakes within the laboratory. 

6) Compliance and risk management

Lab processes often have different requirements depending on their nature and specificity. This essentially means that just one risk management framework isn’t enough; you need a system for managing and adhering to varying sets of rules across processes, teams and locations, while ensuring laboratory staff is accurately trained and adequately resourced to maintain compliance.

Compliance with clinical laboratory regulations must be maintained, though navigating these requirements can be challenging due to additional layers imposed by state authorities and accreditation bodies.

Takeaway: Analyzing underlying causes

Because the above challenges have so many variables, it’s difficult to implement any single solution that addresses many elements without adding complexity or even creating new issues. Therefore, the main approach in laboratory improvement should be analyzing the underlying causes. This helps enable you to choose fewer, more effective solutions instead of trying to address individual issues.

Goals of lab improvement efforts

Once you understand your lab’s top challenges, it’s necessary to establish specific goals. These may help guide your laboratory improvement efforts in ways that demonstrate return on investment (ROI) and measure your overall progress.

Examples include:

• Faster turnaround times: When your teams can conduct both routine tests and complicated experiments without delay, you’ll know you’ve eliminated some of the barriers to their collaboration and increased overall efficiency.
• Enhanced process efficiency:  By selecting laboratory instrumentation that helps to ensure higher accuracy and quality in patient results.
• Stronger processes: From inventory management and equipment maintenance to training programs and experimental protocols, stronger processes mean you’ve found and fixed large-scale issues.
• Reduced costs: Saving money without reducing performance or cutting corners is a sign that your improvements are targeting all the factors or areas.
• Overall efficiency: By tracking metrics like tests per hour and tests per technician, you’ll learn how small changes impact the day-to-day processes in your lab.

For top results, consider using multiple goals to measure each lab improvement solution. This allows you to compare different elements of your efforts and gain insight into the “why” behind your success, therefore making it replicable across one or multiple labs.

5 ways to improve your lab

There’s no single method for improving laboratory efficiency. Instead, it’s up to you to find solutions that address your lab’s challenges while fulfilling your goals. Examples include:

1) Improved ordering and test utilization

Customized ordering options like a low unit of measure (LUM) can help ensure you have the appropriate supplies and equipment for your lab based on usage patterns, available storage, budgeting and more. This eliminates some of the problems that can lead to resource shortages and delayed turnaround times, empowering you teams to finalize tasks as scheduled.

2) Better technology

Technology solutions are paramount in laboratory success, especially if you choose them based on a realistic understanding of your needs and goals. For example, a laboratory information system is a powerful tool for collecting information, automating orders, tracking processes and ensuring quality control, which means it’s well-positioned to address challenges in data and compliance management. It can also give you a more accurate view of your work, enabling increased alignment with physician and patient expectations.

3) Smarter systems

Improving your laboratory’s systems doesn’t have to stop at technology; you should also consider the human element of your workflows. Processes like equipment maintenance scheduling or documentation can be greatly improved by creating consistent rules, helping ensure different team members approach tasks in the same way. This supports teams in collaborating more effectively and can even help reduce compliance risks.

4) Simplified training

Create training programs tailored to your lab’s current processes, technologies and workflows. Consider cross-team trainings that allow different departments to understand each other’s priorities and challenges — but always ensure you’re keeping sessions relevant based on day-to-day responsibilities. Keep in mind that this also allows cross-training, which can be helpful during workforce shortages.

5) An effective partner

To overcome multiple issues at once, streamline your third-party relationships by choosing a partner that can be your single source for equipment, distribution, technology, service and more. This eliminates the need to bridge gaps between different providers and strategies, streamlining your laboratory operations at a foundational level. MedSol Laboratory Consultants bring extensive clinical laboratory expertise to support your needs in multiple ways—from initial lab setup to regulatory compliance and ongoing operational support.

Just as importantly, you need a partner with dedicated lab support teams to help you along the way. These teams should include:

• Diagnostic sales consultants: Help you choose and implement the appropriate solutions for your laboratory.
• Lab equipment and advanced product specialists: Provide support in equipment and emerging technologies.
• Lab services experts: Assist with implementation, contracting, pricing, ordering and more.

The goal is to have someone you can turn to with questions, obstacles or goals. That way, you know you’re addressing your lab’s challenges with one powerful ally.

How to choose lab improvement solutions

Remember, the goal of laboratory improvement is to address root causes rather than getting lost in the details. As such, the key to choosing the solution for your lab’s unique needs is to consider your options from multiple angles:

• Problem: What specific problem/s are you trying to address?
• Goal: What do you want the outcome to be and how do you define success?
• Measurement: How do you measure whether the solution is effective and over what time frame?
• Process: How does this impact other parts of your laboratory and does it create or illuminate additional opportunities for improvement?
• Maintenance: Can you leave the solution as-is, or do you need to continue shaping and expanding it to get continued results?

Asking questions like these helps focus, structure and streamline your improvement plan so you can scale the efforts that work and restructure those that don’t.

Solutions for lab improvement

If you want to address some of the biggest lab performance challenges, you need more than a solid strategy and strong solutions. You also need customized support.

At McKesson, we have the expertise and experience to help you manage ordering, equipment maintenance, technology and more. We’re here to check multiple boxes on your lab improvement to-do list — all while focusing on efficiency, performance and budget improvements. Plus, as your single source for streamlined operations, we’re prepared to handle everything—from quick questions to major strategic decisions.

Ready to start improving your lab? Contact us or log in to get started.