LifeLabs — Expert Mobile Technicians
LifeLabs
LifeLabs is Canada’s largest provider of community laboratory services performing over 112 million laboratory tests to help diagnose, treat, monitor and prevent diseases for millions of Canadians. They are an industry leader in ensuring exceptional quality testing in their state-of-the-art facilities. That commitment to quality extends into their mobile lab services as they also serve thousands of patients every year in their homes or working in partnership with healthcare facilities, retirement homes and business.
Challenge
Knowing Panasonic’s strong reputation in the rugged mobile market providing tougher solutions for Law Enforcement, Firefighters, and Public Utility professionals, for example, LifeLabs approached Panasonic for a light, rugged and reliable laptop to conduct on-site cardiac tests in senior living care facilities all across Ontario.
Solution
The TOUGHBOOK 55 laptop had the "tough" features and powerful performance qualities that LifeLabs could count on to withstand falls and difficult weather environments, while seamlessly integrating with their cardiac monitoring software. The device’s durable design meant critical recorded patient health data stayed secure and protected.
Result
The TOUGHBOOK 55 is helping LifeLabs to serve thousands of seniors every year. Engineered for mobility and durability, the 55 has reduced downtime and repair costs and is proving to be the perfect partner in enhancing patient experiences and ensuring the integrity of vital health information.
Challenge
Not everyone is able to visit a patient service centre for a lab test. Seniors living in long-term care facilities rely on LifeLabs mobile technicians to perform important on-site cardiac tests ordered by physicians. Visiting seniors in their living environments can pose unique challenges as living spaces can be quite small. Complicated medical testing equipment can add to patient anxiety in a tinier space resulting in medical device dropping and accidents.
For the LifeLabs technician, it’s important that residents always feel comfortable and assured when undergoing a cardiac test, such as an Electrocardiogram (ECG) or the application of a Holter monitor.
On average, LifeLabs performs 11,500 cardiac tests per week across all of Ontario including more remote regions where extreme weather and temperature can affect technology performance.
In addition to requiring "rugged" equipments that can weather various environmental elements, LifeLabs needed a laptop that would work easily and seamlessly with their ECG and Holter monitoring hardware and software.
Knowing that Panasonic covers approximately 90% of the ‘rugged’ mobile laptop market in industries such as emergency services (e.g. Police, Fire and Ambulatory Services) the Utilities sector, and other industries with complex working environments, and understanding that not all ‘rugged’ is created equal, LifeLabs contacted Panasonic for a state-of-the-art TOUGHBOOK solution.
Solution
The TOUGHBOOK 55 laptop had the "tough" features and performance qualities that LifeLabs was looking for. Built with state-of-the-art technology, it offers the latest Intel® 11th Gen vPro™ quad-core processors, up to 64GB of RAM, up to 2TB of storage, all-day battery life, 4 microphones providing unparalleled speech recognition accuracy, color-selectable backlit keyboard, crisp and powerful 92dB speakers, and blazing fast Wi-Fi 6.
LifeLabs had very specific requirements in choosing the TOUGHBOOK 55. They needed it to be light, portable, rugged, fast, reliable, and compatible with their E-wave cardiac test monitoring software. The 55’s built-in flexibility and functionality meant that no additional system or hardware enhancements were required to configure LifeLabs own software solutions and peripherals. ECG boxes and cables plugged easily into the 55’s USB ports turning the laptop into a portable ECG machine, and the cardiac recording software configured seamlessly with the 55’s base operating system. LifeLabs Holter monitors store critical data on SD cards which plug into the 55’s built-in speedy MicroSD card slot. Enhanced connectivity is offered through a variety of user-removable expansion packs, or xPAKs, such as I/O ports, optical drives, authentication readers and a new barcode reader. The 55’s expandable solid state hard drive, encased in an overall rugged roll cage, ensures all diagnostic digital data stays secure during operations and in transit back to the lab centres for upload and analysis by the ordering physician.
With a MIL-STD-810H and IP53 certified magnesium alloy design, and rigorous testing for drops, vibration, extreme temperatures, dust, sand, and humidity, the TOUGHBOOK 55 brought the confidence LifeLabs needed to keep their critical data was secure, provide uninterrupted operations, and ensure patients would be well cared for.
Result
With over 160 laptops deployed across 320 locations in Ontario, the durability and longevity of the Panasonic TOUGHBOOK 55 is translating into reduced downtime and reduced repair costs.
The ease of configuration with the 55 allows LifeLabs' IT teams to quickly deploy laptops to the mobile technicians that are responsible for serving thousands of patients every year.
The innovative modular design, lightweight body, overall device features and powerful processing speed are delivering positive results for the mission critical mobile technicians working in challenging, often unpredictable, environments.
In addition to providing mobile services to longterm care facilities across Ontario, LifeLabs uses the TOUGHBOOK 55 to offer health testing at community-based services, including an annual event where local technicians from the Niagara region conduct ECG tests on NHL officials in Fort Erie. With six technicians using six laptops to perform a demanding number of tests, the TOUGHBOOK 55 manages to keep pace and stays reliable ensuring the event is always a success.
Providing caring, efficient, high-quality service lies at the core of all that LifeLabs does. Technology plays an important role in their pursuit of excellence. In choosing to work with a Panasonic TOUGHBOOK solution, LifeLabs continues to deliver on their commitment to quality patient care.
