Patients with potential blood clot disorders will soon rest a little easier knowing that thanks to new high-tech equipment at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH), the turnaround time for a diagnosis will be slightly faster.

“We recently acquired a new coagulation analyser,” said Kathy Stephens, a Bermudian senior technologist in the haematology laboratory. “It is top of the line, and has really just come out within the last two to three years. It is for coagulation testing which we hope to implement soon.”

The Royal Gazette spoke with Mrs. Stephens and Dr. Betsie Lombard, consultant haematologist and medical director of blood transfusion services at KEMH during an open house held at the end of April.

This year’s KEMH open house focused on the laboratory. Tours of the pathology department were offered to the general public. Some medical professionals visited schools to talk about their careers, and students interested in entering various medical fields were given the opportunity to shadow doctors and nurses.

“This new machine will help with D-Dimer tests,” Dr. Lombard said. “This specific D-Dimer forms when you clot. When it breaks down, that is the thing that we are detecting. We have been wanting this for a long time. It can help to exclude that the patient has a life threatening blood clot. It would be used for stroke patients, especially for pulmonary emboli, especially for clots in the lower leg. What happens is that the patient makes more and more clots around their body, and uses up all their coagulation factors, that is why they bleed. We can also do certain tests for patients who have an increased risk for clots.”

On the request of physicians, Dr. Lombard, Mrs. Stephens and a team of laboratory workers carry out various tests to diagnose different diseases. Once the disease is diagnosed the laboratory staff also help to monitor the patient’s recovery.

“We run a full laboratory with 24 hour service, seven days a week,” said Dr. Lombard, who is originally from Cape Town, South Africa. “We offer all the tests that are necessary to diagnose illnesses. We do both tissue work and most of the blood and chemistry work.”

The laboratory commonly handles more than 500 different tests in a single day. They process work from within the hospital, and from local doctors’ offices. Many less routine tests are sent overseas to an accredited laboratory in California.

“We are looking to get more and more tests done on the Island,” said Dr. Lombard. “There is a little bit of a higher turnaround time sending things overseas, but it enables us to get all diagnostics done.”

KEMH also recently added equipment that will allow laboratory workers to better screen donated blood.

“We have a new instrument that allows us to test our donated blood very quickly,” Dr. Lombard said. “We screen to make sure that the blood we are giving patients is healthy. Unfortunately, we won’t yet be widening who can donate blood. Maybe eventually. What it means is that in the laboratory, we can get the blood on the shelves much quicker. We can make blood available to people much quicker before. That is good news for the patients.”

Dr. Lombard said she is excited because KEMH is continually evaluating the methods they use and staff are keeping up with what is new.

“We try to keep at the forefront of things,” she said. “For a small Island like this, the service we provide is really very good.” Mrs. Stephens said she became interested in her field after taking part in a medical assistance programme which included office and laboratory work.

“I look at quality control and assurance,” said Mrs. Stephens. “The rewards of the job are patient care and knowing that we are providing a much needed service, and hopefully catching a disease in the early stages.”

However, there are risks to working in a medical laboratory, given the constant exposure to blood pathogens.

“There are definitely risks to dealing with blood everyday,” said Mrs. Stephens.

“You can spill blood. We don’t usually draw blood, but there are glass tubes here that could break. We also take bone marrow from the patients.” She said safety regulations have improved a great deal since she started working in the laboratory several years ago.

“We comply with health regulations,” said Dr. Lombard. “With increased awareness of HIV, people are becoming more aware of the risks of dealing with blood and tissue. Even before HIV we started realising that people have to be careful in the laboratory and take certain precautions.

“For example, if there is any kind of danger, like tuberculosis, it will be dealt with in special protective clothing. We have come a long way of recognising the dangers and protecting ourselves. There are procedures and set protocols to follow if you do get into a situation.”

‘Providing a much needed service’