Certe, together with Clinisys, is building one central LIS in GLIMS 10 with a CyberLab ‘Labviewer’ – With this, Certe wants to make a difference for applicants and patients

Patients in the Netherlands can give permission to exchange medical data with health care providers through the online government application Mitz. Certe is also joining this online system. To accommodate this, Certe is switching from four different LIS systems to one central Clinisys GLIMS 10 LIS. Around this LIS, they are building a communication shell with Clinisys CyberLab. With this user-friendly web environment, Certe wants to make the difference for applicants and patients, from the collection to the results.

Largest LIS project in the Netherlands

Certe is an organization that provides integrated medical diagnostics and advice for primary and secondary care in the Northern Netherlands. This large laboratory group was created by the merger of LabNoord, Laboratory for Infectious Diseases, Clinical Chemical Laboratory Leeuwarden and Izore Centrum Infectieziekten Friesland.

Until recently, Certe was still working with four different LIS environments. But that is now changing, as the organization has set up the implementation of one consolidated environment, the “CentraLIS,” using GLIMS 10.

Fons Klijn, Information Manager at Certe, says: “Not only is there the implementation of our own CentraLIS with GLIMS 10, we also have ten different hospitals, and many general practitioners and institutions connected to our CentraLIS. This is the largest LIS project in the Netherlands and an important prerequisite for all new developments in laboratory diagnostics in the Northern Netherlands.”

Labviewer: viewing box for results

Around the CentraLIS, Certe built a large viewing box for results with CyberLab. “This ‘Labviewer’ is a simple and user-friendly web application that helps us from the collection to the results. With this we are now going to make the difference towards the outside world, for applicants and patients. In doing so, we are in line with the Care Viewer that the hospitals themselves will already be using for the exchange of their data,” continues Fons.

The idea is that requesters can view all Certe results known to their patients. Of course, patients must first give permission for this in Mitz. Fons: “This is a long-held wish of Certe: in this way we prevent unnecessary delays, unnecessary diagnostics, unnecessary registration burden and unsafe situations.”

Towards a regional solution for all lab results in Northern Netherlands

Fons looks even further: “In Labviewer we can also show the lab results of other organizations, for example UMCG, Treant, Antonius Hospital and Pathologie Friesland, if they want to. We are in fact building a Labviewer in which we want to make all lab results in the Northern Netherlands transparent. Can you imagine what that means for healthcare in the Northern Netherlands. As the largest party in this field, we are initiating and talking with hospitals to work toward this regional solution.”

Certe without borders: finer for patients

For patients, the implementation of the new environment means that the current Certe boundaries expire. Fons: “Now that we are live, patients can go to any Certe location. So it no longer depends on which province and which system the GP is requesting from. Until now, patients visiting the UMCG usually had to have blood drawn in Groningen first. Often this had to be done a day before the appointment or very early in the morning. This was of course very annoying for patients who do not live nearby. Thanks to CyberLab, patients can now visit a Certe location in their own hometown. It might even be possible in the future that it no longer matters which clinic someone reports to, no matter which organization. But that is really in the future.”

User-friendly app for blood collection

Blood collection staff at the consultation locations are also getting to work with CyberLab. “They now work with a new app that is fully linked to the new GLIMS 10,” says Fons. “For each collection, depending on the collection location, it calculates which tubes to use. This information comes directly from GLIMS 10, no additional system is needed anymore. If we know that a patient should have a deviating collection then this is also processed immediately.”