Design and positioning of a reference information model for clinical laboratories

Clinical laboratories produce on a daily basis huge amounts of data, i.e., test results of chemical determinations. The production and the use of these data should be extremely well structured. This and the urge to improve quality was the reason to design a reference information model for clinical laboratories, abbreviated as RILA. A software toolbox facility was used to the design. RILA can be used in any clinical laboratory, but it can also be made laboratory situation-specific. This is done through the implementation of location-specific and detailed information concerning procedures, instruments, capacities, etc. By doing this, the interaction with the laboratories environment has to be defined as well. Certain application areas such as total quality management, workflow analysis and cost analysis can be facilitated through the implemented reference information model. Furthermore, RILA has to be positioned at a proper location with regard to the existing hospital and laboratory automation modules.