User:Shawndouglas/sandbox/sublevel4
The ideal clinical laboratory is one that provides timely and accurate test results that lead to improved patient outcomes or practical clinical discoveries benefiting future patients. In order to meet or exceed these expectations, the ideal clinical lab requires the ideal LIMS for its workflows. This is, however, not as straightforward as it sounds. Finding and implementing the ideal LIMS requires research, planning, expertise, communication and knowledge. Given how much information the lab has to arm itself with to make the best decision on the ideal LIMS, this process can leave many labs frustrated before even getting started.
The ideal LIMS is largely the one provided by a vendor that meets all of your lab’s functional, budgetary and support needs. Who is providing such a LIMS? How are they being implemented in clinical labs like yours? How should you approach the implementation process? These questions and more may cause anxiety, but they shouldn’t with a practical and informed approach. This guide is intended to provide laboratories like yours with similarly practical and informative content to guide your approach to finding and implementing the ideal LIMS.
This guide first introduces the concept of the LIMS and LIS and how these informatics solutions should be capable of assisting your lab with its clinical workflows and goals. It then offers an approach to finding vendors who provide solutions that meet your specific niche (e.g., pathology, molecular diagnostics and COVID-19 testing), as well as the functionality those industry-specific solutions should provide. There’s more to it than just the LIMS, however, and the fourth chapter acknowledges this by examining vendors, the services they provide, and how they and your lab should approach LIMS implementation. Your ideal LIMS is an investment, and the fifth chapter examines cost considerations that come with investing in a clinical LIMS. The last chapter then provides information about a clear and competitive LIMS option for your clinical laboratory.
