Chemical Pathology

Chemical Pathology department within a hospital provides a link between front line clinical staff and the basic sciences employing analytical and interpretative skills to aid the clinician in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease. The Department of Chemical Pathology at Shifa International offers clinical chemistry tests in routine as well as specialized areas, operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The department handles almost 70% of the total clinical laboratory menu. In total, there are nearly 300 different tests available, about 1500 specimens are handled daily.

Point of care testing (POCT) a recently introduced service in which the quality of all tests performed on patient’s bedside are quality controlled by Chemical Pathology Department through a centralized I.T system. This also includes trainings of POCT operators as per International Standards.

Consultant Chemical Pathologist uses a wide range of analytical techniques for example, measurement of enzyme activities, spectrophotometry, electrophoresis, the separation of molecules based on physical characteristics and immunoassays. The work involves manual& automated techniques for which the medical technologistsusestheir complex practical and interpretive skills for operation and management of highly automated testing systems capable of producing thousands of results in a day. Once validated, the results are released to the clinical areas through the Medical Information System (M.I.S) to the patients.All assays are closely monitored and quality controlled. Examples of tests in Clinical Chemistry includes

  1. Routine Chemistry
  2. Special Chemistry
  3. Evaluation of endocrine organ function
  4. Monitoring response to cancer treatment
  5. Assessment of transplant immunosuppression
  6. Assessment of nutritional status
  7. Evaluation of drug and metal toxicity.

At Shifa we have excellent internal quality control and we are also participating in following external proficiency testing programs at both national and International level.

  1. College of American Pathologist.
  2. Bio-Rad External Quality Assurance services (EQAS).

Phlebotomy

The phlebotomy section deals with collection of blood samples for the required tests. This is the most sensitive area of the laboratory, which give the impression of quality of work for the entire laboratory. Blood collection required skill, a professional attitude and decorum. Proper patient identification and specimen labeling through barcodes, is essential in providing accurate results that can safely be used in decision making by the physician which minimizes the pre-analytical errors. A very well designed phlebotomy area has been recently constructed which helping in efficient blood collection for OPD patients.