Implementation of LIS Pathogen in a private microbiological laboratory

At the time of the implementation of LIS Pathogen, the laboratory had already cooperated with many private medical centers in Chelyabinsk, performing bacteriological studies for them. But for objective reasons, the laboratory could not increase the turnover, as there was a lot of manual labor:

• Laboratory workers kept paper journals and performed registration in them manually.
• Routing of biological material was built in such a way that laboratory assistants constantly switched from one inoculation method to another. This led to confusion in the cups, skipping inoculations.
• Doctors wrote out the results by hand. Even with printed templates, it took a lot of time. With a large flow of analyzes, this approach led to the omission of antibiotics, incorrect spelling of the name of microorganisms.
• Preparing monthly reports for the head of the laboratory took a lot of time and effort. Laboratory workers had to keep a spreadsheet every day, transfer data from paper journals to electronic format, and generate reports at the end of the month.
• At the end of the month, doctors counted antibiotics according to paper journals and transmitted this information to the head, who then made a summary table.

The task was to expand the scope of research and increase the income of the laboratory.

1. Types of studies were redistributed, similar ones were grouped into one journal. Laboratory assistants began to use the same set of nutrient media, perform the same type of inoculation operation. Sequential numbering helped not to miss the next biomaterial for inoculation. It has become easier for doctors to look at the inoculations of one biomaterial, to apply the same criteria for assessing growth. This increased the work speed.
2. A new numbering system was introduced - alphanumeric. Each journal was assigned its own letter. This led to the uniqueness of the numbering, as a result of which the gaps in inoculation were reduced, and the number of lost cups decreased.
3. Lists of microorganisms, types of research and antibiograms were adjusted to the needs of the laboratory. The probability of discrepancy between the prescribed microbe and its sensitivity was reduced to zero.
4. The preparation of reports for the head of the laboratory was automated by entering and saving all data in the LIS:

• sample register;
• counting antibiotics;
• report on sources (medical centers);
• report on studies indicating their cost;
• report on employees to evaluate their contribution to the work of the laboratory.

5. LIS Pathogen was integrated with the information system of a large medical center for data exchange:

• Sample data reception was set up, which simplified registration, reduced the number of errors when transferring data to the LIS. Registration speed has been reduced from 30 seconds to 5 seconds.
• Work was carried out to transfer the results of the study to the medical center. The transfer of the results of the study on dysbacteriosis was implemented. Waste of answer sheets has been reduced.

• Minimized manual labor.
• Excluded the human factor.
• Build a flow of work.
• Automated reporting.
• Accelerated work processes several times.

Now the registrar makes up to 300 samples per day, and the doctor easily prescribes 180 tests. The task to increase the turnover of the laboratory has been achieved.