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| Telelaboratory service in Homecare |
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Objectives
The objectives of the service are:
- rationalising the use of human resources;
- reducing the cost of this high-volume medical procedure;
- shortening the laps of time between the exam and the availability of results and between the availability of results and their handling by the prescribing doctor;
- increasing data confidentiality protection by avoiding the results to be handled and seen by other people apart from the sender and the receiver (data are encrypted and digitally signed). |
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Description
The Telelaboratory service allows performing blood examinations at the patient's place.
A description of the current workflow of this exam has been provided in the proposal for this Project previously submitted to the Commission.
A new generation of instruments allows now to perform exams onsite and to immediately show the results while at the patient's side thus simplifying the current workflow and releasing cost savings. The system is based on a palm-size device (palm-set) which interacts with a portable PC equipped with a dedicated software application. The results of the exams collected on the spot can be later uploaded onto the hospital server where they will be validated by the laboratory staff through digital signature (a remote connection to the server is also possible).
The introduction of these instruments will allow re-engineering the current workflow as follows (see Figure):
1. The GP visits the patient at a elderly home;
2. The GP examines the patient and fill in a digital order;
3. The digitally signed order is sent to the CUP;
4. An automatic procedure installed at the CUP sends back to the elderly home an electronic ID associated to the patient;
5. The elderly home personnel perform the examinations using the new palm-set (which can be remotely checked every day to guarantee that it works properly);
6. Exam results are shown immediately;
7. Exam results are electronically sent to the laboratory with the associated electronic ID;
8. The laboratory doctor checks the results and digitally sign them;
9. The results are sent electronically to the GP (results can be accessed by the elderly home personnel too and inserted in the patient?s EHCR).
Figure: Blood examination in ADI - Proposed re-engineering of the current workflow through the Tele-laboratory service
Apart from the cost savings obtained through the rationalisation and the shortening of the workflow, these palm-sets bring about other benefits as they revolutionise the whole process of blood analysis through the examination of non-centrifuged blood. This means that the costly spinners that laboratories are currently obliged to use could disappear in the future together with their high costs of acquisition and maintenance, thus producing additional savings for the health authorities. |
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