5 factors that must be considered when choosing an inspection automation assembly line

Laboratory automation system, also known as automated assembly line, refers to the connection of different analytical instruments and related equipment before and after analysis through hardware and information networks in order to realize the functional integration of one or several detection systems in the clinical laboratory. Related equipment integration. The main components include sample pre-processing system, sample transport system, sample analysis system, sample storage system and software control system.

Due to the rapid development of clinical departments in hospitals, on the one hand, the number of specimens in the laboratory has doubled and increased, and the service targets have to shorten the return time for results; on the other hand, the limited space of the laboratory and insufficient staff have become constraints on the development of the hospital bottleneck. Having a scientific and rationalized laboratory automation system is the development direction of large-scale comprehensive laboratories, and it is also the general trend.

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For any clinical laboratory, before choosing a laboratory automation system, the actual needs and current situation of the laboratory must be combined, in line with the daily work habits of the staff in the department, and consideration of improving equipment processing capabilities, improving information system functions, and improving personnel quality , And then make reasonable and scientific decisions.

1. Planning of automated laboratory

Compared with traditional medical laboratories, automated laboratories have greatly improved the degree of automation and intelligence, and have higher requirements in laboratory design, but defects in laboratory planning and design often cause the effectiveness of the instrument to not be fully utilized. The whole process of detection cannot be automated in a true sense. First, the proposal of automated laboratory design should refer to various standards issued by the country, such as "General Requirements for Laboratory Biosafety", "Technical Specifications for Building Biosafety Laboratories", "General Guidelines for Biosafety of Microbiology and Biomedical Laboratories" Etc., to plan in advance the details of the laboratory's hydropower, illuminance, noise, communication interface, etc. In addition, the planning and design of an automated laboratory is not only about the placement of related equipment, but also the specification and improvement of the work process. The design should fully consider the process of entering and leaving the laboratory for personnel, specimens, medical waste, and cleaning materials.

2. Selection of automation system and laboratory integration

There are currently 3 automation product combinations (as follows) available on the market:

1. IVD manufacturers provide automated systems with completely independent property rights, connected to independent brand analytical instruments. Covers sample analysis pre-processing, analysis detection, post-analysis processing and information management, compatible with the entire laboratory.

2. Based on the automation system provided by an IVD manufacturer, the hardware is compatible with the instruments and equipment of other IVD suppliers.

3. Based on automation rail suppliers, connecting with equipment provided by various IVD manufacturers.

At present, some IVD manufacturers in the domestic market can connect hardware through rails to achieve cross-platform physical connection, but the interfaces between different manufacturers’ instruments and system software control platforms are not compatible. How to realize cross-platform data sharing and other information functions of instruments is often in the process of instrument integration. The difficulty.

For the analytical instruments of the same manufacturer, due to the consistent communication standards, the same management can be conveniently carried out through the intermediate software, such as monitoring the real-time status of the specimens on each analysis module. However, for instruments of different brands, only basic communication can be set up, or even two-way communication with the intermediate software is not realized. The actual effect of automation and informationization is greatly reduced.

For manufacturers that are integrated into a single brand through acquisitions by different manufacturers, there are also differences in the way of managing samples due to the different design concepts of the original equipment, and in fact they are still different operating systems. After the acquisition and integration, although the instruments are connected on the same automated assembly line, which makes up for the shortcomings of the incomplete inspection menu, it also introduces new problems. For example, samples are transported in a single tube on the automated assembly line track, and sample racks are transported on the inspection instrument. , The different sample management methods add an additional step of transferring samples before testing on the machine, causing the overall speed to be unmatched and becoming the bottleneck of the entire pipeline.