As much as SARS-CoV-2 has altered the way humans live since the beginning of 2020, this virus's deadly nature has required clinical testing to meet 2020's demands of higher throughput, higher accuracy and higher efficiency. Information technology has allowed institutions, like Arizona State University (ASU), to make strategic and operational changes to combat the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. At ASU, information technology was one of the six facets identified in the ongoing review of the ASU Biodesign Clinical Testing Laboratory (ABCTL) among business, communications, management/training, law, and clinical analysis. The first chapter of this manuscript covers the background of clinical laboratory automation and details the automated laboratory workflow to perform ABCTL’s COVID-19 diagnostic testing. The second chapter discusses the usability and efficiency of key information technology systems of the ABCTL. The third chapter explains the role of quality control and data management within ABCTL’s use of information technology. The fourth chapter highlights the importance of data modeling and 10 best practices when responding to future public health emergencies.

As much as SARS-CoV-2 has altered the way humans live since the beginning of 2020, this virus's deadly nature has required clinical testing to meet 2020's demands of higher throughput, higher accuracy and higher efficiency. Information technology has allowed institutions, like Arizona State University (ASU), to make strategic and operational changes to combat the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. At ASU, information technology was one of the six facets identified in the ongoing review of the ASU Biodesign Clinical Testing Laboratory (ABCTL) among business, communications, management/training, law, and clinical analysis. The first chapter of this manuscript covers the background of clinical laboratory automation and details the automated laboratory workflow to perform ABCTL’s COVID-19 diagnostic testing. The second chapter discusses the usability and efficiency of key information technology systems of the ABCTL. The third chapter explains the role of quality control and data management within ABCTL’s use of information technology. The fourth chapter highlights the importance of data modeling and 10 best practices when responding to future public health emergencies.

This project is designed as part of the multi-student ASU Biodesign Clinical Testing Laboratory (ABCTL) thesis project sponsored and organized by Dr. Carolyn Compton, professor of Life Sciences at ASU and medical director with the ABCTL. This project divides students into teams with Business, Law, Laboratory, IT, and Documentary focused groups, with the goal of providing a comprehensive overview of the operations of the ABCTL as a reference for other institutions and to produce a documentary film about the laboratory. As a member of the IT team, this writeup will focus on quality control throughout the transfer of data in the testing process, security and privacy of data, HIPAA and regulatory compliance, and accessibility of data while maintaining such restrictions.

As much as SARS-CoV-2 has altered the way humans live since the beginning of 2020,<br/>this virus's deadly nature has required clinical testing to meet 2020's demands of higher<br/>throughput, higher accuracy and higher efficiency. Information technology has allowed<br/>institutions, like Arizona State University (ASU), to make strategic and operational changes to<br/>combat the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. At ASU, information technology was one of the six facets<br/>identified in the ongoing review of the ASU Biodesign Clinical Testing Laboratory (ABCTL)<br/>among business, communications, management/training, law, and clinical analysis. The first<br/>chapter of this manuscript covers the background of clinical laboratory automation and details<br/>the automated laboratory workflow to perform ABCTL’s COVID-19 diagnostic testing. The<br/>second chapter discusses the usability and efficiency of key information technology systems of<br/>the ABCTL. The third chapter explains the role of quality control and data management within<br/>ABCTL’s use of information technology. The fourth chapter highlights the importance of data<br/>modeling and 10 best practices when responding to future public health emergencies.

This project aimed to understand what best practices for leadership in the Information Technology sector and if it could be consolidated for a comprehensive learning plan. This learning plan was housed on a traditional LMS (Canvas) and utilized a combination of IT Management research, interviews conducted with five industry members (all boasting five or more years of work experience), and an analysis of six top institution IT Leadership programs, to create a template. For the provided questionnaires, participants were asked to consider their time in the industry and discuss work culture dynamics, distribution of power, and what pain points were felt in their daily operations. All participants also described their direct roles and seniority, ranging from self-described “middle” to ”high” level placements. Based on these interviews, much of what seems to halt productivity and employee satisfaction regularly comes from a lack of concise and regular communication and a need for more understanding regarding team members' drive or capabilities. Regarding the program evaluation, six IT Leadership programs were chosen, where five were constructed by higher education institutions and one from a certificate governing body. The top skills identified across all programs were communication and decision-making. Communication is an all-encompassing idea for collaboration and strong speaking skills, with programs 1,4,5, and 6 noting their importance. Decision-making in this context is about both work delegation and firm problem-solving. For work delegation, it was pointed out in the interviews that techs and engineers see strong leadership utilizing professional judgment as vital to a business’s performance, with all programs but program 4 similarly emphasizing the same. Given this evaluation, the leadership styles used can be identified as Delegative, Strengths-Based, and Transformative. The previously noted interviews and research resulted in a 4-week course demo, which utilized the interviews in conjunction with leadership concepts.