Laboratory Update
The laboratory’s osmometer, which is a machine that tests urine and serum osmolality has stopped working. We are in the process of expediting a replacement analyzer and expect it to be received in the next two weeks. In the short term, starting today all urine and serum osmolality will be sent to CompuNet to perform this testing. This would typically have been sent to LabCorp as our backup, however they don’t test these locally and this would have extended our turnaround times to three to five days; which would be unacceptable for our inpatients.
How this Impacts Ordering and Resulting
Physicians can continue to order as usual in Epic. Results are expected to be received in less than 24 hours and the results will be scanned into the patient’s chart. Due to this result coming from a non-interfaced lab, the medical staff will see the link to the scanned result instead of a discreet result in the chart.