Pathology lab software for diagnostic centres in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh

A pathology lab in Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh rarely works alone. A main lab in Coimbatore, Madurai, Vijayawada or Visakhapatnam takes samples from collection centres in smaller towns around it, from clinics that refer their patients, and from home collections, and sends some tests on to a larger reference lab. Each hand-off is a chance to lose a sample, mislabel a tube or delay a critical result. Lab software exists to close those gaps.

This article is for owners, pathologists and lab managers comparing pathology lab software (a laboratory information system, or LIS).

1. Orders from the counter and from clinics

At the counter, the patient should be found by phone number, the tests and panels picked from the lab’s catalog, and the price taken from that branch’s price list. Orders from referring clinics should arrive in an inbox the lab can accept, hold or reject, rather than on a printed slip retyped at the desk. Ask whether an order can be paid by a payment link sent to the patient’s phone.

2. Samples, barcodes and collection centres

Every sample should carry a barcode label printed at collection, and the software should show its stage: collected, in transit, received at the main lab, accessioned. For a lab with collection centres in neighbouring towns, courier runs should list the samples on each run, so a missing tube is noticed when the box is opened, not when the patient calls for the report.

3. Results, critical values and sign-off

Results are entered against reference ranges for the patient’s age and sex. If your analysers can send results directly, ask which models the software reads from. A value past the critical limit should be flagged at entry and raise an urgent alert to the ordering doctor once signed. The pathologist signs each result, and every amendment after sign-off should be kept with who made it and why, so a corrected report never silently replaces the one that was sent.

Ask also how tests sent on to a partner reference lab are tracked from the order, so the patient’s report is complete when it comes back.

4. Reports for the doctor and the patient

The referring doctor wants the clinical layout they are used to. The patient wants to know what is high, what is low and whether to worry. One signed result should produce both: the doctor’s report, and a patient’s version that explains each test in plain words, in the patient’s own language, marking the results that are out of range. A report that reaches the referring clinic’s patient chart without being scanned saves the clinic a step and keeps the referrals coming.

5. Imaging, if you do it

A diagnostic centre with X-ray, ultrasound or CT needs each study to move from arrival to images acquired, read and signed, with a structured report written from a template.

6. Quality control and accreditation

Labs working towards or holding NABL accreditation need QC runs logged against their expected mean and standard deviation, with out-of-range runs flagged and the action taken recorded. An imaging centre also needs its AERB dose checks and calibration records.

Questions to ask in a lab software demo

1. Register a walk-in by phone number, order a panel, and print the barcode labels.
2. Send a sample from a collection centre to the main lab and show it in transit.
3. Enter a critical potassium and show who is alerted, and when.
4. Amend a signed result and show what the patient and the doctor now see.
5. Show the patient’s version of a report in Tamil.
6. Log a QC run that falls out of range.

Where 92health fits

92health runs a diagnostic lab from the sample to the signed report:

• orders from the counter with each branch’s price book, and orders from clinics in an inbox to accept, hold or reject, payable by a payment link;
• samples from collection to accession with barcode labels, and courier runs from collection branches to the main lab;
• results against reference ranges, critical values flagged, the pathologist’s sign-off and every amendment kept on a timeline, with send-outs to partner labs tracked from the order;
• a doctor’s report and a patient’s version in English, Tamil or Hindi, with the signed report reaching the ordering clinic’s chart and critical values raising an urgent alert;
• imaging studies from arrival to a signed, templated report, and QC runs, AERB dose checks and calibration logged against their limits;
• patient records linked to ABHA numbers, with clinical records kept in FHIR R4.

It runs in the browser for a lab and its collection centres anywhere in Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh: Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichy, Salem, Tirunelveli, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Nellore, Tirupati or Kurnool. To see it on your own lab, book a lab demo.