The challenge
Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (WADDL) was operating with a primarily paper-based system. Patricia Lukens, Quality Systems Manager, and Jennifer Babcock, Quality Systems Assistant, described a chaotic environment: documents got lost, staff lost track of where paperwork was in the process, and misplaced records meant starting over from scratch. WADDL had an internally built SOP repository, but it was no longer functioning properly since the in-house IT support who built it was no longer available, and the training portion of the system was difficult to use and confusing. As the system broke down, the team knew they needed a full replacement rather than a return to hand-tracking SOPs, and they wanted a single, comprehensive solution to the never-ending paper trail.
The solution
Patricia Lukens, an AAVLD auditor, chose Ideagen Quality Management because she had seen it in action.
My executive director, also an AAVLD auditor, and I have seen a lot of different labs and the quality management systems they are using. After seeing Ideagen Quality Management repeatedly, we both agreed it was the system for WADDL. I thought it was very easy to use, it provided an excellent way to store everything, and it was very logical. When we were auditing labs that were using it, we would ask staff for records and they were able to find them immediately. We observed many different systems while auditing, and we just liked Ideagen Quality Management better.
Choosing the software was only the first step for Patricia. She had also heard about ECL2, an Ideagen company, and was impressed with how the team handled implementations and supported its clients, which was extremely important to WADDL.
It was critical to have somebody from ECL2 here in person. It was invaluable to have them sit with us and build the system the way we needed it to be built. We were unsure about the full capabilities of the system, and we wouldn't have known where to start. Without ECL2's expertise and guidance, we would have been too overwhelmed to get the system up and running in a timely fashion. It really helped take the pressure off us during the initial phases of implementation.
Both Patricia and Jennifer also found ECL2's experience with other veterinary diagnostic labs extremely beneficial. Post-implementation, WADDL continues to be pleasantly surprised by the versatility, flexibility and user-friendly nature of the system.
I like the fact that the modules have similar structures. If you know where to find something in one module, you're pretty much going to be able to find it in a different module. It is very intuitive.
The results
- Stronger training compliance: WADDL has seen major improvements in staff response to training requirements and in the document review process, with color-coded charts making training discrepancies easy to spot.
- Faster task completion: staff can complete document-related tasks from a phone or tablet, making them far more likely to finish assignments on time.
- Better root cause analysis: staff who had never done root cause analysis before are now doing it well, guided step by step through the process.
- Regulatory confidence: as an AAVLD auditor herself, Patricia values that everyone on staff knows where current documents live and can retrieve them immediately.
- Less paper overall: the assets module let WADDL eliminate equipment files, certificates and maintenance records entirely, since calibration certificates and other documentation can be pulled straight from the system.
- One connected process: audit, document and corrective action modules are linked together, so staff can attach policies and procedures to audit findings and move straight into analysis, all within a single streamlined process
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