A collaborative paradigm to improve 21st century healthcare explored in special January issue of ADLM's The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Diagnostic stewardship brings together healthcare professionals across specialties to ensure patients get the right clinical laboratory tests at the right time. This special issue of the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine's (ADLM's, formerly AACC's) The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine highlights the invaluable role that diagnostic stewardship plays in reducing medical errors, managing costs, and optimizing the effectiveness of patient care. What's more, the issue was designed by just such a wide-ranging group of experts.

View the full issue here: https://academic.oup.com/jalm/issue/10/1

The need to draw on the diverse strengths, knowledge, and skillsets of a multidisciplinary team has become more urgent than ever in today's complex healthcare environment. With an increasing number of patients with multiple chronic illnesses, thousands of new tests and treatments available, and ever-faster advances in medical technology, it's become enormously challenging for clinicians to stay on top of everything they need to know without engaging other stakeholders.

The "team sport" approach to care holds great promise. For example, presurgical checklists that provide a unified framework for all members of a clinical team have been shown to reduce medical errors by about 30%. That's one reason such systematic protocols are now supported by major U.S. and global healthcare organizations, including the Joint Commission, the World Health Organization, and laboratory accrediting bodies.

"Diagnostic stewardship efforts need to be a natural development in the evolution of medical care and stimulate better alignment with the growth in multidisciplinary collaboration," wrote the special issue editors Drs. Nancy E. Cornish, Daniel J. Morgan, Alec Saitman, Nikoletta Sidiropoulos, Christopher J. Zahner, and Robert H. Christenson in the preamble to the January issue.

One of the issue's review articles highlights the development of a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services national reporting measure, which flags blood samples that are found to be contaminated or lacking sufficient volume. Because those findings are possible indicators of infection, the patient's medical report is then updated to include information and advice for the clinician about how to accurately diagnose bacteria in the blood.

Another review explores the cost-saving potential of laboratory stewardship when applied to molecular pathology, a field in which experts analyze DNA and other biological molecules to diagnose diseases. The article presents a clinical committee-based approach for determining which patients would benefit most from the expensive testing.

A review of one high-cost form of genetic analysis called metagenomic testing notes that a relatively small number of patients realize high clinical value from getting the assessment.
"Much work remains to be done, and the editorial team hopes this special issue will inspire and encourage clinical laboratories of all sizes to participate in or develop diagnostic stewardship teams in their own institutions," wrote the issue editors.

About the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM)

Dedicated to achieving better health through laboratory medicine, ADLM (formerly AACC) brings together more than 70,000 clinical laboratory professionals, physicians, research scientists, and business leaders from around the world focused on clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, translational medicine, lab management, and other areas of progressing laboratory science. Since 1948, ADLM has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing programs that advance scientific collaboration, knowledge, expertise, and innovation. For more information, visit www.myadlm.org.

The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine (jalm.org) is published online by ADLM. This international, peer-reviewed publication showcases applied research on clinically relevant laboratory topics as well as commentary on the practice of clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine. 

Christine DeLong
ADLM
Associate Director, Communications & PR
(p) 202.835.8722
[email protected]

Molly Polen
ADLM
Senior Director, Communications & PR
(p) 202.420.7612
(c) 703.598.0472
[email protected]

SOURCE Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM)