Laboratories move to the BJC Institute of Health on the Washington University medical campus.

BJC Institute of HealthSt. Louis Children’s Hospital (SLCH) Microbiology and Virology laboratories have started the integration with the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Laboratories. The Barnes-Jewish Hospital Microbiology and Virology Laboratories are located on the 5th floor of the Institute of Health (IOH) building of Barnes-Jewish Hospital (BJH).

The Microbiology laboratory at St. Louis Children’s Hospital moved on May 15th and is now a part of the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Microbiology Laboratory that performs testing for multiple facilities within the BJC system, including Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Christian Hospital, Alton Memorial Hospital, and Parkland Health Center. Some of the SLCH Microbiology testing has already been moved to the IOH Microbiology Laboratory over the past few weeks.

The SLCH Virology laboratory will also transition to the IOH building within the BJH Molecular Infectious Disease Laboratory located on the 5th floor. This transition will be staged differently than the Microbiology testing consolidation. Virology will transition over the course of the next several months and be moved by individual test methods.

An overview of test changes is located on-line at the SLCH Clinical Laboratories Test Guide located at: https://slchlabtestguide.bjc.org/Default.aspx. This document will be updated throughout the transition and will provide specifics for each test move including move date, ordering and collection changes.  

Ordering: For a large portion of this change, providers will use the same ordering process for laboratory test requests. Our goal is to minimize changes and continue to use the same test name and ordering process that exists today. Test-specific modifications will be communicated as necessary.

Collection:  Specimen collection will continue as today with a goal to minimize changes. However, some testing will require container and/or collection changes to current collection guidelines. Those changes will be communicated starting with the primary services that use the test today.

Delivery of Specimens: ALL specimens from SLCH will still be sent to the SLCH clinical laboratory central receiving department located on the 2nd floor of St. Louis Children’s Hospital. The SLCH laboratory will direct delivery to the integrated laboratories in the IOH.

Results: The results will flow to downstream systems as they do today. Results will note testing locations. If a different methodology is to be performed, notification of changes will be communicated.

If you have any questions about microbiology or virology laboratory testing, call Children's Direct at 800.678.HELP (4357).