Automation – The future is here

In the last few decades, the IVD industry has advanced from being mostly manual to being essentially auto­mated in all the phases of testing (preanalytical, analytical, and postanalytical). This has resulted in better and faster diagnoses and eventually better patient outcomes.

The manufacturers of devices and reagents for in-vitro diagnosis have been on their toes to develop faster, more inno­vative solutions in order to meet the needs and demands of the patients and doctors. Companies and laborato­ries are investing more in research, development and deployment of newer molecular technologies like next-generation sequencing. Gradually, the focus is shifting to preventable infectious diseases like TB, Hepatitis, HIV, etc.

Laboratory medicine is a field of healthcare, which has always been ahead in terms of acceptance and implementation of automation. This is further strengthened by the fact that Indian laboratories were able to expand their capacity from 80–100 samples per day to more than 2000 samples per day in a matter of few weeks. Labs are actively graduating from being semi-automated to fully automated in order to meet the increasing workloads and to provide the best turnaround times to the patients.

Automation is the way to go forward in this constantly evolving and growing field of in-vitro diagnostics in order to meet the demands. We are practicing in an era where laboratories are under an immense pressure for producing results in the fastest ever TAT and with almost nil scope of error. The latest, advanced high-end diagnostic solutions offer extremely user-friendly features. These instruments can be integrated with the laboratory’s information systems to minimize manual intervention, wherever possible, and hence reduce the margin of error in each phase of testing. These automated solutions help the clinicians not just by providing a faster and accurate report, but also having the option of reflex testing recommendations, hence providing a complete diagnosis.

Also, the reporting doctor gets an opportunity to focus more on the clinical side of things. In fact, labs are now moving toward total lab automation (TLA), which involves automation at every step of lab operations. Pre-analytical phase contributes to majority of lab errors. Auto­mation in this phase helps in error-free specimen labelling, barcoding, transportation, sorting, and regis­tration. Post the separation, the component (plasma or serum) is automatically sent to the required analyzer.

The analytical phase of testing has always been the main focus of automation in laboratories, and is further gaining traction through launch of technologically advanced upgrades to support existing installed base. This helps in better utilization of lab resources, better efficiency, and provides more throughput with a consistent TAT. Molecular diagnostics has shown a fast growth through automation, as experienced during the pandemic, with the use of automated extractors and pre-filled PCR plates.

In the post-analytical phase, data interpretation, upload, and storage is made easy by technical advancements and improvements in computer systems. Through system integration with laboratory information systems (LIS), the data is automatically transferred to LIS. This combination of automation and IT integration improves the laboratory workflow and easy communication between the lab and patients and lab and clinicians, improving report delivery.In a nutshell, the evolving diagnostic infrastructure is changing the standard of delivery of lab services. Automation in laboratories is widely accepted, enabling high-quality, fast reports and highly efficient, cost-effective, patient-centric approach in lab operations.

Technological advances can increase lab units, which can be fully or partially automated, based on workload to improve their operations. Labs will rely more on automation that can enable them to deliver in a more cost-effective manner with the highest quality. Total or partial lab automation will be the way to go forward in the diagnostics world, not just in the coming year but also for the next decade.