Clinical Laboratory & Diagnostics in India & MENA

In my visits to most small to medium clinical laboratories, I have noticed that there is widespread use of personal computers. Almost every lab has 2-3 PCs that are used for Internet access, email, documents and printing. Clearly the concept of a PC to improve personal productivity and communication has caught on and is well understood by most laboratory workers. Some labs are also using the PC and a simple spreadsheet or database program to print their reports.

If this describes your laboratory accurately, it may be time for you to consider using a network and a ‘Server’ in a topography described as a ‘Client-Server’ environment. Some of you will be introduced to the network and the client-server environment by LIS vendors , but you may find that the solutions that they propose are expensive and may not fit your requirements exactly.

Actually, if you are comfortable with using a PC, installing operating systems like Windows XP or Vista and other programs a good option for you may be to start off creating a network and setting up a ‘Small Business’ kind of network yourself. Some of these programs come with very good out-of-the-box functionality and you may not even need to pay for expensive custom-built or line-of-business applications.

In my next few blogs, I will try and describe how to go about creating your own network and client-server system and how to get the maximum benefits from your investments in information technology.

First, how do you know that you need a network? If you answer yes to one or more of the following questions, then you need one:

·         Are there 3 or more PCs in your laboratory?

·         Do you and your co-workers share files or work on the same document?

·         Does your work get impacted if one or more PCs in your lab stops working?

·         Do you have a database program. This can even be a simple list of contacts – do you and your co-workers have your own versions of the contact list in your own PC?

·         Are you considering getting accredited and need to manage a large number of documents in the lab such as SOPs & quality documents?

Next, I will post the basics of getting a client-server network in place – what hardware and software you need? How much it will cost? What are the applications you can use it for?

In the meantime, if you have any questions, please do send in your comments.