KEMH’s Department of Pathology Provides Unique Service to Bermuda

Bermuda Hospitals Board’s (BHB) Department of Pathology will celebrate “Lab Week 2006” by hosting an open house on May 23, 2006. The theme, “Providing Answers, Guiding Cures,” reflects the vital role laboratories play in the timely diagnosis and treatment of illness. Staff will conduct tours, provide explanations of workflow in information sharing sessions and set up a poster display along “Laboratory Information Alley.”

The Department of Pathology is the only full-service, accredited clinical and anatomic pathology laboratory in the community. Laboratory services are comprehensive and include blood transfusion, histopathology, cytopathology, haematology, chemistry and microbiology.

Pathology services are extensive:
· Haematology and transfusion average about 4000 outpatient and 1000 inpatient tests per month.
· Chemistry processes approximately 6750 specimens each month.
· About 127 autopsies are performed each year.
· Histolopathology handles 5500 specimens per year.
· The blood donor centre collects about 2,600 donations annually and supports the island’s need for blood products.
· Cytology processes 6200 specimens per year.

Dr. Kered James, Chief of Pathology for BHB invites members of the public to visit the laboratory on May 23 between 10:00am and 11:30am and learn more about the work of the department. “Highly qualified staff, using state-of-the-art technology and instrumentation, assist physicians in the diagnosis and treatment of existing conditions and the prevention of others. The provision of accurate, timely test results plays a crucial role in patient care,” said Dr. James.

Comprising an estimated 70 percent of patients’ medical records, laboratory results are vital to the diagnosis and treatment of illness and disease. Having achieved accreditation earlier this year from Joint Commission International, BHB’s Department of Pathology provides a unique service to the community.

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