When it comes to tests, the lab is used to conducting a wide arrany of specimen assessments. The Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune (NHCL) Laboratory Department completed 1.1 million in 2015.

To many it comes as no surprise that the laboratory team passed the College of American Pathologist (CAP) accreditation inspection with a 99.4 percent. The accreditation process, which covers 1,600 inspectable elements, stringently ensured the naval hospital is among the top-rated laboratories in Navy Medicine.

The CAP accreditation, which was initiated 65 years ago and is responsible for accrediting 7,700 laboratories and providing proficiency testing to 20,000 laboratories worldwide, is a requirement of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery for all of Navy Medicine, according to its website.

The CAP accreditation process, assesses the laboratory's overall management and operation, underwent some updates in July.

"In the 2015 accreditation checklist edition, the CAP added new requirements, including significant changes addressing laboratory-developed tests, establishing a minimum number of samples to ensure analytic accuracy," according to a CAP press release. "Other additions include updated checklist items for cancer reporting and in vivo microscopy, in anatomic pathology, as well as enhanced quality control measures and further guidelines on confirming and reporting personnel qualifications."

It is these changes that the assistant laboratory department head, NHCL, Lt. j.g. Ashley Russell attributes the 10 areas that did not pass the inspection. The hospital, which was the first in Navy Medicine East to undergo the accreditation process with the new requirements has scored highest of all, he said.

Inspectors looked through the work of 74 laboratory professionals, seven branch clinics and 14 point-of-care sites throughout the hospital. The laboratory conducted 1.1 million clinical tests in 2015, testing a wide range of specimens. The department can test from the typical urinalysis to the immunalysis, which is used to track a disease condition.

"They looked at the whole process, from the people at the front desk who receive the patients until the laboratory technician hits enter on the patient's results," said Russell. "[The score] was not the result of any one person's actions."

While Russell credits the entire team for the quality work and patient centered care that patients have come to expect from the laboratory, he does attribute one person for holding the department accountable.

"The quality assurance manager, Jan Schmidt, ensures daily that we meet the standards of care," said Russell. "She oversees everything that takes place throughout the hospital."

Russell went on to say, "It is this team effort that allows the laboratory to be a patient-centered, high-caliber laboratory that serves the medical center of choice."

For more news from Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, visit http://www.navy.mil/.