Introduction

The laboratory is responding more and more to the need of the “outlying” locations to do point of care (POC) testing.  It is important that the results of that testing be permanently stored in the Laboratory Information System (LIS).  It is therefore necessary for the lab to understand how the results can be entered into the LIS for each point of care instrument.

Questions to ask a vendor:

Part of the selection process for a point of care instrument may be the way that the orders and results are filed in the LIS.  The following is a list of questions that should be asked of the vendors.

1. Is there a mechanism to upload results from the instrument to the LIS?

2. Does the output conform to the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) standard?  Or is the interface “scripted”?

3. Was the interface written by a third party? If yes, who is the vendor and what is their experience?

4. If the interface conforms to the EDI standards, does the output to the LIS come from a data manager?

5. If there is a data manager, is it POC vendor neutral so that the lab will only have to buy one interface between it and the LIS?

6. If there is a data manager, how does it connect to the input devices?

7. Does the test device have bi-directional communication capability? 

8. Does the interface allow for the placement of an electronic  “order” in the LIS before the results are transmitted?  How does the interface select the correct patient and encounter? Will the data manager allow for QA filters to be applied to data to assure results pass established criteria?

9. Can results be tracked to a particular user and input device or location?  Can encounter selection rules differ by particular users and/or input devices?

10. Does the system provide for non valid operator lock out at test unit or by filter at the workstation?

11. If the interface is “vendor neutral”, can you provide a list of POC instruments that have successfully been interfaced?  Will the system support manual test result entry?

12. Is there is a current operational interface in a hospital based laboratory? 

13. Please provide reference list and contact.

14. If system is in development, what is your current implementation time line?

15. If the interface for coagulation testing is in the development phase, please indicate time line for availability.

Again, we thank Peter L. Gawron, B. S., MT (ASCP), Supervisor, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033 for contributing this information.