Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:Veterinarians and producers interested in minimizing the impact of disease and ensuring a high-quality, abundant, affordable, wholesome, and safe food supply. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We capitalize on the close working relationship between our veterinary diagnosticians and technical staff to facilitate our staff's understanding of the technical aspects of the assays being conducted, pathogens being tested, and the impact of their role in safeguarding US animal agriculture. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All of the USDA associated surveillance test results conducted at the ISU VDL are reported to the NAHLN. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Moving forward into 2017-2018, we propose to continue to meet the commitments and expectations associated with being a Level 1 Laboratory in the NAHLN. The proposed system improvement objectives in the coming year include 1) continual advancement ISU VDL's systems for enhancing the quality, traceability, utility, and connectivity of diagnostic information; 2) enhancing FAD preparedness and NAHLN testing capacities; and 3) continual improvement of ISU VDL's Quality System.= Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) and web-based diagnostic data management capabilities and connectivity The ISU VDL plans to i) develop and launch a mobile-friendly version ISU VDL's Client Web Portal; ii) complete development and fully integrate the use of ISU LIMS associated "Molecular Application" that serves to electronically integrate the entirety of the molecular diagnostic work flow (e.g., building extraction plate maps, creating the associated PCR plate maps, referencing QA/QC data, and parsing interpreted results to ISU LIMS); and iii) create and launch an "Invoice Page" on ISU VDL's Client Web Portal that enables clientele to query and view the status of invoices, and select invoices (individually or in-mass) for download via zip-file to their personal computer 2. FAD preparedness and NAHLN testing capacities The ISU VDL aims to i) sustain at least ten molecular and four serology staff proficient in performing the primary NAHLN assays conducted at the ISU VDL; ii) fully integrate the use of the five recently acquired (additional) liquid handling units (JANUSTM, PerkinElmer) into high-throughput molecular diagnostic workflow; iii) enhance clientele's understanding and ability to more fully capture benefits associated with recently introduced "Best Submission Practice Discount" that financially incents clientele to adopt submission practices that greatly enhance the quality, traceability, efficiency, and scalability ISU VDL's diagnostic services; iv) complete renovation, repurposing, and fully repopulating the space vacated by the diagnostic pathologists and diagnostician trainees moving into the recently populated Vet Med Annex; and v) continue to support and participate in Iowa-based and neighboring state FAD investigations in cooperation with federal and state animal health officials. 3. Quality System Our primary improvement objectives are to i) fully adopt and more fully capture efficiencies of using the "Training Module" in Q-PulseTM as the primary means for monitoring status of staff training and proficiency testing; ii) fully onboard a new application in ISU LIMS that serves to automate the process of flagging test results that have been conducted in part or in total at an external laboratory and assays that have not been fully validated for the testing conducted, and adopt the suite of new procedures that will be required to keep the application current with any new test or status changes made to test offerings (inclusive of mapping each new test to the appropriate LOINCTM); and iii) more fully integrate use of the recently on-boarded Amega System for 24/7 monitoring of temperature sensitive sample storage devices (freezers, refrigerators, and incubators) across all sections of the VDL.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
LIMS and web-based diagnostic data management capabilities and connectivity ISU VDL has continued to make significant progress on its software development and web-based applications serving to improve the quality, traceability, utility, and connectivity of veterinary diagnostic records. We have invested to improve the functionality of the ISU VDL Client Web Portal for making electronic (web-based) submissions. Submitters can now utilize the VDL's Client Web Portal to i) create new web submissions from scratch; ii) create and manage customized submission templates that can be used again and again when making submissions that involve a common set of test requests and/or instructions; iii) create new web submissions from existing submission templates; iv) create new web submissions by "cloning" past web submissions; v) create or complete "pending web submissions"; vi) create a pathology request and an accompanying or linked Health Test Request Submission from the same premises; and vii) electronically generate a farm-site specific paper-based submission form inclusive of the owner and farm-site specific information that exists in the VDL client's personalized library of owner and farm site information. The extensive development of the "Owners & Sites" management tool that links, synchs, and time-stamps VDL clients' owner and site information with these same tables in ISU LIMS was a critical development that enables VDL clientele to have complete independence and control of their owner/site lists. Web submissions enable seamless connectivity of incoming information transfer from the submitter to the VDL. VDL clientele select the appropriate owner and site via drop-down menus that subsequently pull-in the full complement of identifying information (e.g., PINS, state of origin, etc.) from the client's personalized library of owner and site information. A series of ISU VDL client web-portal video-based tutorials is available on ISU VDL's website (Resources - Client Services, https://vetmed.iastate.edu/vdl/web-based-tools). ISU VDL's electronic based submissions have increased more than 10-fold since January 2015. As of May 2017, 62% of swine submissions are generated electronically via the ISU VDL Client Portal, and more than 50% of all of ISU VDL's submissions are being submitted online. The ISU VDL successfully launched a series of related applications (Client Profile, Reporting Preferences, & Daily Summary Report) that serve to enhance the client experience, connectivity between lab and client, and provide clientele a first of its kind mobile-friendly application by which VDL clientele are receiving, interpreting, and subsequently distributing the case results from the VDL each day. The Client Profile enables ISU VDL Clientele to actively manage their contact information. Individuals within a given Clinic can be designated to update and actively manage the Submitter specific contact information for the Clinic and each of the Submitters within their respective Clinic. The Reporting Preferences tool enables Clientele to actively manage their preferences as to if, when, how often, and to whom the Daily Summary Report is sent each day. The Daily Summary Report enables VDL Clientele to receive an up-to-date summary of their open cases in a singular e-mail once or more each day. The ISU VDL has developed and on-boarded a number of novel intra-laboratory software developments that collectively aim to enhance the quality, efficiencies, and capabilities of the VDL. This updated application provides for a more intuitive sequential order for entry, viewing, and reviewing final product. The ISU VDL built an "Accessioning Application" that is used to rapidly create a new accession, enter sample inventory, enter specimen type(s), and assign lab section(s) of destination into LIMS during the accessioning process. Once the case has been accessioned into LIMS, the lab section(s) of destination have visibility of the case information entered and submission form (scanned document) associated with that case. Cases leave the Receiving and Accessioning Lab Space barcoded by accession number and with stickers generated from the Accessioning Tool that indicates the number of samples, specimen type(s), and lab section(s) of destination. ISU VDL developed the ISU ELISA Information Management System (EIMS). EIMS is a customizable software application used to electronically build ELISA plate maps, use test-specific algorithms to interpret results, accept or reject plates based upon control values, link optical density values of controls to statistical process control charts, and automatically integrate results into ISU LIMS. ISU VDL developed an improved case coordination application "Case Coordination Cockpit" associated with ISU LIMS that provides case coordinators enhanced visibility and one-click access to all of the pertinent information needed to view when the diagnostician is completing case reports. The ISU VDL continued to make incremental progress on our highly collaborative efforts on developing a broadly applicable and streamlined system for linking veterinary diagnostic laboratory submissions, corresponding test results, attending veterinarian insight, and an interpreted health status of farm sites to an exceptionally capable spatiotemporal disease management tool (Disease BioPortal®, UC Davis) for use in area-regional, veterinary clinic, or production system specific swine health monitoring and disease control initiatives. Additionally, through collaborations with the USDA NAHLN, the ISU VDL has continued to maintain a first of its kind, web-based, dynamic summary report of real-time diagnostic results (identified only to the premises state of origin) ascertained from VDLs across the US and integrated into a web-based dashboard reporting tool (Disease BioPortal®). This national-level SECD report is updated weekly and hosted on the American Association of Swine Veterinarians website. 2. Enhancing FAD preparedness and NAHLN testing capacities The ISU VDL continues to expand NAHLN testing capacities and enhance technical staff training and proficiency in foreign and emerging animal disease diagnostics.The ISU VDL completed the addition of a temporary, stand-alone, office and conference room facility (Vet Med Annex, 3,850 ft2) located adjacent to VDL submission entrance to house our team of Diagnostic Pathologists.ISU VDL's molecular section continues to be the largest of its kind amongst food animal veterinary diagnostic labs in North America conducting more than 400,000 molecular diagnostic and/or genetic sequencing assays over the course of the past year.Sustaining depth in proficiency-tested staff is critical for ISU VDL's ability to effectively respond to emerging diseases and provide surge capacity to the NAHLN during a time of crisis. 3. Staff training in foreign and emerging animal disease diagnostics The ISU VDL is a high-volume and high-throughput veterinary diagnostic laboratory on the front lines of animal agriculture. The ISU VDL's team of approximately 153 faculty and staff processed more than 80,000 cases and conducted more than 1,200,000 diagnostic assays in 2016. With more than 95% of the ISU VDL's heavy case-load being food animal in nature, it is essential for ISU VDL faculty and staff to be well trained in recognizing and capable of diagnosing diseases that are of high consequence to US animal agriculture. Dr. Phil Gauger (ISU VDL Diagnostic Pathologist and Section Leader of ISU VDL's Molecular and Virology Diagnostic Services) continues to work closely with the molecular technical staff. We capitalize on the close working relationship between our veterinary diagnosticians and technical staff to facilitate our staff's understanding of the technical aspects of the assays being conducted, pathogens being tested, and the impact of their role in safeguarding US animal agriculture.
Publications
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