Viollier digitizes clinical and pathology laboratory orders for doctors

Viollier, with over 650 employees the leading laboratory in Switzerland, has fully digitized its requests for laboratory testing. 500 doctors are now submitting their requests online. After confirmation of the request, the bar code labels are printed out directly at the doctor’s printer, and the Electronic Patient Record (EPR) is automatically updated. This means Viollier is reducing the margin of error and the turnaround time for laboratory tests. v-consult connects to all current EPRs.

Around half of all Swiss doctors are now working with Electronic Patient Records. This was the motive for Viollier to digitize requests for laboratory testing. Doctors can now submit requests directly from patients’ digital dossiers and monitor their statuses online. This is all done using browser pages.

“Doctors don’t need to install any software. Their EPR automatically directs them to the online ordering application. v-consult allows us to connect with every available patient management software package. There are some 20 different systems in Switzerland, which have now a direct connection,” says Olivier Kobel, Head of ICT at Viollier .

Simpler repeat orders

The integration with the doctor’s EPR software means all the patient details are already filled in. So the doctor only needs to register the type of test with additional pre-analytical information, for example about the test tube and blood type. Once the tests have been performed, the results are conveniently sent back and stored in the patient’s electronic dossier. “This integrated process is a big advantage for doctors,” says Kobel. “It’s easier to have extra tests performed on existing samples now too. Doctors used to have to ask for additional testing via the call centre, but these requests are much easier now too thanks to the same v-consult application.”

Less risk of error

The integration with the doctor’s EPR software means all the patient details are already filled in. So the doctor only needs to register the type of test with additional pre-analytical information, for example about the test tube and blood type. Once the tests have been performed, the results are conveniently sent back and stored in the patient’s electronic dossier. “This integrated process is a big advantage for doctors,” says Kobel. “It’s easier to have extra tests performed on existing samples now too. Doctors used to have to ask for additional testing via the call centre, but these requests are much easier now too thanks to the same v-consult application.”

Printer and communication module in practice

“As soon as the doctor registers the request, v-consult gathers the correct information and sends the labels straight to the doctor’s printer. The doctor then sticks the labels on the samples, and we scan them as soon as they arrive at the lab. We’re preventing mistakes and speeding up the whole process,” explains Olivier Kobel.

A communication module the size of a smartphone provides a secure connection between v-consult and the label printer. The v-box module means the doctor doesn’t even need to confirm the print command.

V-box also connects local devices to v-consult

Doctors can also connect their devices to v-consult via v-box for ‘point of care’ tests. “Some testing takes place in the doctor’s practice itself,” explains Olivier Kobel. “You can usually connect these digital measuring devices to a PC and EPR software, but that’s neither simple nor cheap. v-box does this automatically so the ‘local’ tests are stored conveniently together with the external lab tests, which gives the doctor a good general overview per patient.”

Doctors benefit from the full and effective use of the v-box and v-consult label printers, which is one reason why the project has had such a strong start with 500 active users already. “The automation speeds up our internal processing, and all the information is already in our software, so we can easily cope with the growth and doctors and patients get their results faster. 30% of our orders are now being processed by v-consult,” concludes Kobel.