The Indiana Laboratory System: Focus on Environmental Laboratories

• Published in: Public health reports (1974) Vol. 128; no. 2_suppl; pp. 57 - 62
• Main Authors: Madlem, Jyl M., Hammes, Kara R., Matheson, Shelley R., Lovchik, Judith C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Association of Schools of Public Health 01.09.2013; SAGE Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Biomedical Technology; Collaboration; Communication; Communication systems; Disasters; Ecology - methods; Ecology - organization & administration; Ecology - standards; Environment; Environmental health; Environmental laboratories; Groundwater; Health policy; Humans; Indiana; Inspection; Interinstitutional Relations; Laboratories; Laboratories - organization & administration; Laboratories - standards; Medical laboratories; Medical practice; Meetings; Potable water; PRACTICE; Public health; Public Health - methods; Public Health - standards; Quality Assurance, Health Care; Regulation; Stakeholders; Technology; Wastewater; Water Quality; Workforce; Indiana
• ISSN: 0033-3549; 1468-2877
• DOI: 10.1177/00333549131280S209

The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) Laboratories are working to improve Indiana's state public health laboratory system. Environmental laboratories are key stakeholders in this system, but their needs have been largely unaddressed prior to this project. In an effort to identify and engage these laboratories, the ISDH Laboratories organized and hosted the First Annual Environmental Laboratories Meeting. The focus of this meeting was on water-testing laboratories throughout the state. Meeting objectives included issue identification, disaster recovery response, and communication efforts among system partners. Common concerns included the need for new technology and updated methods, analyst training, certification programs for analysts and sample collectors, electronic reporting, and regulation interpretation and inspection consistency. Now that these issues have been identified, they can be addressed through a combination of laboratory workgroups and collaboration with Indiana's regulatory agencies. Participants were overwhelmingly positive about the meeting's outcomes and were willing to help with future laboratory system improvement projects.