CSC's first customer outside of Denmark for its LABKA II Laboratory Information System will be Blekinge county in Sweden. The system will be used to support the Karlskrona and Karlshamn hospitals within the Swedish province administrative county, providing healthcare professionals with a more efficient, safer laboratory information service.
LABKA II will provide a system for test ordering, analysis and results reporting, and will be capable of communicating with all of the hospitals' existing laboratory equipment. Healthcare staff will also use the system to manage laboratory test requests, distribution of tasks, collection and processing of results, validation, approval, reporting, data exchange and quality assurance.
The new electronic health record system (EHR) at both Swedish hospitals will streamline and automate the laboratory testing procedure, eliminating the need for paper records. Healthcare professionals will be able to electronically order tests and then process and record results. Working with a vast range of modern and legacy EHR software suites, the system can interface with more than 150 different types of laboratory equipment, enabling the hospital to leverage and protect investments in its existing infrastructure.
"Blekinge was attracted to LABKA II because of the model and track record of delivery and results within the Danish healthcare system," said Agneta Sjöblom, healthcare systems manager for the province."It was very important for us to have a reliable system that could integrate with the other patient software in our two main hospitals, as well as the systems used by the patient's own local doctor and health insurance company. Sjöblom added that the arrangement will provide a huge advantage in terms of supporting internal workflows within the laboratories.
System benefits include reduced administration, increased efficiency, faster processing of results and increased accuracy resulting in safer patient care. Eliminating paper records also means data is delivered instantly to ensure that treatment is immediate and adequate.
It is anticipated that the first use of the upgraded LABKA II suite will mark the start of an international roll-out in other areas of Sweden, the Nordics and beyond. "LABKA II was chosen by Blekinge because it was considered to be one of the most efficient and flexible laboratory information suites available," said Freddy Lykke, managing director of the CSC Healthcare Solution Centre in Denmark. "What they highlighted to us was the fact the system is so easy to use with a built-in e-Learning function, eliminating the need for huge investment in training."
This flexible approach, Lykke believes, will encourage additional clients within Northern Europe, either as a new installation or as an upgrade for an existing LABKA implementation.
