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| July 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In this issue...
Getting More Out of your LIMS, Part 1 - Worklist Management Nexxis ELN Automates and Controls an SOP for Tablet Content Uniformity
Labtronics Announces New COO |
Getting More Out of your LIMS, Part 1 - Worklist Management View Printer-Friendly Version  This is the first in a series of articles that will be looking at how laboratories can improve their efficiency by giving analysts and other informatics applications better access to the sample and test information in their LIMS.
Too often accessing and sharing this information involves manual processes using hard copy printouts, re-keying of data or having to search through LIMS to find the right information. Laboratories can get more out of their LIMS if they automate the transfer of information from LIMS to their analysts and to their other laboratory applications. Providing better access to the information that is already in LIMS will: • Reduce opportunities for errors • Reduce the time analysts spend on tedious data management tasks • Reduce the amount of time it takes to transfer information between systems.
A good starting point for leveraging information from LIMS is in the creation of worklists and run sequences. Too often analysts end up printing out hard copies of worklists from LIMS and then having to re-key that information into an instrument data system or a spreadsheet application. If the transfer is done 100% correctly every time, then all that the lab has to lose is the time that the analysts spend doing that work. However, in the real world there are going to be errors. A common estimate is that each level of transcription incurs an error rate of 3 – 5%. Samples will be incorrectly entered or even missed in the transcription process resulting in errors, confusion over missing sample results and the need for reruns. A better approach is to use ASCII files generated by LIMS or to query the LIMS database directly for samples that need to be run and then use that information to build worklists and sequences electronically.
Having to manually setup run sequences for high volume analyses like chromatography, where the instruments have their own sophisticated data systems, can be a time consuming, tedious and error prone task. Many of our LimsLink customers automate this process by using LimsLink’s ODBC capabilities to query the LIMS database for a list of samples that need to be run. The query can be very specific, selecting samples based on the type of analysis, the status of the sample, etc. These queries can be defined and saved so that on a daily basis the analyst simply has to select the type of test they are doing and run the query. LimsLink can automatically add standards and control samples to the list of samples, ensuring that the proper run protocol is followed every time. The complete run sequence or worklist is then be uploaded to the instrument software “ready to run”. For most instruments, the analyst will initiate the creation of the sequence from within LimsLink, however for the major Chromatography Data Systems, LimsLink CDS lets the analyst automatically build their run sequences from right inside their CDS client. This embedded integration between LIMS and CDS gives analysts a simple, transparent process for automatically creating sequences.
Simple instruments (balances, pH meters, etc) that don’t have a data system or the capability to accept sample information from LIMS can also benefit from automated worklist management. In some labs, the analyst will use the LIMS client to generate a hard copy worklist of samples to be run. They then either record their results on that hard copy of the worklist or they have to manually enter the worklist into a spreadsheet application. In the spreadsheet they will need to add the necessary standards and controls to build their complete run sequence and then manually record the results as the samples are run. A better process is to have LimsLink query LIMS for samples that are ready to run, or have LimsLink import an ASCII file of samples that has been generated from LIMS. They can then utilize the LimsLink Expansion Special Function to automatically add standards and controls to that list. LimsLink is now their electronic worksheet, collecting data directly from the instrument, and combining it with the sample information that was pulled from LIMS. This gives the basic data from the instrument (weight, pH reading, etc) the context it needs (Sample ID, Test Code, etc) to be successfully reported into LIMS.
Sometimes samples will have barcode labels applied to them before they are moved into the lab for testing. The barcodes are generated by LIMS and contain all of the information that is needed to properly identify the samples. Analysts can use LimsLink to collect the sample information from the bar code reader and record it in the LimsLink worksheet. As the samples are tested, LimsLink can collect the result data directly from the instrument and record the results in the LimsLink worksheet along with the sample information. LimsLink can then report the results directly back to LIMS. Using the bar code labels in conjunction with LimsLink gives analysts the flexibility to run samples on an ad hoc basis but still have the confidence that the right sample information is being recorded with the right results.
Using LimsLink to access the sample information in LIMS and to automate worklist management is one way to get more out of your LIMS.
For more information on Worklist management, visit our Resource Library and read our article “Using LIMS Worklists Effectively”. >> More information on LimsLink
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