“Life of a Specimen” video series explores the multifaceted path taken by patient specimens through diagnostic testing at Mayo Clinic Laboratories. Each day we receive upwards of 40,000 patient samples from hospitals and health systems across the globe. Whether arriving at the laboratory facilities in Rochester, Minnesota; Jacksonville, Florida; or Scottsdale, Arizona, each sample receives the same kind of care given to Mayo Clinic patients. We’re rooted in Mayo Clinic’s primary value that the needs of the patient come first, and it is those patients who drive our commitment to testing excellence.

The second episode in the video story offers a close look into Mayo Clinic Laboratories operations. With hundreds of employees united in the same mission, the goal is to ensure each sample is given the highest level of care in order to receive the best test result.

Journey to the laboratory

Approximately 40,000 samples, hailing from more than 70 countries around the globe, arrive at Mayo Clinic Laboratories each day. Representing a diverse spectrum of patients — including individuals affected by acute illnesses, chronic disease, rare disorders, and emerging conditions — each patient sample is processed according to rigorous standards and controls that ensure high-quality answers.

Performing more than 26 million tests each year, Mayo Clinic Laboratories provides laboratory testing services to patients receiving care on Mayo Clinic campuses and patients around the world seeking higher levels of diagnostic care.

“These are people that often have complex medical issues and need that higher level of care that Mayo Clinic can provide,” says Bobbi Pritt, M.D., chair of the Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, at Mayo Clinic. “They're looking for answers, and we do our best to provide those for them.”

In the same way that operations at Mayo Clinic are focused on the patient’s journey, operations at Mayo Clinic Laboratories are focused on the journey of the patient specimen.

“As soon as the specimen is obtained, we think about it as we would think about a patient on our campus, and probably more so because they are not on our campus,” says William Morice II, M.D., Ph.D., CEO and president of Mayo Clinic Laboratories. “We’ve put systems in place to make sure we can keep an eye on and understand where that specimen is as it’s taking its journey here. We take the same care as we would for the entirety of patients to get (specimens) through the system in a way that is efficient, accurate, and gets the answers back as quickly as possible.”

Precise coordination

Hundreds of couriers and freight companies work with Mayo Clinic Laboratories to transport patient specimens from their points of origin. This vast network is oriented around the goal of delivering samples on time and intact to their final destination.

“There's a lot of effort that's put in before the samples arrive at our testing facilities,” says Angela Reese-Davis, director of Operations, Logistics and Specimen Services for Mayo Clinic Laboratories. “We have good relationships with our vendors, and a key part of those relationships is having continued conversations about quality: how can we do a better job together.”

Instructing vendors about the different types of material being shipped, which include urine, blood cells, biopsied tissue, cerebrospinal cord fluid, saliva, and stool, and how best to transport these materials safely is key to ensuring safe delivery, Reese-Davis says.

“Every specimen has a different stability, whether it be ambient or refrigerant or frozen, and each of those temperatures needs to be treated differently,” Reese-Davis explains. “So it’s educating our vendors to understand that, and then partnering with them to come up with different ways to ship or carry our materials safely at the temperature they should be at.”

Assiduous operation

When samples arrive at Mayo Clinic Laboratories’ main testing hub, known as the Superior Drive Support Center (SDSC), they are often packed in Mayo Clinic Laboratories-branded berry boxes. These burgundy boxes are easily identifiable to carriers and couriers.

“We love our berry boxes; it differentiates us, and they are easy to see,” Reese-Davis says.

In addition to arriving at SDSC, patient samples are received and tested at the Hilton Building, which is adjacent to Mayo Clinic’s primary clinical spaces and houses the Central Clinical Core Services Laboratory. 

Whether arriving at SDSC, the Hilton Building, or the laboratory facilities in Florida and Arizona, samples are scanned and tracked into the system as soon as they arrive. At SDSC, a conveyor belt known as “the slinky” quickly moves boxes of specimens into the laboratory facility. In the Hilton Building, samples oftentimes arrive at the laboratory via a conveyor belt system that transports them directly from the patient collection areas.

“When they arrive at our laboratory and get tracked into the system, it’s kind of like checking into a hotel,” says Christopher Yoch, assistant supervisor, Central Processing Laboratories. “We check them in, welcome them to Mayo Clinic. We know where you are and this is the testing laboratory you are going to go to.”

With more than 60 different laboratories in Mayo Clinic’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology performing testing, tracking is a crucial aspect of the process.

“When a client is sending a sample from around the globe to us and they call our facility wanting to know what's going on with their sample or looking for results, I have traceability of where that tube is at in the process,” Yoch says. “I know exactly which bench that tube is at, I know which laboratory it is at, I know which technician is handling that specimen.”

Once tracked into the system, samples are accessioned and affixed with a label that’s scanned anytime the sample moves to a different location in the lab. Samples typically move to pathology accessioning or main floor accessioning. Liquid samples that need to be divided for multiple tests are poured off and aliquoted. Then, using an automated sorting system, patient samples are categorized by the laboratory destination. Once in the proper testing category, the sorted samples are placed onto carts and delivered to the appropriate laboratory for processing.

For Mayo Clinic patients especially, the speed at which testing can be accomplished as a result of automation frequently translates into same-day results.

“A lot of times by the time patients arrive up to (exam) rooms, they actually have the results, so they can actually have that physical discussion with their physician,” Yoch says. “In certain situations where you’re waiting for that result and you don't know what’s going to happen, it's kind of a scary feeling. So having results from a laboratory helps ease those kinds of fears because you know your next step.”

Quality controls

For more than 50 years Mayo Clinic Laboratories has been refining the quality controls and measures used to ensure the highest level of testing performance. The integration of sophisticated tracking systems, leading-edge automation, and astute and innovative testing experts translates into successful testing completion more than 99.95% of the time.

A recent tactic involving camera installation on the testing floor has enabled additional oversight in certain testing areas. Two of these spaces are the pathology desk and international package receiving.

“In our international group there's a lot of intervention with customs,” Reese-Davis says. “Sometimes customs will open those packages and potentially forget to put (a test block) back in the box. So as we’re opening those packages, if there’s any discrepancies, for example, five (cell) blocks were sent but when we opened the package there were only four, we have camera footage that we can go back to.”

Similarly, video footage of the pathology area helps ensure specimen integrity, says Reese-Davis. “Many samples are irretrievable, but our pathology samples, when we're looking at blocks specifically where it's a tissue that may never be able to be extracted from a patient again, we can go back and verify exactly what we received.”

The personal interest and scrutiny provided to each sample by laboratory personnel is an embodiment of Mayo Clinic’s primary value of placing the needs of the patient first.

“When we handle specimens and treat them as a patient, even though we don't have that physical face-to-face representation of talking with an actual patient, then we're more likely to make sure that that tube goes to the correct location,” says Reese-Davis. “We're taking the time to make sure that each individual process, each testing platform, and each result is given the highest priority.”

Handled with care

For the individuals who work at Mayo Clinic Laboratories, commitment to providing patient answers is among the most fundamental aspects of the job.

“The people that work at Mayo Clinic Laboratories really are a special group of people,” Dr. Pritt says. “They are extremely dedicated, and they hold true to our Mayo Clinic values that the needs of the patient come first, and they embody our values. These are individuals that are dedicated to serving our patients, be it by testing a laboratory sample or seeing a patient directly or drawing a blood sample.”

Reese-Davis says that each day at Mayo Clinic Laboratories, individuals step up to ensure testing can be performed.

“It is in the actions of people that show they care,” she says. “If a specimen comes through that has short stability, it’s incredible to see the team come together to make sure they get that specimen to the laboratory within that time frame — they will go the extra effort to make sure the sample gets to the laboratory without being compromised. And that is all through action. Seeing them and the way they care tells me that they know they have an important role for that patient, and they work tirelessly to get through all of the work because they know there is a patient on the other side.”

Learn more about the multifaceted journey taken by millions of patient specimens each year by watching the third episode of “Life of a Specimen,” which explores how testing innovation enables answers for patients with rare and complex conditions.