Difference between revisions of "Laboratory information system"

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A '''laboratory information system''' (LIS) is a software system that records, manages, and stores data for clinical [[Laboratory|laboratories]]. A LIS has traditionally been most adept at sending laboratory test orders to lab instruments, tracking those orders, and then recording the results, typically to a searchable database.<ref name="biohealth">{{cite web_short|url=http://www.biohealthmatics.com/technologies/his/lis.aspx|title=Laboratory Information Systems|publisher=Biohealthmatics.com|date=10 August 2006|accessdate=06 May 2011}}</ref> The standard LIS has supported the operations of public health institutions (like hospitals and clinics) and their associated labs by managing and reporting critical data concerning "the status of infection, immunology, and care and treatment status of patients."<ref>{{cite web_short|url=http://www.aphl.org/aphlprograms/global/initiatives/Documents/LISQuickStartGuide.pdf|title=Quick Start Guide to Laboratory Information System (LIS) Implementation|format=PDF|publisher=Association of Public Health Laboratories|accessdate=06 May 2011}}</ref>
A '''laboratory information system''' (LIS) is a software system that records, manages, and stores data for clinical [[Laboratory|laboratories]]. A LIS has traditionally been most adept at sending laboratory test orders to lab instruments, tracking those orders, and then recording the results, typically to a searchable database.<ref name="biohealth">{{cite web_short|url=http://www.biohealthmatics.com/technologies/his/lis.aspx|title=Laboratory Information Systems|publisher=Biohealthmatics.com|date=10 August 2006|accessdate=06 May 2011}}</ref> The standard LIS has supported the operations of public health institutions (like hospitals and clinics) and their associated labs by managing and reporting critical data concerning "the status of infection, immunology, and care and treatment status of patients."<ref>{{cite web_short|url=http://www.aphl.org/aphlprograms/global/initiatives/Documents/LISQuickStartGuide.pdf|title=Quick Start Guide to Laboratory Information System (LIS) Implementation|format=PDF|publisher=Association of Public Health Laboratories|accessdate=06 May 2011}}</ref>


== Common LIS functions ==
==History of LIS==
 
Advances in computational technology in the early 1960s led some to experiment with time and data management functions in the healthcare setting. Company Bolt Beranek Newman and the Massachusetts General Hospital worked together to create a system that "included time-sharing and multiuser techniques that would later be essential to the implementation of the modern LIS."<ref name="APLISReview">{{cite journal |url=http://ebookbrowse.com/anatomic-pathology-laboratory-information-systems-a-review-slpark-et-all-adv-anat-pathol-2012-pdf-d344405134 |journal=Advances in Anatomic Pathology |year=March 2012 |volume=19 |issue=2 |page=81–96 |title=Anatomic Pathology Laboratory Information Systems: A Review |author=Park, Seung Lyung; Pantanowitz, Liron; Sharma, Guarav; Parwani, Anil Vasdev |doi=10.1097/PAP.0b013e318248b787 |accessdate=03 June 2013}}</ref> At around the same time General Electric announced plans to program a [[hospital information system]] (HIS), though those plans eventually fell through.<ref name="HistMedInfo">{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books/about/A_History_of_medical_informatics.html?id=AR5rAAAAMAAJ |title=A History of Medical Informatics |author=Blum, Bruce I.; Duncan, Karen A. |publisher=ACM Press |year=1990 |pages=141–53 |isbn=0201501287}}</ref>
 
Aside from the Massachusetts General Hospital experiment, the idea of a software system capable of managing time and data management functions wasn't heavily explored until the late 1960s, primarily because of the lack of proper technology and of communication between providers and end-users. The development of the Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System (MUMPS) in the mid-'60s certainly helped as it suddenly allowed for a multi-user interface and a hierarchical system for persistent storage of data.<ref name="APLISReview" /> Yet due to its advanced nature, fragmented use across multiple entities, and inherent difficulty in extracting and analyzing data from the database, development of healthcare and laboratory systems on MUMPS was sporadic at best.<ref name="HistMedInfo" /> By the 1980s, however, the advent of Structured Query Language (SQL), relational database management systems (RDBMS), and [[Health Level 7]] (HL7) allowed software developers to expand the functionality and interoperability of the LIS, including the application of business analytics and business intelligence techniques to clinical data.<ref name="PractPathInfo">{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=WerUyK618fcC |title=Practical Pathology Informatics: Demstifying Informatics for the Practicing Anatomic Pathologist |author=Sinard, John H. |publisher=Springer |year=2006 |pages=393 |isbn=0387280588}}</ref>
 
Today, web-based and database-centric Internet applications of [[laboratory informatics]] software have changed the way researchers and technicians interact with data, with web-driven data formatting technologies like eXtensible Markup Language (XML) making LIS and [[electronic medical record|EMR]] interoperability a much-needed reality.<ref name="OverBarEMR">{{cite journal |url=http://jhi.sagepub.com/content/16/4/306.abstract |journal=Health Informatics Journal |year=December 2010 |volume=16 |issue=4 |title=Overcoming barriers to electronic medical record (EMR) implementation in the US healthcare system: A comparative study |author=Kumar, Sameer; Aldrich, Krista |doi=10.1177/1460458210380523 |accessdate=03 June 2013}}</ref> [[Software as a service|SaaS]] and cloud computing technologies have further changed how the LIS is implemented, while at the same time raising new questions about security and stability.<ref name="APLISReview" />
 
==Common LIS functions==


Functions that a LIS has historically performed include, but are not limited to:<ref name="biohealth" />
Functions that a LIS has historically performed include, but are not limited to:<ref name="biohealth" />
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See the [[LIS vendor]] page for a list of LIS vendors past and present.
See the [[LIS vendor]] page for a list of LIS vendors past and present.


==See also==
*[[Laboratory informatics]]
*[[LIS feature|Common LIS features]]
== Further reading ==
* {{cite web |url=http://www.pathinformatics.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/2012Powerpoints/01HenricksTues.pdf |format=PDF |title=LIS Basics: CP and AP LIS Design and Operations |work=Pathology Informatics 2012 |author=Henricks, Walter H. |publisher=Walter H. Henricks, MD |date=09 October 2012}}
* {{cite journal |url=http://ebookbrowse.com/anatomic-pathology-laboratory-information-systems-a-review-slpark-et-all-adv-anat-pathol-2012-pdf-d344405134 |journal=Advances in Anatomic Pathology |year=March 2012 |volume=19 |issue=2 |page=81–96 |title=Anatomic Pathology Laboratory Information Systems: A Review |author=Park, Seung Lyung; Pantanowitz, Liron; Sharma, Guarav; Parwani, Anil Vasdev |doi=10.1097/PAP.0b013e318248b787}} ([https://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://bpa-pathology.com/uploads/file/docs/Anatomic+Pathology+Laboratory+Information+Systems+-+A+Review+-+SLPark+et+all.+-+Adv+Anat+Pathol+2012.pdf&chrome=true Alternate URL])
== References ==
== References ==
<references />
<references />

Revision as of 19:09, 3 June 2013

A laboratory information system (LIS) is a software system that records, manages, and stores data for clinical laboratories. A LIS has traditionally been most adept at sending laboratory test orders to lab instruments, tracking those orders, and then recording the results, typically to a searchable database.[1] The standard LIS has supported the operations of public health institutions (like hospitals and clinics) and their associated labs by managing and reporting critical data concerning "the status of infection, immunology, and care and treatment status of patients."[2]

History of LIS

Advances in computational technology in the early 1960s led some to experiment with time and data management functions in the healthcare setting. Company Bolt Beranek Newman and the Massachusetts General Hospital worked together to create a system that "included time-sharing and multiuser techniques that would later be essential to the implementation of the modern LIS."[3] At around the same time General Electric announced plans to program a hospital information system (HIS), though those plans eventually fell through.[4]

Aside from the Massachusetts General Hospital experiment, the idea of a software system capable of managing time and data management functions wasn't heavily explored until the late 1960s, primarily because of the lack of proper technology and of communication between providers and end-users. The development of the Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System (MUMPS) in the mid-'60s certainly helped as it suddenly allowed for a multi-user interface and a hierarchical system for persistent storage of data.[3] Yet due to its advanced nature, fragmented use across multiple entities, and inherent difficulty in extracting and analyzing data from the database, development of healthcare and laboratory systems on MUMPS was sporadic at best.[4] By the 1980s, however, the advent of Structured Query Language (SQL), relational database management systems (RDBMS), and Health Level 7 (HL7) allowed software developers to expand the functionality and interoperability of the LIS, including the application of business analytics and business intelligence techniques to clinical data.[5]

Today, web-based and database-centric Internet applications of laboratory informatics software have changed the way researchers and technicians interact with data, with web-driven data formatting technologies like eXtensible Markup Language (XML) making LIS and EMR interoperability a much-needed reality.[6] SaaS and cloud computing technologies have further changed how the LIS is implemented, while at the same time raising new questions about security and stability.[3]

Common LIS functions

Functions that a LIS has historically performed include, but are not limited to:[1]

  • patient management, including admission date, admitting physician, ordering department, specimen type, etc.
  • patient data tracking
  • decision support, including comparisons of lab orders with their respective ICD-9 codes
  • quality assurance of ordered tests
  • workload and management reporting

Differences between a LIS and LIMS

There is often confusion regarding the difference between a laboratory information system (LIS) and a laboratory information management system (LIMS). While the two laboratory informatics components are related, their purposes diverged early in their existences. Up until recently, LIMS and LIS have exhibited a few key differences:

1. A LIS has been designed primarily for processing and reporting data related to individual patients in a clinical setting. A LIMS has traditionally been designed to process and report data related to batches of samples from drug trials, water treatment facilities, and other entities that handle complex batches of data.[7][8]

2. A LIS must satisfy the reporting and auditing needs of hospital accreditation agencies, HIPAA, and other clinical medical practitioners. A LIMS, however, needs to satisfy good manufacturing practice (GMP) and meet the reporting and audit needs of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and research scientists in many different industries.[7]

3. A LIS is usually most competitive in patient-centric settings (dealing with "subjects" and "specimens") and clinical labs, whereas a LIMS is most competitive in group-centric settings (dealing with "batches" and "samples") that often deal with mostly anonymous research-specific laboratory data.[8][9][10]

However, as of 2011 these distinctions have faded somewhat as some LIMS vendors have adopted the case-centric information management normally reserved for a LIS, blurring the lines between the two components further.[10][11]

LIS vendors

See the LIS vendor page for a list of LIS vendors past and present.

See also

Further reading


(Alternate URL)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Park, Seung Lyung; Pantanowitz, Liron; Sharma, Guarav; Parwani, Anil Vasdev (March 2012). "Anatomic Pathology Laboratory Information Systems: A Review". Advances in Anatomic Pathology 19 (2): 81–96. doi:10.1097/PAP.0b013e318248b787. http://ebookbrowse.com/anatomic-pathology-laboratory-information-systems-a-review-slpark-et-all-adv-anat-pathol-2012-pdf-d344405134. Retrieved 03 June 2013. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Blum, Bruce I.; Duncan, Karen A. (1990). A History of Medical Informatics. ACM Press. pp. 141–53. ISBN 0201501287. http://books.google.com/books/about/A_History_of_medical_informatics.html?id=AR5rAAAAMAAJ. 
  5. ↑ Sinard, John H. (2006). Practical Pathology Informatics: Demstifying Informatics for the Practicing Anatomic Pathologist. Springer. pp. 393. ISBN 0387280588. http://books.google.com/books?id=WerUyK618fcC. 
  6. ↑ Kumar, Sameer; Aldrich, Krista (December 2010). "Overcoming barriers to electronic medical record (EMR) implementation in the US healthcare system: A comparative study". Health Informatics Journal 16 (4). doi:10.1177/1460458210380523. http://jhi.sagepub.com/content/16/4/306.abstract. Retrieved 03 June 2013. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Friedman, Bruce (4 November 2008). "LIS vs. LIMS: It's Time to Blend the Two Types of Lab Information Systems". Lab Soft News. http://labsoftnews.typepad.com/lab_soft_news/2008/11/liss-vs-limss-its-time-to-consider-merging-the-two-types-of-systems.html. Retrieved 09 May 2011. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1
  9. ↑ Friedman, Bruce (19 November 2008). "LIS vs. LIMS: Some New Insights". Lab Soft News. http://labsoftnews.typepad.com/lab_soft_news/2008/11/lis-vs-lims.html. Retrieved 09 May 2011. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Hice, Randy (1 July 2009). "Swimming in the Clinical Pool: Why LIMS are supplanting old-school clinical LIS applications". STARLIMS' Laboratory Informatics Blog. http://blog.starlims.com/2009/07/01/swimming-in-the-clinical-pool-why-lims-are-supplanting-old-school-clinical-lis-applications/. Retrieved 09 May 2011. 
  11. ↑ "How Do I Find the Right LIMS — And How Much Will It Cost?" (PDF). Laboratory Informatics Institute, Inc. http://files.limstitute.com/share/lbgprofiles/findlims.pdf. Retrieved 07 November 2012. 
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