Leveraging pathology informatics concepts to achieve discrete lab data for clinical use and translational research

Abstract

Clinical practice is most efficient when physicians have the right information, including pathology and laboratory results, at the point of contact with the patient. In downstream workflows, subsequent groups using lab data want to have it available in a format that is easy to manipulate. With the complexity of electronic medical records, hospital information systems, and the need to accommodate data from outside systems, this is not easy to accomplish. By utilizing a group of concepts from clinical and pathology informatics, system implementations may be improved to achieve relevant laboratory data in a format that is usable by healthcare entities to improve patient care and forward endeavors in precision medicine.