London, UK
The client
Our client is a large world renowned private hospital group operating in the UK with multiple sites, each considered as a centre of excellence across all disciplines.
The challenge
The Pathology department had the desire to replace their current reporting process with an internal web based system that was integrated with their existing LIMS to avoid the double entry of data and to provide a complete overview of pathology workflow. The intention was to improve clinical safety, reduce the risk of error and improve departmental efficiency.
The solution
Working hand in hand with the clinical and IT teams, we were able to create a web based worklist/reporting module known as CSAM Aqua. CSAM Aqua has been designed to handle all referred pathology cases that have been registered on the existing EHR; to show status at all times as samples pass through the lab and to provide multiple distinct user roles i.e. Laboratory assistant, Pathologist and Referring Clinician.
Results
The HL7 interface enables CSAM Aqua to receive orders from the EHR and provide an overview of case status as the specimen passes through each step of lab processing with each order being handled as a single case.
The lab assistant is able to receive a case, append grossing and QC information and then assign that case to a pathologist. The pathologist may then enter a diagnosis, add SNOMED codes and then both generate and sign off the report.
A referring clinician receives an email notifying them that the report is ready. The clinician may then login to the system through a permissions based process to both view and retrieve reports.
Future plans
In collaboration with our client, we will continue to expand CSAM Aqua with further capabilities and with the view to make this reporting solution available to a wider group of laboratory disciplines.