Fort St. John Hospital and other NH facilities win outstanding awards in lab services

Brandan Spyker

March 21, 2019

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Medical Lab Technologists Matthew Coburn, Laurel Coburn (related by marriage), and Carlee Bryson with Fort St. John Hospital’s three awards.

Congratulations to Fort St. John Hospital staff for recently receiving three outstanding achievement awards from the BC Provincial Blood Coordinating Office.

“The achievements are a testament to the donors of British Columbia, that our labs in Northern Health are great stewards, for their selfless act in helping others through their donation of blood products,” says Julius Valido, Quality Resource Technologist at the University Hospital of Northern BC (UHNBC) in Prince George.

The recognition is related to the hospital’s efficient usage of blood products, donor red cells, and IV immune globulin (IVIG).

“It is also a recognition that Northern Health is motivated to reduce the unnecessary cost to healthcare,” says Julius, “and to the public sector by diminishing inventory wastage and transportation of products to and from the suppliers and within lab sites.”

The three outstanding achievement awards are:

Award for Outstanding Achievement in 0% Red Cell Outdate Rate: The lab used all donor red cells before they expired. Red cells have an average shelf-life of 45 days.
Award for Outstanding 0% Expiry Rate of all Factor products: The lab used all blood products and derivatives, such as coagulation factors, before
they expired.
Award for Outstanding 0% IVIG Discard and Outdate Rate: The lab used all IV immune globulin (IVIG) before its expiration date. IVIG is produced from healthy human blood to help fight infections for patients with a weakened immune system; and it’s very expensive, at $65 per gram. Some patients need 1000-2000 grams. The lab not only used the product before the expiration date, but it also handled it with care during shipping and receiving, and placed it in temperature controlled storage before being used for various approved conditions other than weakened immune systems.

Several other Northern Health facilities won awards and honourable mentions (see below). Keep an eye out for a full story in the upcoming Northern Way magazine. We’ll take an in-depth look at what these awards mean to Northern Health patients and how the lab teams achieved these amazing results.

Congratulations to everyone!