The centralization of both Clinical Pathology laboratories Zuyderland required a remodeling of Clinical Pathology, and through a tender, SPS came into the picture at Zuyderland Medical Center. "SPS is very flexible and thinks proactively with us," says Roy Smeets. "That is one of the main reasons that SPS won the tender at the time, and that is how we still experience the cooperation today."
Hours at the cutting table
SPS provided the project furnishings in the Clinical Pathology Department and also supplies the kerosene chemical, for example. Roy Smeets has worked at Zuyderland, Sittard-Geleen location, since 2000. On a daily basis, he coordinates a team of 12 medical analysts and serves as Pathologist’s Assistant. He performs his work in the room furnished by SPS, spending many hours at the cutting table.
“As soon as tissue comes into the department, which can be a small mole or an entire organ, it is preprocessed for analysis. That means fixing the tissue with formalin, viewing and describing the tissue and abnormalities and cutting it into very thin pieces,” Roy says. It is then processed at the Histology lab into sections and the pathologist can then evaluate the prepared tissue so that a diagnosis can be made.
Important link
“For the patient, it’s not visible what goes on behind the scenes, but our work is an important part of making a diagnosis,” Roy said, “And that’s what I love about this job!” Of course, a pleasant work environment is important in this regard. Among other things, SPS provided two large cutting tables, these are height adjustable and equipped with an extraction under the table and a smaller biopsy table. Sufficient extraction is very important when formalin and other chemicals are used. The tables also have a superstructure that moves with the height of the table, this provides a “downflow” that promotes airflow.
More than functional
A Clinical Pathology department can be identified by the stainless steel fixture. This material is extremely functional for this environment but can have a somewhat chilly appearance. “We are very pleased with the options SPS offers, such as a different color cabinet fronts. For example, we chose wood-look fronts and are still very satisfied with them.”
Solution-oriented
The department previously experienced problems with the embedding station once. Roy contacted the supplier of this equipment for this purpose, but they could not provide a suitable solution. “Surprisingly, SPS was able to do this. Our contact Stefan made sure that everything was neatly repaired and in the meantime our department received a temporary embedding station from SPS to work with. It is nice to have such a flexible and solution-oriented approach!”.
