As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, laboratories around the world are being asked to scale up their testing capacity rapidly. In response to this Cirdan has been configuring its ULTRA Laboratory Information System (LIS) to facilitate this increased testing demand. Links between ULTRA and instrument analysers, as well as links to external registries where COVID-19 test data need to be reported are being developed.
Cirdan service team have been in contact with global analyser manufacturers who have either tailored current analysers to facilitate COVID-19 testing or developed new solutions. Using analyser specifications and customer testing requirements, the company has been able to develop interfaces that allow COVID-19 testing to be fully integrated into laboratory workflow. This has facilitated automated ordering and ensures that the testing process is swift, accurate and secure. Cirdan has working interface solutions to many cutting-edge COVID-19 analysers, including those from vendors such as GenMark, Syngene and Qiagen.
Rapid and precise reporting to national databases is even more vital during a global pandemic. To ensure that newly integrated tests such as COVID-19 are reported as required, Cirdan has been enhancing and developing reporting links from ULTRA across many customer sites, so that COVID-19 reports are instantly available to pathology databases.
Recently at the Northern Hospital in Melbourne, Cirdan has added COVID-19 analysers and arranged for any negative test results to be texted directly to the patient, thereby saving the laboratory and GPs considerable administration work.