Evangelical Community Hospital Laboratories Earn CAP Reaccreditation

The laboratories associated with Evangelical Community Hospital recently underwent an inspection by the College of American Pathologists (CAP), an event that occurs every two years.

While on-site, the CAP inspection team reviewed the blood gas, clinical, and anatomic laboratories associated with the Hospital and Cardiopulmonary Services as well as the oncology laboratory at 75 Medical Park, Lewisburg. All reviewed laboratories passed inspection, earning them reaccreditation until 2024.

The CAP reaccreditation assures patients, providers, and other healthcare workers in the facility that Evangelical is in fact producing high-quality results.

During the unannounced inspection, inspectors spent approximately eight hours scrutinizing all aspects of testing. The standards examined relate to quality, instrumentation, documentation, best practices in laboratory medicine, patient reporting, safety, and overall management. The surveyors also look closely at policy and procedure and staff qualifications. They used Policy Manager numerous times during their visit to determine if the Hospital is in keeping with and following the policy standards set by the organization.

The blood gas lab uses blood drawn from an artery to determine how well the lungs are working by measuring oxygen, carbon dioxide, and the pH of the blood. The number of blood gases done in the Hospital increased dramatically from 1,662 in fiscal year 2020 to 2,119 in fiscal year 2021, to 2,122 in just the first seven months of fiscal year 2022, because of the pandemic. With the opening of the blood gas lab on the new Critical Care Unit, the average turnaround time for a blood gas is less than 10 minutes.

The anatomic and clinical laboratories process a wide variety of tests for the Hospital’s patients to include cardiac markers, thyroid studies, immunology, vitamin deficiency, coagulation and Blood Bank testing, and component preparation for transfusion. The Hospital’s Anatomic Pathology laboratory examines surgical specimens for OR cases, and gynecological and non-gynecological specimens such as PAPs and fine-needle aspirations.

During the past 12 months of COVID-19, the Hospital laboratory has processed over 30,000 tests for SARS CoV-2. 

To learn more about Laboratory Services at Evangelical, click here.