Australian Red Cross Lifeblood Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Background/Case Studies: The Australian Red Cross Lifeblood (Lifeblood) performs Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT) on all blood donations using the Procleix Panther system featuring Automation Ready Technology (Panther ART). These fully automated instruments have improved result turnaround time and reduced operator hands on time. As technology advances, Lifeblood has focused on further improvements in the NAT process particularly in pre and postanalytical sample management. The introduction of the Accelerator a3600 laboratory automation system provided an opportunity for a world first connection of the Panther ART to deliver a total automated solution for NAT screening of blood donations.
Study
Design/Methods: Lifeblood, together with Grifols and Abbott Diagnostics connected the Panther ART to the Accelerator a3600 at the Brisbane processing centre in September 2023.The automation sorts NAT samples based on donation type and directs tubes to the required workflow. Samples from clinical donations are centrifuged, decapped and delivered to one of three Panther ART analysers connected to the track for individual testing.These samples are stored in the on-track refrigerator and automatically retrieved if discriminatory or repeat testing is required. Samples from plasma donations are centrifuged and output for off-track pooling and testing.Samples from reactive pools are manually loaded on the track for individual testing. Benefits were measured in the form of improvement in testing turnaround time, reduction in operator manual handling and impact on invalid or false reactive rate.
Results/Findings: Between September 2023 and March 2024, a monthly average of 26,380 NAT sample tubes were processed by the automation. The connection of the Panther ART to the Accelerator a3600 has provided further efficiencies in the end-to-end NAT process. Preanalytical management of NAT sample tubes and automatic retrieval of reactive tubes from on-track storage has significantly reduced operator hands on time ( >80%), improved staff safety through reduction in manual handling activities and improved result turnaround time by up to 1 hour/day.The Accelerator a3600 hardware connection module did not significantly impact on the invalid test rate or false reactive rate. Conclusions: Automation for NAT screening of blood donations has improved significantly over the last 20 years and now the connection of the Panther ART to the Accelerator a3600 has provided further improvements, particularly in result turnaround times due to the elimination of manual preanalytical sample management activities. Postanalytical automation for reflex and repeat testing has also introduced further system control and reduced operator hands on time and the potential risks associated with manual handling of samples, freeing up staff to perform additional laboratory tasks.
