LIMS Software: Build or Buy
Paper-based workflows and documentation may have functioned fine when your laboratory began operations. Going paperless and manually keying your data into shared spreadsheets seemed like the natural progression and offered some efficiencies. But your lab staff is entering thousands of samples per week and finding it difficult to meet regulatory compliance. Your business needs a laboratory information management system (LIMS). You know of commercial LIMS software vendors in the marketplace, but couldn’t your IT group build an in-house solution? This brief topical article will examine why a laboratory may consider building its own LIMS, factors to address before developing an in-house system, and the advantages of commercial LIMS software. [Read More]
How to Get the LIMS You Need – Part 3
Part 1 of this blog series reviewed the importance of identifying your LIMS requirements to ensure the success of your project. We also reviewed some key considerations for identifying those needs. In Part 2 we looked at how understanding your requirements helps you choose the correct LIMS solution and supplier. In Part 3 we discuss the importance of documenting your requirements accurately, concisely, and most importantly with clarity. [Read More]
Is a Contingent Workforce the Answer to the Great Employee Churn?
The great employee churn is a reality that all businesses face. Workers at every level and industry are looking for new opportunities, and this constant ebb and flow of talent is happening faster than ever before. This presents a considerable challenge for businesses: how can you find and retain the skills you need to compete? In the face of the great employee churn, it’s more important than ever to have a strong contingent workforce strategy. [Read More]
Laboratory Informatics Weekly Update – Volume 20, Issue 30
July 27, 2022 Laboratory Informatics Weekly Update Volume 20, Issue 30 In This Issue Featured Books The Laboratories of Our Lives: Labs, Labs Everywhere! Featured Content 07/27/2022 - LIMS Software: Build or Buy Paper-based workflows and documentation may have functioned fine when your laboratory began operations. Going paperless and manually keying your data into shared spreadsheets seemed like the natural progression and offered some efficiencies. But your lab staff is entering thousands of samples per week and finding it difficult to meet regulatory compliance. Your business needs a laboratory information management system (LIMS). You know of commercial LIMS software…Using knowledge graph structures for semantic interoperability in electronic health records data exchanges
The interoperability of health care systems—especially electronic health records (EHRs)—has long been a focus of regulators, medical personnel, and other key stakeholders. Interoperability helps ensure data communicated from one system to another are sufficient for the receiving system to work with, i.e., have the same meaning to the recipient as they do the sender. This is not always an easy task, as noted by Sachdeva and Bhalla in this 2022 paper published in Information. Also noting the value in clinical information exchange, the authors examine formal methods of making interoperability work better, as well as considerations interoperability experts should be making in successfully transforming data across different EHR standards. After laying out their research work and findings on cross-conversion of archetypes such as XML, ADL, and OWL, the authors conclude both that "terminology binding must established through archetypes" and "mappings between different standardized EHR systems must be established." Each archetype has its drawbacks and benefits, depending on what you're trying to accomplish, and this research "can contribute to helping EHR system vendors and developers to choose the appropriate technology for the required purpose, keeping in mind semantic interoperability."
6 Reasons Your Healthcare Lab Needs Web Portals
Letting your customers, whether physicians or patients, interact with your laboratory online is a great way to improve the customer experience, deliver better results, and make your lab more productive. Given how many other things go into choosing a new laboratory information management system (LIMS), it might be tempting to leave portals for later. However, portals offer benefits that make them important tools to have from the start. [Read More]
Key roles of ELN in Laboratories
An electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) is a computerised system that includes tools for creating and storing experimental protocols, results, and research findings on a digital platform. ELNs have been developed for scientists and laboratory analysts working in fields such as chemistry, biology, analytical, in vivo, and clinical research. They play a vital role in the following... [Read More]
How to Get Management Buy-in for a New Lab Informatics Implementation
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single laboratory in possession of a good quantity of data, must be in want of a LIMS.” Apologies to Jane Austen—that’s not really how the line goes (and it’s not from Persuasion), but it is true that once a laboratory’s data gets to a certain scale, the need for a LIMS or other informatics solutions can become undeniable. So how do you get management, who holds the purse strings, to put out the coin? This blog post has answers. [Read More]
7 Tips for Acing Any Job Interview
There’s a science behind the successful job interview, and it’s been updated for 2022. Interviews can be extremely stressful but, by following these tips, you can substantially improve your opportunity to get the job you want by acing the interview
This guide walks you through the seven steps you need to take before, during, and after your interview. [Read More]
Laboratory Informatics Weekly Update – Volume 20, Issue 29
July 20, 2022 Laboratory Informatics Weekly Update Volume 20, Issue 29 In This Issue Featured Books The Laboratories of Our Lives: Labs, Labs Everywhere! Featured Content 07/20/2022 - 6 Reasons Your Healthcare Lab Needs Web Portals Letting your customers, whether physicians or patients, interact with your laboratory online is a great way to improve the customer experience, deliver better results, and make your lab more productive. Given how many other things go into choosing a new laboratory information management system (LIMS), it might be tempting to leave portals for later. However, portals offer benefits that make them important tools…Recent advances in electrochemical sensor technologies for THC detection—A narrative review
As the analytical landscape for laboratory measurement of cannabinoids in a variety of matrices continues to evolve and standardize, the demand for more rapid yet accurate point-of-testing solutions for cannabinoids continues to grow. This demand comes from not only the cannabis cultivator but also the law enforcement community. One potential path to meet demand is the electrochemical sensor, as suggested by Amini et al. In this 2022 paper, the authors briefly describe the demand issue and how electrochemical sensors have been applied by other researchers. They then focus in on sensors for oral fluid specimens and how they have been successfully applied. The authors conclude that this technology has potential for "roadside drug testing, cannabis product quality control, and cannabis crop evaluation," but not without challenges to proper implementation, including "nonspecific interaction and the interference of compounds and species from the heavy plant matrix or oral fluids."
On the Hunt: The Ideal LIMS for Forensic Labs and Medical Examiners
>Your forensics team answers a call to a gruesome incident: stuffing flung everywhere, a piece of yarn tail at the bottom of the stairs, and two lone button eyes that catch the glare of the flashlight. And are those bits of suspicious green plant material? Okay, you don’t respond to calls for disemboweled cat toys. (And it’s apparent Beaker perpetrated this “murder.”) But complicated cases requiring the input of multiple disciplines come into your lab every day. A dynamic LIMS is the key to handling everyone’s needs. [Read More]
