Referring out

There are times when a lab needs to ask another lab to to run a test for it. The lab may have run out of materials, an analyzer may be broken or the results of a test may need to be confirmed. The goal for the laboratory information system is to keep track of the request and to record the results when they come back. The basic work flow follows:

1. The lab technician recognizes that a test has to be referred out.
2. They mark the test as having been referred and why it is being referred
3. The personal review the tests needing referrals
4. They select which other lab will do the analysis
5. They select the tests they want the other lab to run. More than one test may be needed to confirm
6. The samples are sent to the other lab
7. The results are communicated back to the original lab and entered into they system

As always most of the work comes from handling the deviations from the normal work flow. How does a referral get canceled? If a referral does get canceled by mistake how is it uncanceled? If a test was requested by mistake how is it removed? How do we prevent a test being requested that needs a different sample type? For the rest of this entry we will follow the basic work flow.

Requesting a referral

A referral is requested from the results page.  That is where the lab technician spends most of their time and when it would become apparent that a referral is needed.

Referral Management

Referrals are tracked on their own page.  This is the central place for deciding where they should be sent and what tests should be run by the other lab.  Referrals will stay on this page until the final results are returned or when the referral is canceled.

On this page three tests have been marked for referral.  The first has already been referred out and waiting for results.  The second has been marked for referral but has not yet been referred.  The last one has been referred out with two tests, one of which has had the results returned and the second is still waiting.

The accession number, request date, sample type and the name of the test which caused the referral are given in the section above the editable part of the referral and are un-editable.  All other fields are editable at any time until the last result is entered or the referral is canceled.

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