PATHOLOGY
Go with the flow
Departments throughout the NHS are now waking up to the fact that they need to deliver better outcomes with fewer resources in a shorter period of time than ever before and pathology is certainly no exception. National Health Executive asked pathology informatics expert Dr Richard Jones how the application of ICT is enabling pathology laboratories to make a difference to the efficiency and effectiveness of the health service
O
ne of the driving forces behind technological
development over the last two decades has been enabling people to access increasingly large amounts of information in the shortest amount of time possible.
“At a practical level very few people inside or outside the NHS realise that nearly 100% of test results for GPs have been sent electronically since 2004. That’s the results of 70m test samples per year and they arrive with the GPs within 24 – 48 hours of the test being taken,” says Dr Richard Jones, strategic IT lead for pathology services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
The
sophistication of IT systems in pathology in the UK leads the world and our move into the “knowledge economy” is underpinned by solid internal IT support
“The sophistication of IT systems in pathology in the UK leads the world and our move into the “knowledge economy” is underpinned by solid internal IT support.”
It is this quick and easy access to information which will enable clinicians to deliver better outcomes as resources become increasingly tight through the period of austerity which the NHS is currently facing.
An example of this in practice is where pathology teams from around the country have put together their own online resources for both colleagues and clinicians alike, which give detailed information about tests and provide a wide variety of other support for clinicians. One such resource is the work of the Leeds and Bradford Pathology Partnership which gets about a
32 nhe
million hits a year, all by clinical users.
“It is basically an online laboratory handbook which provides a range of information around the services we provide, includes guidance on how to interpret tests.”
An example of the support the site provides is an option called Tests and Tubes, which gets 14,000 hits per week.
“This lists all of the tests (around 600) which we do in pathology and contains information about which tube samples need to be provided in, along with the methodology which we use around the test.”
This site is not unusual. Many trusts throughout Britain have similar resources available to clinicians. However, it perfectly illustrates how ICT has enabled information to be shared in an increasing efficient and convenient way, resulting in superior patient care.
Although all online pathology resources are now valuable resources, some provide more information than others.
“There is a site which is owned by Julian Barth, president of the Association of Clinical Biologists, which provides detailed, evidence-based guidelines for various biochemical investigations in laboratory medicine and is very thorough.”
This site allows health
professionals to select a test and then gives the user a detailed
Sep/Oct 10
account of how to deal with that situation.
“This is an essential resource, especially for junior doctors. Each explanation even has an evidence based flow chart to help with diagnosis and treatment.”
A similar site called Lab Tests Online enables patients and other members of the public to properly interpret the codes and results of pathology tests.
“This site originally began life in America but has now been largely taken over by pathologists in Britain and now has resources spread throughout many places in the world. This is essentially to allow patients to better understand the tests being performed on them
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