(P-IN-4) Old vs. New: The Blood Bank Analyzer Reliability Showdown!

Background/Case Studies: As testing volumes rise, many laboratories face staffing shortages, particularly in specialized areas like Transfusion Medicine. This presents a unique challenge: how to maintain high-quality patient care and safety, while managing the increasing demands on laboratory staff. Automation helps mitigate these issues, but the high cost of new instruments (NEW) is a barrier. Recertified analyzers (RECERT) offer a cost-effective alternative, though concerns about reliability remain. This study assessed the performance and reliability of RECERT versus NEW analyzers by evaluating frequency of service calls after extended use.

Study

Design/Methods: A retrospective review of 51 analyzers across 45 facilities examined 21 NEW Echo Lumena (Werfen, Norcross, GA) and 18 RECERT Echo v2.0, (Werfen, Norcross, GA), with six facilities using both. All instruments had been in operation for 4-years. Service records were analyzed to determine service engineer (SE) visit frequency for each analyzer type per facility during a 12-month period.

Results/Findings: The data collected focused on the number of SE Visits per instrument type and revealed that NEW required an average of 1.3 service visits annually, while RECERT required 1.0 visit annually. (Table 1) While not all service visits involved major failures, as many were for troubleshooting or maintenance. These results suggest that, after approximately four years of use, both new and recertified analyzers demonstrated similar reliability in terms of service calls despite the difference in initial cost.

Conclusions: Staffing shortages and expertise gaps highlight the need for reliable, cost-effective automation. While new blood bank analyzers offer the latest technology, recertified models provide the same technology advantages with similar reliability at a significantly lower cost. In our 12-month review of 51 Echo analyzers, approximately half new and recertified instruments averaged nearly the same number of service visits (Average 1.3 for NEW vs. 1.0 for RECERTIFIED), indicating comparable performance over time. This suggests that recertified analyzers can provide reliable automation and labor-saving benefits, making them a viable, cost-effective alternative to new instruments.