Consolidation and prioritization of critical patient notifications

Abstract

To provide a computer implementation method that integrates serious information about a patient in an examination room 10.SOLUTION: A method includes: selecting a patient to be monitored from a patient group associated with an examination room 10; extracting information about the patient from a plurality of examination room sources 15 in the examination room 10; determining whether the extracted patient information is serious for patient care; and outputting the extracted patient serious information on a single display dashboard 30 to display the information to an examination room operator.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to the consolidation and prioritization of critical patient notifications in a laboratory environment on a single dashboard display. [Background technology]

[0002] Current laboratory dashboard display solutions are typically overwhelmed with data due to the large volume of data generating events that occur in a typical laboratory. This situation can create issues with prioritizing important information, such as patient-critical information, which can be lost to the laboratory operator in the large volume of data that is created and displayed in a typical laboratory.

[0003] For example, typically a patient-critical alert for a particular patient may need to be viewed on several different displays within a laboratory. Typically, a laboratory operator may view two to four or more room displays to track patient-critical information for a particular patient. Additionally, if the laboratory operator needs to track a patient-critical alert, the laboratory operator may need to view an additional three to four or more room displays to discover the source of the patient-critical alert, receive details about the patient-critical alert, and troubleshoot the patient-critical alert. Having to view all of these different laboratory displays to find and resolve the patient-critical information can take valuable time and resources.

[0004] EP 2 416 267 A1 discloses a system for task aggregation in a laboratory that can have tasks aggregated according to type and ordered according to urgency, however the tasks in this system relate to test samples rather than patient specific notifications.

[0005] US Patent Application Publication No. 2011 / 0106565 discloses providing proximity-based task lists to clinicians based on the location and task criteria of clinicians who have the authority and availability to complete the tasks.

[0006] U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013 / 0110535 discloses providing clinical information to clinicians based on the location of the clinician and the location of the patient experiencing the healthcare code, so that the clinician closest to the patient can respond quickly to coding patients. Summary of the Invention

[0007] An objective of the present disclosure is to consolidate and prioritize laboratory data according to patient criticality and patient impact, and present the laboratory data to the laboratory operator quickly, clearly, and efficiently.

[0008] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-implemented method for integrating critical information about a patient in an examination room is presented.

[0009] The method includes selecting a patient to monitor from a population of patients associated with a laboratory, where at least one sample from the patient has been requested to be processed by a laboratory source included in the laboratory. Information about the patient from a plurality of laboratory sources within the laboratory is extracted by a laboratory control unit. The laboratory control unit is communicatively connected to the plurality of laboratory sources. The information about the patient includes test results obtained from processing of the sample.

[0010] The lab control unit determines whether the extracted patient information is critical to patient care, including determining whether the test results indicate that the sample, lab source or test contained an error, or whether the test results were within or outside of a range of normal test results, or from additional information regarding critical care, determining that the extracted patient information is critical to patient care, the extracted patient-critical information being critical to care when the test results are urgently needed for life-saving treatment of the patient. The extracted patient-critical information is then output by the lab control unit to a single display dashboard for display to a lab operator or physician.

[0011] Information that may be critical to a patient may include, for example, problems with any laboratory workflow steps that may prevent the patient from receiving test results in a timely manner, or patient test results that may affect the patient's diagnosis or health.

[0012] Additional information relevant to critical care may be data about the patient that indicates that a result is urgently needed. Such data may include, for example, information that the patient is in an intensive care unit, or previous test results that indicate that the patient may be suffering from a severe condition, such as a cardiac condition, or, in the case of a pregnant woman, high blood pressure as a sign of pre-eclampsia, or symptoms that may indicate sepsis.

[0013] Such additional information may be obtained from any one or more laboratory sources.

[0014] The control unit, in one embodiment, will be configured to determine whether the test results indicate that the patient is in a critical condition or whether additional information indicates that test results are urgently needed.

[0015] In certain embodiments, the laboratory control unit determines that the test results are urgently needed if the test results indicate that the patient is in a critical condition, or if the information about the patient received by the laboratory control unit indicates that the patient is in a critical condition. As described further herein, the test results may indicate that the patient is in a critical condition if the test results are above or below a certain threshold. The information about the patient may be information as described further herein, and may be, as an example, information about the location of the patient (e.g., ICU).

[0016] In one embodiment, when the control unit determines that test results are urgently needed, the control unit is configured to create an alert that is sent to the display of the device where the laboratory operator is logged in, the alert taking priority over any other messages on the display.

[0017] Information that may be critical to a patient may include, for example, problems with any laboratory workflow steps that may prevent the patient from receiving test results in a timely manner, as well as any patient test results that may affect the patient's diagnosis or health. If such problems are determined, the control unit may automatically reorder the test or determine from information obtained from different connected laboratory sources a laboratory source that may be operable to process the sample and send the sample to said laboratory source for processing and generating a test result.

[0018] The multiple laboratory sources may include, for example, a Host Connectivity Agent (HCA), a laboratory database, a monitoring and validation process, and / or an Instrument Connectivity Agent (ICA).

[0019] The patient population associated with the room may be stored in a room database communicatively connected to the room control unit. In one embodiment, the patient population may be extracted from the room database by the room control unit and displayed to a room operator. In one embodiment, the room operator may select a patient from the displayed patient population by using an input device connected to the room control unit. The input device may be a keyboard, a mouse, a touch pad, a touch screen, etc.

[0020] In one embodiment, the patient-critical information may be stored in a laboratory database communicatively connected to the laboratory control unit. This patient-critical information may then be extracted from the laboratory database by the laboratory control unit. The laboratory control unit may also be communicatively connected to multiple laboratory sources to receive patient-critical information from the multiple laboratory sources as it occurs.

[0021] The computer-implemented method further includes receiving laboratory workflow event information from the laboratory control unit when the patient-critical information is a result of an issue with the laboratory workflow. In this embodiment, the laboratory workflow event information may also be displayed on a single display dashboard along with the patient-critical information.

[0022] A laboratory workflow event, in one embodiment, may be an error occurring in a laboratory source such as a pre-analytical device, a sample transport device (e.g., a conveyor connected to other physical laboratory sources), or an analytical device. The control unit, in this embodiment, is configured to receive error information from such laboratory sources, connect the error information with a patient in a database, infer an action to be taken based on the patient critical information, and display the patient critical information and the action on an operator's screen.

[0023] Examples of such actions could be automatically ordering a new test to process the sample based on the current critical alert, repeating the test to obtain confirmation of the results, or alerting a physician that the patient should be taken to an intensive care unit.

[0024] The computer-implemented method further includes receiving laboratory workflow event information from the laboratory control unit when the laboratory workflow event includes patient-critical information, such as, for example, a critical test result for the patient. In this embodiment, the laboratory workflow event information may be displayed on a display dashboard along with the patient-critical information.

[0025] A patient critical test result may be a test result that is outside of a defined threshold for a normal test result. For a given test, the threshold for a normal test result is known and communicated to the user, for example in a package insert of a test reagent. For example, a control unit of a laboratory source capable of performing a given test, or a laboratory control unit, comprises a database with thresholds for the test. The laboratory control unit can determine whether a test result is outside the threshold for a normal test result by comparing the test result with the stored threshold for the given test.

[0026] If the test result is outside the threshold for normal test results, the test result may be flagged as patient-critical information. If the test result is time-sensitive or may have an immediate impact on the patient's health and well-being, the test result may be flagged by the control unit as urgent and displayed to the laboratory operator with the highest priority. The test result may be automatically forwarded to the clinician via the LIS and displayed as an urgent test result, recommending immediate action.

[0027] In one embodiment, the laboratory control unit may receive information from a physician specifying a particular patient-critical result that is required immediately regardless of a predefined threshold. The control unit stores the information obtained from the physician specifying the particular patient-critical result and maps all results obtained for a selected patient to the information specifying the particular patient-critical result. If a result maps to the stored information specifying the particular patient-critical result, the result is flagged and immediately displayed to the physician.

[0028] The computer-implemented method further includes prioritizing the display of the patient-critical information based on the urgency of the patient-critical information. The urgency may be based on how quickly a lab operator should become aware of the patient-critical information, e.g., time-sensitive information, and / or how important the patient-critical information is to the health and well-being of the patient. In one embodiment, the display may be prioritized by displaying the patient-critical information in order of urgency. For example, the most urgent patient-critical information may be displayed at the top of a list of patient-critical information and the least urgent patient-critical information may be displayed at the bottom of the list.

[0029] The decision of whether a patient critical information is more critical than another patient critical information can be based on information stored in the laboratory control unit, such as information about the patient's location (in the ICU or not), or information about existing test results that already indicate an imminent risk. Furthermore, the system may obtain such background information that can be used to interpret and determine the level of severity. Another example of flagging a severity is, for example, when a patient is pregnant. For example, if a patient has a severe cardiac condition, some markers are considered to be more critical compared to "normal" patients. Another example would be that a pregnant woman with high blood pressure would probably have some critical data that would be classified first for possible issues of pre-eclampsia.

[0030] In some embodiments, the urgency of patient-critical information may be determined / prioritized by laboratory type, patient test sample type, patient demographic type, and / or combinations thereof.

[0031] The extracted patient-critical information displayed to the lab operator may include both patient-critical notices and patient-critical errors.

[0032] Patient critical notifications may include patient notifications regarding the aging of a patient test sample (i.e., a patient test sample has expired before the patient test sample can be tested), system alarms, test device alarms, test device masking, i.e., the withdrawal or cessation of acceptance of test samples to / from a particular test device, and combinations thereof.

[0033] If the test sample expires before it can be tested, the patient critical notification instructs the laboratory operator to obtain a new sample which can be processed by the appropriate laboratory source to obtain the required test results.

[0034] Another patient critical information may be a laboratory sourced alert that calibration is required or quality control needs to be performed before the test can be processed. If necessary, the laboratory control unit repeats processing of the sample to obtain the required test result.

[0035] Patient significant errors can include patient notifications regarding patient test sample errors, quality control errors, test equipment alarms, test hardware alarms, and combinations thereof.

[0036] The computer-implemented method can further include performing a lab action by a lab operator remotely, i.e., when the lab operator is not physically present in the lab. Such a lab action can be, for example, resolving a patient-critical error that caused the display of a patient-critical information entry on the display dashboard.

[0037] In one embodiment, the lab control unit requests login information from a memory that holds updated login information from the lab or hospital login, authentication and certification process. The lab control unit is therefore connected to such a memory. The login information specifies the device to which the lab operator or doctor is logged in. The lab control unit may also receive the lab operator's or doctor's pre-registered validity time frame. Based on this information, the lab control unit identifies the device dashboard to which the alert is to be sent.

[0038] This allows lab operators or physicians to receive alerts regarding patient-critical information and take necessary actions.

[0039] In one specific embodiment, the lab control unit monitors whether the alert has been resolved. The alert may be resolved by a lab operator or physician who confirms on the dashboard that the action required by the alert has been taken. If the lab control unit does not detect a resolution of the alert, it sends an alert to additional lab operators or physicians who are determined to be logged in with the same permissions as the first lab operator or physician.

[0040] In one embodiment, a display dashboard that displays patient-critical information to the lab operator can be on an output display, such as, for example, a monitor on a lab device physically located in the lab or a monitor on a dedicated lab system computer.

[0041] In one embodiment, the display dashboard that displays patient-critical information to the lab operator can be on an output display that is located away from the lab, i.e., not physically located within the lab, such as, for example, on the lab operator's portable computing device or the lab operator's personal computer located outside the lab.

[0042] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a laboratory system for consolidating and prioritizing critical information for patients in a laboratory is presented. The laboratory system may comprise a plurality of laboratory sources in the laboratory and a laboratory database, both including patient-critical information for a particular patient from a population of patients for the laboratory. The laboratory system may also comprise a laboratory control unit communicatively connected to the plurality of laboratory sources and the laboratory database and configured to extract patient-critical information for the particular patient from the plurality of laboratory sources and the laboratory database. The laboratory system may also comprise a dashboard display communicatively connected to the laboratory control unit and configured to receive the extracted patient-critical information for the particular patient from the laboratory control unit and display the extracted patient-critical information for the particular patient to a laboratory operator on a single dashboard display in order of urgency of the patient-critical information.

[0043] Also presented is a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer processor, control a computer system to perform the steps of the above-described method.

[0044] An advantage of the present disclosure is that the computer-implemented method and testing system allows for the consolidation and prioritization of existing patient result related notifications from many different laboratory sources and databases onto a single display dashboard to quickly and efficiently notify the laboratory operator of patient workflow blockages / errors and / or critical patient workflow results. Thus, the laboratory operator is presented with a patient-centric system designed to collect all data focused on a particular patient on one display dashboard, so that the laboratory operator is notified and can address (or flag) only those situations that affect that particular patient.

[0045] The following detailed description of specific embodiments of the present disclosure can be best understood when read in conjunction with the following drawings, where like structure is indicated with like reference numerals and in which: [Brief description of the drawings]

[0046] [Figure 1] 1 illustrates a laboratory system for consolidating and prioritizing critical information about a patient, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 2] 1 shows a flowchart of a computer-implemented method for consolidating and prioritizing critical information about a patient according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 3] 1 illustrates an exemplary display of consolidated and prioritized critical information for a patient, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0047] In the following detailed description of the embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration, and not by way of limitation, specific embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that logical, mechanical, and electrical changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

[0048] When used below, the terms "have", "comprise" or "include" or any grammatical variants thereof are used in a non-exclusive manner. These terms may therefore refer both to the situation in which, in addition to the features introduced by these terms, no further features are present in the entity described in this context, and to the situation in which one or more additional features are present. As an example, the expressions "A has B", "A comprises B" and "A includes B" may both refer to the situation in which, apart from B, no other elements are present in A (i.e., A consists solely and exclusively of B), and to the situation in which, apart from B, one or more further elements are present in the entity A, such as element C, elements C and D, as well as further elements.

[0049] Furthermore, it should be noted that the terms "at least one," "one or more," or similar expressions indicating that a feature or element may be present one or more times are typically used only once when introducing each feature or element. In the following, in most cases, when referring to each feature or element, the expressions "at least one" or "one or more" will not be repeated, despite the fact that each feature or element may be present one or more times.

[0050] The use of "a" or "an" may be used to describe elements and components of the embodiments of the present specification. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the inventive concept. This description should be read to include one or at least one and the singular form.

[0051] The term "laboratory middleware" as used herein may refer to any physical or virtual processing device that can be configured to control a laboratory instrument / apparatus or a system comprising one or more laboratory instruments / apparatuses such that workflows and workflow steps can be performed by the laboratory instrument / system. The laboratory middleware may, for example, instruct the laboratory instrument / system to perform pre-analytical, post-analytical, and analytical workflow / workflow steps. The laboratory middleware may receive information from a data management unit regarding which steps need to be performed on a particular test sample. In some embodiments, the laboratory middleware may be integral with the data management unit, may be configured by a server computer, and / or may be part of one laboratory instrument / apparatus or may be distributed across multiple instruments / apparatus of a laboratory automation system. The laboratory middleware may, for example, be embodied as a programmable logic controller that executes a computer-readable program with instructions to perform operations.

[0052] The term "control unit" or "workflow control unit" as used herein is a broad term and should be given its ordinary and customary meaning to those skilled in the art and should not be limited to a special or customized meaning. The term may specifically refer to, but is not limited to, an electronic device configured, in particular, by hardware and / or software programming, to control the functions of a sample processing system in a laboratory middleware. The workflow control unit may further be configured for data exchange with at least one monitoring system and / or at least one cloud server. In particular, the workflow control unit may be or comprise a computing device in the laboratory middleware, such as at least one processor, configured to receive electronic signals, such as at least one information item, from the at least one monitoring system and / or at least one cloud server, and further evaluate the received signals. Furthermore, the workflow control unit may be configured to control functions based on the received and evaluated signals, for example, based on the at least one information.

[0053] A "data storage unit" or "database" can be a computing unit for storing and managing data, such as a memory, a hard disk or a cloud storage. It may include data regarding biological / medical test samples processed by the automation system. The data management unit may be connected to a LIS (Laboratory Information System) and / or a HIS (Hospital Information System). The data management unit may be a unit within a laboratory equipment / device or may be co-located with the laboratory equipment / device. It may be part of a laboratory middleware. Alternatively, the database may be a remotely located unit. For example, the database may be embodied in a computer connected via a communication network.

[0054] The present disclosure provides a system and methodology for efficiently consolidating and prioritizing hierarchical patient information so that patient-critical information always appears first to the laboratory operator.

[0055] Referring first to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 illustrates a laboratory system that consolidates and prioritizes critical information about patients. The laboratory system 10 includes multiple laboratory sources 15 within a laboratory and a laboratory database 20. Both the multiple laboratory sources 15 and the laboratory database 20 include patient critical information about a particular patient from a population of patients for the laboratory. In one embodiment, the multiple laboratory sources 15 may include, for example, an HCA, a laboratory database, a monitoring and validation process, and / or an ICA. In another embodiment, the multiple laboratory sources may be, for example, laboratory devices or equipment such as pre-analytical devices, analytical devices, and / or post-analytical devices, laboratory middleware, and / or a laboratory information system (LIS) / hospital information system (HIS). The laboratory database 20 may include patient data that may or may not be displayed to a laboratory operator.

[0056] The laboratory system 10 also includes a laboratory control unit 25 that is communicatively connected to the multiple laboratory sources 15 and the laboratory database 20 and configured to extract patient-critical information regarding a particular patient from the multiple laboratory sources 15 and the laboratory database 20.

[0057] The laboratory system 10 also includes a dashboard display 30 communicatively connected to the laboratory control unit 25 that is configured to receive extracted patient-critical information for a particular patient from the laboratory control unit 25. The dashboard display 30 is configured to display the patient-critical information for a particular patient extracted from the multiple laboratory sources 15 and the laboratory database 20 to a laboratory operator on a single dashboard display 30 in order of urgency of the patient-critical information. In one embodiment, the dashboard display 30 can be a graphic user interface (GUI) displayed on a laboratory monitor in the laboratory, or in another embodiment, the dashboard display 30 can be displayed on a personal computing device of the laboratory operator, such as, for example, a smartphone, tablet, laptop computer, and / or the laboratory operator's desktop computer.

[0058] Referring to Figure 2, Figure 2 shows a flow chart of a computer-implemented method for consolidating and prioritizing critical information about a patient on a display dashboard. In a first step of the method 105, a patient from a population of patients for a laboratory is selected to be monitored for critical information about the patient and input 110 is received for the patient. In one embodiment, the received input can be a patient order 115 from a HIS / LIS via a laboratory control unit. Further, in step 105, the computer-implemented method can determine whether to initiate a process of consolidating and prioritizing critical information about the patient for a laboratory operator (105).

[0059] If it is determined in step 105 that the process should be started, process 120 begins extracting information about the patient from multiple laboratory sources within the laboratory. The multiple laboratory sources may include, for example, the HCA, the laboratory database, the monitoring and validation process, and / or the ICA. The patient information may include laboratory workflow event information 125 that may compromise the patient's test results, for example, when patient-critical information interferes with the laboratory workflow or patient-critical test results.

[0060] The patient-critical information may also include determining whether a preset time for testing of the patient's test sample has elapsed (135). In one embodiment, the preset time may be the time that has elapsed after the patient's test sample is placed in the testing room and a timer is started (130). For example, the preset time may represent an acceptable amount of time that the patient's test sample may be used for testing before the patient's test sample expires and can no longer be used.

[0061] The extracted patient information may then be classified into notification information and error information in step 140. Once the patient information has been classified, it may be determined by the control unit in step 145 whether the patient information is normal (150) or whether the patient information is patient critical (155).

[0062] Patient critical errors can include, for example, notifications regarding patient test sample errors, quality control errors, equipment alarms, laboratory hardware alarms, and combinations thereof. Patient critical notifications can include, for example, notifications regarding the aging of patient test samples, alarms, equipment alarms, equipment masking, and combinations thereof.

[0063] Once the patient information is determined to be normal 150 or critical to the patient 155, the patient information may be sent for output / display on the dashboard display 160. In one embodiment, the control unit may also sort the extracted patient-critical information based on the urgency of the extracted patient-critical information, for example, the most urgent patient-critical information may be displayed to the lab operator first.

[0064] All of the patient-critical information 155 may then be displayed to the lab operator on a single display dashboard in step 165. In one embodiment, the outputted display dashboard may be displayed to the lab operator, for example, on a monitor in the lab and / or on the lab operator's personal computing device. In another embodiment, the outputted display dashboard may be displayed remotely to the lab operator outside of the lab, for example, on a personal computing device such as a smartphone, tablet, laptop, and / or desktop computer.

[0065] Finally, referring to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary lab display dashboard of consolidated and prioritized critical information for a patient. In one embodiment, the lab display dashboard 200 provides patient critical information in a series of columns on a single display dashboard. For example, column 210 lists the step in the lab workflow where the patient critical event occurred. In one embodiment, in column 210, the steps may be prioritized or ranked, for example, in order of urgency to the patient. The ranking of the steps may be based, for example, on lab typology, lab test sample type, patient demographics, and / or combinations thereof. In column 215, the type of patient critical information associated with the workflow step is provided.

[0066] In column 220, the patient critical information is prioritized / rated as either normal or critical / STAT. The rating column 220 may be further divided into the type of patient critical information being displayed. The type of information may be a notification (column 225) or an error (column 227). As discussed above, patient critical errors may include notifications regarding, for example, patient test sample errors, quality control errors, equipment alarms, laboratory hardware alarms, and combinations thereof, and patient critical notifications may include notifications regarding, for example, patient test sample aging, alarms, equipment alarms, equipment masking, and combinations thereof. Finally, in column 230, a description of the patient critical information is provided to the laboratory operator.

[0067] In one embodiment, a lab operator can take steps to act / resolve the consolidated and prioritized patient-critical information directly on the display dashboard 200 using a user input device, such as, for example, a stylus, mouse, keyboard, touch screen, etc. The lab operator can take steps while physically present in the lab or while in an environment away from the lab.

[0068] For example, if there is any type of degradation of sample integrity for an urgent sample, data regarding the sample integrity is received by the laboratory control unit during pre-analytical analysis and a critical notification is sent to perform additional phlebotomy.

[0069] Another example is when an analytical instrument goes offline or has a processing error, and if a patient-critical test is to be performed on that instrument, a laboratory technician is notified to take appropriate action, such as basic troubleshooting, processing on another instrument, sending the sample to another laboratory, or contacting an engineer to repair the instrument.

[0070] Further disclosed and proposed is a computer program product comprising computer executable instructions for carrying out the method disclosed in one or more of the embodiments contained herein when the program is carried out on a computer or computer network.Specifically, the computer program can be stored in a computer readable data carrier or a server computer.Therefore, specifically, one, more than one, or all of the method steps as described above can be carried out using a computer or computer network, preferably using a computer program.

[0071] As used herein, a computer program product refers to a program as a tradeable product. The product may generally be present in any form, such as paper form, or on a computer-readable data carrier located on-premise or at a remote location. In particular, the computer program product may be distributed over a data network (such as a cloud environment). Furthermore, not only the computer program product but also the execution hardware may be located on-premise or in a cloud environment.

[0072] Further disclosed and proposed is a computer readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by a computer system, cause a laboratory automation system to perform a method according to one or more embodiments disclosed herein.

[0073] Further disclosed and suggested is a modulated data signal comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer system, cause a laboratory automation system to perform a method according to one or more embodiments disclosed herein.

[0074] With reference to computer-implemented aspects of the disclosed methods, one or more or all of the method steps of the method according to one or more of the embodiments disclosed herein can be performed by using a computer or a computer network.Thus, in general, any of the method steps including providing and / or manipulating data can be performed by using a computer or a computer network.In general, these method steps can include any method steps, except for those that require manual operations, such as providing samples and / or certain aspects of performing actual measurements.

[0075] It should be noted that terms such as "preferably," "generally," and "typically" are not used herein to limit the scope of the claimed embodiments or to imply that a particular feature is critical, essential, or even essential to the structure or function of the claimed embodiments. Rather, these terms are merely intended to highlight alternative or additional features that may or may not be utilized in a particular embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0076] Having described the present disclosure in detail and with reference to specific embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined in the appended claims. More specifically, although certain aspects of the present disclosure are identified herein as preferred or particularly advantageous, it is intended that the present disclosure is not necessarily limited to these preferred aspects of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. 1. A computer-implemented method for synthesizing and prioritizing critical information about patients in an examination room (10), comprising: selecting a patient to be monitored from a population of patients associated with the laboratory (10), wherein at least one sample from the patient is requested to be processed by a laboratory source included in the laboratory; extracting, by a laboratory control unit (25), information about the patient from a plurality of laboratory sources (15) in the laboratory (10), the laboratory control unit (25) being communicatively connected to the plurality of laboratory sources (15), the information about the patient including test results obtained by processing the sample, and / or additional information related to critical care; determining by the laboratory control unit (25) whether the extracted patient information is critical to the care of the patient, said determining including determining whether the test result indicates that the sample, laboratory source, or test contained an error, or whether the test result was within or outside of a range of normal test results, or determining that the extracted patient information is critical to the care of the patient from additional information related to critical care, wherein the extracted patient-critical information is critical to care when test results are urgently needed for life-saving treatment of the patient; outputting the extracted patient-critical information by the laboratory control unit (25) to a single display dashboard (30) for display to a laboratory operator or physician; wherein the computer-implemented method comprises: receiving laboratory workflow event information from the laboratory control unit (25) when the patient critical information impedes laboratory workflow; Displaying the laboratory workflow event information along with the extracted patient critical information on the display dashboard (30). The computer-implemented method further comprising:

2. 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the laboratory control unit determines that the test results are urgently needed if the test results indicate that the patient is in a critical condition or if information about the patient received by the laboratory control unit indicates that the patient is in a critical condition.

3. 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the patient-critical information is extracted from a laboratory database by the laboratory control unit, the laboratory control unit being communicatively connected to the laboratory database.

4. receiving laboratory workflow event information from said laboratory control unit (25) if the laboratory workflow event is a patient-critical result; displaying the laboratory workflow event information along with the extracted patient critical information on the display dashboard; The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising prioritizing display of the patient-critical information based on an urgency of the patient-critical information.

6. 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the urgency of the patient-critical information is based on laboratory type, sample type, patient demographic type, and / or combinations thereof.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the extracted patient significant information includes patient significant notices and patient significant errors.

8. 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the patient significant error comprises notification of a sample error, a quality control error, an equipment alarm, a laboratory hardware alarm, and combinations thereof.

9. 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising remotely performing an action to resolve a patient-critical error that is a source of the display of a patient-critical information entry on the display dashboard.

10. 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the patient critical notifications include notifications regarding time lapse, alarms, device alarms, device masking, and combinations thereof.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the output display dashboard (30) is displayed to the lab operator within the lab (10).

12. 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the output display dashboard (30) is displayed remotely to the laboratory operator outside of the laboratory (10).

13. 13. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a computer processor, control a computer system to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12.

14. 1. A laboratory system for integrating and prioritizing critical information about patients in a laboratory (10), comprising: a plurality of laboratory sources (15) containing patient-critical information relating to particular patients from a patient population associated with said laboratory (10); a laboratory database (20) containing patient-critical information relating to a particular patient from a patient population associated with said laboratory (10); a laboratory control unit (25) communicatively connected to the plurality of laboratory sources (15) and the laboratory database (20) and configured to extract the patient-critical information relating to the particular patient from the plurality of laboratory sources (15) and the laboratory database (20); a dashboard display (30) communicatively connected to the lab control unit (25) and configured to receive the extracted patient-critical information for the particular patient from the lab control unit (25) and display the extracted patient-critical information for the particular patient to a lab operator on a single dashboard display (30) in order of urgency of the patient-critical information; Equipped with The laboratory control unit (25) receiving laboratory workflow event information from the laboratory control unit (25) when the patient critical information impedes laboratory workflow; Displaying the laboratory workflow event information along with the extracted patient critical information on the display dashboard (30). The laboratory system is configured to:

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