Automation in the hospital laboratory: robot-supported night operation at St. Barbara-Hospital Gladbeck

In the November issue of KU Gesundheitsmanagement, Bernd Siegmund, member of the management board at KERN, and Semir Hasanspahic, technical laboratory manager at KERN, describe how St. Barbara-Hospital Gladbeck automated its hospital laboratory. Between 4 pm and 6:30 am, two mobile laboratory robots of the type uLab Mobile take over recurring pre-analytical and logistics tasks in autonomous operation. United Robotics Group is the technology partner.

Laboratory night shift: what the robots do

Robot-supported operation covers the period from 4 pm to 6:30 am. The system takes over the recurring steps from sample receipt, barcode registration, opening the sample tubes and centrifugation to loading the analysers and archiving. On average, around 150 samples are processed per night. From 6:30 am to 4 pm, the laboratory runs in hybrid mode: specialists control and assess the process while the robots continue their routines.

Pre-analytics as a continuous process chain

The laboratory did not automate individual steps; it reorganised the night shift as a whole process. Walking routes, device positions and handovers were considered together. A pass-through hatch separates the robot area from the staff area and enables safe sample handover. Process data flows into the laboratory information system, so the status of every sample remains traceable and time-critical requests can be prioritised.

Professional responsibility stays with people

The mobile system takes over defined routines. Professional assessment, release, quality assurance and decisions in situations that cannot be automated remain with the specialists. The automated night process is not meant to replace specialists but to give them more time for their actual tasks.

Acceptance in the laboratory team

According to the article, a clear definition of the robots’ area of use, early information for all staff and personal training of the laboratory team contributed to a successful introduction. Many employees visited an open-door hour at commissioning and watched the robots in live operation. The design with a friendly face, clearly visible operating states and calm movements contributed to integrating the systems. The laboratory team named the two uLab Mobile “KERNi” and “Barbara”.

Transferring laboratory automation to other sites

Two section headings of the article sum up the approach: first consider the process, then adapt the technology; and scaling does not mean copying. Laboratories differ in rooms, equipment, IT landscape, sample volume and staff organisation. That is why each site is assessed for which processes are suitable for automation.

More about the mobile laboratory robot: Mobile laboratory robot

Read the full article as a PDF