U.S. Lab Professionals Indicate Urgency for Automated Solutions

bioMérieux, a world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics, recently conducted a survey during the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) General Meeting to gauge in the demand for lab automation. More than 75 percent of respondents said they planned to add new microbiology lab automation solutions to their laboratories within the next year. Of the professionals surveyed, 57 percent indicated they most needed automated solutions for specimen and culture set up and urine screening for negative cultures.

Laboratories today are becoming increasingly short staffed with a severe skilled-labor issue in the microbiology domain. Labs are working to become more efficient and implement options for streamlining operations and reducing costs, while coping with increasing workload volumes and the demand for faster results from clinicians. The role of lab automation has become increasingly important. The key factors that were cited as important when selecting an automated solution: accuracy, standardization, improved workflow and productivity, decreased transcription errors and traceability for auditing purposes.

"bioMérieux is on the forefront of the microbiology lab automation movement, and we are committed to providing novel technologies and products to meet the industry’s evolving needs," said Herb Steward, executive vice president and general manager, bioMérieux, Inc. "The study results confirm that automation's time has come." Survey respondents indicated that the main reasons for looking at automated solutions include faster turn around time. Labor savings from excessive overtime and improved test-result accuracy tied for second place. In addition, over 70 percent of respondents indicated they would shift employee focus away from labor-intensive tasks to more sophisticated responsibilities if they had more automated solutions.

bioMérieux’s newest additions to the automation suite include the PREVI™ Isola, a pre-poured media streaker, the PREVI™ Color Gram for staining and Sysmex® UF-1000i, a urinary screening tool that allows laboratory technicians to accurately detect and enumerate bacteria and particles present in urine specimens. The instruments are designed to complement bioMérieux’s complete range of automated solutions, including the BacT/ALERT® for blood culture, VITEK® 2 for identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing and DiversiLab™ for microbial straintyping. For more information on fully automated lab solutions, visit www.biomerieux-usa.com/fmla.

About bioMérieux

Advancing Diagnostics to Improve Public Health

A world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics for 45 years, bioMérieux is present in more than 150 countries through 38 subsidiaries and a large network of distributors. In 2007, revenues reached €1.063 billion with 84% of sales outside of France.

bioMérieux provides diagnostic solutions (reagents, instruments, software) which determine the source of disease and contamination to improve patient health and ensure consumer safety. Its products are used for diagnosing infectious diseases and providing high medical value results for cardiovascular emergencies and cancer screening and monitoring. They are also used for detecting microorganisms in agri-food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. bioMérieux is listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris market (Code: BIM – Code ISIN: FR0010096479). Other information can be found at www.biomerieux.com.

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