LABORATORY INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS:
KEY TO EFFICIENCY
by Kara MacKeil, associate specialist, public health preparedness and response
As public health demands grow and budgets shrink, many laboratories are looking for ways to improve efficien-
cy. Using an existing Laboratory Information
Management System (LIMS) to message
biothreat data to the CDC is an example of
this type of laboratory efficiency.
Most laboratories use a LIMS to organize,
store and track the information that their
work generates. These software systems
are sold by several different vendors, and
each laboratory typically contracts with the
manufacturer that is best able to fit their
needs and budget. In 2010, CDC, in partnership with APHL, launched the Laboratory
Information Management Systems Integration (LIMSi) project, a long-term initiative to
modify these unique LIMS to send biological
threat data directly and securely to CDC.
There are many benefits to working with
the existing LIMS instead of implementing one new system for all laboratories. The
most significant is that laboratories are not
required to purchase, install and maintain a
brand new software system. Enabling laboratories to keep existing LIMS also prevents
the installation of a system that might not
cover all of the facility’s needs or be financially feasible in the long-term. Although the
messages LIMSi participants send to CDC are
universal, each laboratory has unique operations: an appropriate LIMS for one facility
could easily be insufficient or excessive for
another. The group of LIMS manufacturers is
quite small, but different versions, elective
modules and updates create a large pool of
options. As more laboratories participate in
the LIMSi project, LIMS manufacturers have
learned more about the requirements of
the program; subsequent LIMSi laboratories
have benefited from this knowledge and
may complete implementation faster.
Working with multiple software providers
also ensures that the overall success of the
LIMSi program is not tied to the success of a
single software provider. In a single software
system, problems such as a code error or
even the failure of the company would require the entire LIMSi system to revert back
to earlier, more cumbersome data-sharing
strategies until the problem was resolved.
As the program now stands, such problems
would affect the facilities using that particular LIMS, but the system as a whole would
not be compromised.
LIMS manufacturers have
learned more about the
requirements of the program;
subsequent LIMSi laboratories
have benefited from this
knowledge and may complete
implementation faster.
The main disadvantage to this system is
that it requires more work in the initial set-up at the laboratory and for the programmers at the CDC who must take each new
system into account when writing updates.
The extra time needed for these updates
could affect a laboratory’s ability to provide
real-time data to CDC. However, although it
requires more work to ensure compatibility,
working across multiple software platforms
has proven to be successful for this initiative
and allows for cost-efficiencies by not implementing yet another information management system in laboratories.
For more information on APHL’s work with
LIMS Integration, contact Kara MacKeil at
kara.mackeil@aphl.org or 240.485.2750, or
contact the LRN Program Office.u
