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 The Scotland County Health Department Laboratory, a facility
nationally certified by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement
Amendments (CLIA), operates under the guidelines established
by the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health,
Division of Public Health, Department of Health and Human
Services. Laboratory support is required and necessary for
disease surveillance, diagnosis, monitoring and enforcement
of environmental health programs.
The laboratory functions as a clinical and technical information
center for each of the departments and programs that provide
services within the Health Department. The staff performs
a multitude of test “in-house”, providing virtually
immediate results for requests as basic as a “dip” urinalysis
to those as complicated as HDL Cholesterol. The laboratory
also oversees “send-out” tests that are outside
of the parameters of the laboratory’s certifications,
and are performed at several in-state and out-of-state facilities.
The results of “in-house” and “send-out” tests
are critical for the individual departments and programs
to be able to provide accurate information and advice to
their clients as it relates to each individual’s medical
concerns.
The laboratory is staffed with Medical Laboratory Technicians
who are individually certified by the American Society of
Clinical Pathologists (ASCP). All of the “techs” are
trained to operate all of the testing equipment employed
by the laboratory, and are evaluated for proficiency on a
regular basis. Each “tech” receives continuing
education (as required by laboratory policy) in order to
maintain and improve current knowledge and to be able to
continue to provide SCHD programs with test results reflecting
the most recent technical training.
In the past year, the laboratory has updated its Operations
Manual, Quality Assurance Plan, Departmental Policies, and
a variety of other elements within the department in order
to:
- Keep abreast of improvements and changes in testing procedures
- Streamline laboratory functions to laboratory essential
responsibilities
- Respond more professionally as a laboratory staff
- Provide
better communications of test requests and results
between the laboratory and the various SCHD programs.
The Laboratory is also part of the Health Alert Network (HAN) and can quickly communicate alerts to and from the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health.
Click here for more information or questions about our Laboratory Services.
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