Deploy LIMS to fast-track the healthcare system
Managing Director, India and South Asia, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Mumbai
The alarming gallop of COVID-19 cases is disrupting healthcare systems like never before. Governments and organisations globally are scaling up COVID-19 testing to ensure people infected with the virus are traced and treated. The country is experiencing a spike in demand for medical attention while encountering workforce challenges and error-prone healthcare machinery. Unprecedented supply challenges, low testing turnaround time, lack of laboratory integration, manual collection and processing of patient data are some of the biggest hurdles that the industry is facing today.
For nationwide testing success, the urgency to implement reliable and scalable testing workflows is clear. Software used to manage the workflow, as well as to drive data integrity by enabling automated transfer is critical to success. Challenges arise when the system used to request the test is not connected to the laboratory, and manual data transfer at any point causes delays and potential errors. As testing centers are getting overwhelmed with the number of samples collected daily, delays in releasing test reports can pose immense threat in the delivery of timely healthcare assistance to the patients.
Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) with established connectivity across instruments and systems is the need of the hour. Instrument connectivity is often the most time consuming and technically challenging component of a laboratory setup or for LIMS implementation. For laboratories on the front line of the COVID-19 fight, LIMS have proved to be instrumental. Whether running a diagnostic laboratory, an academic research focused on developing a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19, or a laboratory supporting the vaccine manufacturing process, an end-to-end solution can significantly improve lab speed, quality & productivity.
Laboratories equipped with LIMS have constantly performed the diagnostics quicker with reducing turnaround times and significant impact on reducing the quarantine period of suspected patients as well as facilitating proper treatment for COVID-19 positive patients.
Streamlined vaccination cycles are also a big contributor in the increased adoption of cloud-based LIMS among healthcare institutions. Large volumes of data generated due to the rise in patient cases have increased workflow management complexities, particularly compliances that LIMS can help simplify. As healthcare institutions are ramping capabilities to test and vaccinate its population, LIMS deployment can meaningfully reduce the processing and manpower, reducing risks and fast-tracking the healthcare system.