The OCH Regional Medical Center Arterial Blood Gas Lab in respiratory therapy has received 100-percent approval rating from COLA, a national healthcare accreditation organization.
This accreditation is given only to laboratories that apply rigid standards of quality in day-to-day operations, demonstrate continued accuracy in the performance of proficiency testing and pass a rigorous on-site laboratory survey. The OCH ABG lab has earned COLA accreditation as a result of a long-term commitment to provide quality service to its patients.
The ABG lab test primarily measures the amount of oxygen, carbon dioxide and acidity of the blood. This information is vital when caring for patients with critical illness or respiratory disease. As a result, the ABG is one of the most common tests performed on patients in intensive care units (ICUs).
“The team of respiratory therapists at OCH work and train hard, so it is nice to see these efforts providing such amazing outcomes,” said OCH Director of Respiratory Therapy Wes Andrews, RRT, CHEP. “With the technical support of our main lab and the information technology services here at OCH, we maintain three analyzers that are pre-staged throughout the facility to provide the quickest response times anywhere. Because of this, our physicians do not have to wait as long to get critical results and information, which results in excellent care for our patients,” he explained.
COLA is a nonprofit, physician-directed organization promoting quality and excellence in medicine and patient care through programs of voluntary education, achievement and accreditation.
COLA is approved by the federal government and sponsored by the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Medical Association, and the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine.
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