Ensuring quality control and appropriate sampling, performing a wide range of laboratory tests, and maintaining equipment and supplies are just a fraction of the everyday activities of medical laboratory professionals. While water quality is critical to laboratory testing and equipment performance, it can be a challenge to manage in addition to these core responsibilities.
Outsourcing water management provides an opportunity to optimize laboratory performance by leveraging the knowledge and experience of water specialists while reducing the burden on medical laboratory professionals.
Why is water system reliability important?
Consistent water quality is important in medical laboratories for a wide range of applications from routine washing and rinsing to reagent preparation, sample dilution, Clinical Laboratory Reagent Water (CLRW) for clinical chemistry analyzers and more.
In hospital settings reliable water quality ensures accurate test results, allowing efficient diagnosis and treatment for patients. Test errors could result in improper diagnosis or significant delays in treatment due to the additional time needed to repeat testing.
In medical research facilities water quality issues could affect the validity of research, requiring complex experiments to be repeated with significant time investment to repeat work. In both cases, unreliable water quality is simply unacceptable.
How does outsourced water management impact reliability?
A comprehensive service program can increase reliability by ensuring that appropriate preventive maintenance is completed and system consumables (e.g., DI tanks/packs, UV, filters) are exchanged by experienced technicians. This eliminates unplanned downtime and maintenance, which provides significant time and cost savings.
Outsourced water management also provides peace of mind by allowing medical laboratory professionals to focus on their primary responsibilities without distraction.
What should you look for in a service provider?
Every application is different and it’s important to select a service provider that can meet the needs of your medical laboratory. Below is a list of traits to look for in a service provider:
- Water Expertise – In-depth understanding of water quality and treatment technologies.
- Market/Application Expertise – Knowledge and experience in providing high purity water & service solutions across the various laboratory applications.
- Flexible Service Options – Customized service programs with outcome-based solutions to meet laboratory needs.
- Local Presence – Local service delivers a rapid response, minimizing the risk of system downtime.
- Trusted Partner – A provider who will support your laboratory water needs through the entire product lifecycle and provide the best solution to meet your needs.
Be careful of providers with limited-service options and look out for costly add-ons, such as emergency service fees, consumable fees, etc. These should all be included in the original service package of a qualified provider.
Why should medical laboratories partner with Evoqua?
Evoqua Water Technologies is a global leader in the water treatment market with over 100 years of experience. We have a deep understanding of the critical nature of medical laboratories and the importance of system uptime.
Whether you are looking for preventative maintenance, an operating contract, or a full-service program, Evoqua will customize a solution to meet your needs. And with the largest service network in North America, our highly trained local service professionals are positioned to deliver fast and reliable service.
Case Study: Proactive Service Makes Evoqua the Partner of Choice
A major medical center in Oklahoma was undergoing a very large instrumentation implementation for chemistry and hematology equipment with a strict timeline. Evoqua was able to quickly step in and assess the situation, providing temporary deionized water tanks for the new chemistry analyzers. Once the director received approval for capital equipment, Evoqua supplied two Medica®1 systems with boost pumps to provide reliable, high purity water to the chemistry analyzers.
Due to the partnership with Evoqua, the laboratory did not experience any downtime during the temporary or final installation of the water purification equipment. In addition, a service agreement ensures the lab’s water system performs optimally and lessens the risk of downtime with on-going local support if any issues should arise.
" Evoqua is a true partner and is customer driven. When you have somebody local, that makes all the difference. "
About the Author
Matt Bero
1 Medica is a trademark of VWS (UK) Ltd.