How Lab Experts Are Leading the Way on Global Trends

As healthcare and technology evolve, several global initiatives are emerging that are poised to meet the needs of an ever-changing landscape. During the President’s Invited Session on Monday, July 24, “Emerging Trends in Laboratory Medicine: Excellence from the Global Community,” moderated by ADLM President Shannon Haymond, PhD, three laboratory experts from around the world shared their experiences and insights about several hot topics: pandemic preparedness, environmental sustainability, and machine learning.

In the first part of the session, Heungsup Sung, MD, PhD, talked about the measures that need to be taken to prepare for future outbreaks of novel or variant infectious diseases. His presentation illustrated how collaboration and preparedness between private and public sectors in Korea during the MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in 2015 was crucial for creating strategies and guidelines for responding to other infectious diseases.

These efforts set the foundation for Korea’s swift response at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and helped minimize deaths. “Just three days after the first EUA product became available, 46 [Korean] laboratories were already conducting SARS-CoV-2 molecular tests,” Sung said.

Sung also highlighted several critical components for enabling rapid scaling of lab testing. These include streamlining the Emergency Use Authorization process, conducting policy research for increasing testing capacity, and fostering cooperation among private laboratories, reagent manufacturers, and professional societies. Sung emphasized the importance of collaboration among societies and organizations that provide expertise, guidance, and quality assurance to ensure accurate and reliable testing.

Attendees next heard from Katherine Hayden, FRCPath, CSci, EuSpLM, BSc, president of the Association for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine, about the role of appropriate test utilization in environmental sustainability efforts. Most laboratorians are likely familiar with the impact of poor test utilization on patient outcomes and healthcare costs. But they may not be aware that inappropriate test utilization can also harm the environment.

Laboratories account for 2% of single-use plastics globally and produce staggering amounts of carbon emissions, Hayden said. There are opportunities at all stages of the testing process for laboratories to improve utilization and reduce waste. She shared a range of strategies that can be implemented to help transform laboratory practices and promote sustainability.

In the last part of the session, ADLM Past President Stephen Master, MD, PhD, provided guidance on the use of machine learning in the clinical laboratory. Considering the vast amount of data generated by clinical laboratories, artificial intelligence and machine learning have significant potential for extracting valuable insights that can revolutionize laboratory medicine.

However, it is key that laboratorians familiarize themselves with best practices for implementing these systems as machine learning tools become more accessible. Master shared several valuable resources that lab professionals can reference for machine learning applications, including a new guidance document produced by an IFCC working group that was recently published in Clinical Chemistry.

To remain at the forefront of innovation, the laboratory community must embrace new initiatives and be ready to respond to changing circumstances. The breadth and value of experiences shared by the speakers in this session on pandemic preparedness, test utilization and sustainability, and machine learning applications is captured by Sung: “The collective knowledge gained from past experiences should serve as a foundation for building a resilient healthcare system capable of effectively addressing future challenges.”