Raymond D. Aller, MD, and Hal Weiner
How a pathology website can help build pathology websites
CompuGroup introduces lab information system
PierianDx purchases Tute Genomics
Sequencing.com launches genetic data platform
Dominion Diagnostics offers customers mobile app
How a pathology website can help build pathology websites
What if one could Google “biopsy orientation processing cassette” and receive detailed methodological instruction in surgical pathology as easily as finding a recipe for pound cake?
Izak B. Dimenstein, MD, PhD, HT(ASCP), a grossing technologist retired from Loyola University Chicago Medical Center, believes highly specific information about laboratory methodologies should be easily accessible on the Web. In fact, since 2002, he’s made it a goal to put it there. Today, his website, “Grossing Technology in Surgical Pathology,” or grossing-technology.com, serves as an educational tool and a template for how to build a laboratory methodology niche website.
According to Dr. Dimenstein, who gave a presentation titled “Laboratory website portal as a source of pathology education” at the 2016 Pathology Informatics Summit, such sites should have three main features, or what he calls the “optimally minimal triad of components.” These include the site’s main content; a blog to foster discussion and act as a venue for laboratory professionals to respond to current events or issues; and ancillary content, including advertisements and references to books and other useful material.
The main content should be concerned with the how of laboratory methodology. Where possible, Dr. Dimenstein represents the main content on his site in fragmented form using the nested doll principle, a design paradigm in which information is displayed hierarchically, with a distinct page devoted to each step in a methodological procedure. For example, separate posts are devoted to each distinct step in specimen sampling.
One of the main advantages of this design, Dr. Dimenstein wrote in an Annals of Diagnostic Pathology article (2013;17:448–456), is that site visitors can easily find the content that interests them without having to read an entire article. The information is presented more like a workshop, he adds.
Dr. Dimenstein offers a primer, under the “Laboratory Website” tab on his site, for how to turn a laboratory methodology website into an “authority” website, a reputed online source of specific knowledge to which other sites link. A website’s authority, he posts, is predicated on its visibility and sustainability. In other words, a website’s authority is established both by how many visitors it receives per year and how long it can be located by search engines. This means that providing interesting and informative content is important, but it isn’t sufficient. Website hosts must use search engine optimization techniques, such as strategically placing keywords in the beginning, body, and end of published content. Posts must also include external links to well-established publications and internal links to other areas within the site in order to enhance search engine results ranking.
“If educational websites aren’t designed with search engines in mind, potential visitors won’t be able to find them,” Dr. Dimenstein says. Furthermore, they must be continually maintained, with hyperlinks refreshed and content updated regularly, for the same reason.
Given the challenges of maintaining and optimizing websites for search engine algorithms, preventing educational websites from fading into obscurity is no easy task, Dr. Dimenstein contends. One solution to this problem, he says, is to create a portal that brings together laboratory methodology websites using the same basic technological concept as a medical facility’s patient portal. Such a portal could be hosted by a university that has a pathology informatics department that can provide the necessary technical and financial support to maintain it, he continues. A professional association, as an umbrella organization, could provide guidance on establishing specific methodologies and automatically grant access to association members. Furthermore, the portal could serve as a resource for those interested in laboratory methodologies by providing a venue for organizing seminars and workshops and exchanging information about specific experiences with such methodologies.
Yet such projects are beset by hurdles, the major three being, Dr. Dimenstein says, finding an organization willing to host such a portal, obtaining the funding to hire the necessary Web developers, and creating a pool of sustainable educational websites constructed more or less uniformly, “although each website can have its own . . . artistic presentation on its home page.”
While these hurdles are surmountable, Dr. Dimenstein says, “at the end of the day, everything depends on enthusiastic participants.” —Charna Albert
CompuGroup introduces lab information system
CompuGroup Medical US recently released its CGM LabDaq Teleios laboratory information system.
Key features of the LIS include rules-based technology that supports compliance with best practices; the Lab IQ interactive dashboard, which allows users to view laboratory performance metrics; an interface monitoring tool that includes user alerts to ensure all interfaces are functioning properly; and a grid view for panel and test setup.
“The investment in CGM LabDaq Teleios, including rewriting CGM LabDaq using the latest technologies, will immediately provide clients with increased security and improved performance,” said Megan Schmidt, vice president of CompuGroup Medical’s North America lab division, in a statement. “The use of modern architecture principles, such as separating business logic from the user interface, and the use of application services will enable us to innovate faster and deliver exciting new capabilities to our clients.” The LIS will undergo further development to add “advanced features to meet the needs of reference labs performing high volumes and highly complex testing,” Schmidt added.
CompuGroup Medical US, 855-270-6700
PierianDx purchases Tute Genomics
The clinical genomic analysis, interpretation, and reporting company PierianDx has acquired the software vendor Tute Genomics.
The acquisition allows PierianDx to enhance its Clinical Genomicist Workspace cloud-based software platform for somatic cancer with Tute Genomics’ constitutional- and exome-testing capabilities.
“The enhanced platform will provide labs with a single clinical solution to support a comprehensive range of molecular testing for personalized medicine,” said PierianDx CEO Ted Briscoe, in a statement.
Sequencing.com launches genetic data platform
Sequencing.com has introduced a platform that allows people to securely store, analyze, and share their genetic data.
The offering is the “world’s first agnostic platform for genetic data,” meaning it operates seamlessly using the genetic data produced by any genetic testing technology, including DNA microarrays, whole genome sequencing, and exome sequencing, according to the company.
The platform includes an “app market” that allows individuals, researchers, bioinformaticians, and health care professionals to access the information. Data from companies that provide genetic testing, such as Illumina, Helix, and 23andMe, can be used with all of the apps found in Sequencing.com’s app market.
“Our unique platform provides the ability for everyone to keep their genetic data safe while also being able to use it on a daily basis to personalize and improve their lives,” Sequencing.com founder and CEO Brandon Colby, MD, said in a statement.
The company offers free and unlimited genetic data storage. Users can store their data, which they own, in a confidential account. The data are not sold to third parties.
Dominion Diagnostics offers customers mobile app
The national medical laboratory Dominion Diagnostics has launched an application, called Dominion Connect Mobile, for its customers using smartphones and mobile devices.
The app, developed to augment the company’s secure online portal for electronic orders, results, and resources, is available for download from the Apple and Google Play stores.
Dominion Connect Mobile works with Apple and Android devices and allows for secure access to clinical information permitted by a user’s established privileges in Dominion’s customer portal. Users can view patient laboratory results, clinical trend reporting, industry-relevant resources, and contact information for key Dominion Diagnostics support teams. They can also set custom alerts and notifications based on their preferences and clinical workflow needs.
“Anytime, anywhere access to patient laboratory results and other additional clinical features has great potential to help our customers achieve more meaningful patient interactions and improve the quality of their care,” David Molusis, vice president of information technology at Dominion Diagnostics, said in a statement.
Dominion Diagnostics specializes in urine drug testing and actionable clinical information for addiction treatment and pain management.
Dominion Diagnostics, 877-734-9600
BBCS awarded contract
Blood Bank Computer Systems has announced that it will implement its ABO Suite of blood establishment software at Community Blood Center of the Ozarks, which serves hospitals throughout southwest Missouri, northwest Arkansas, and southeast Kansas.
Blood Bank Computer Systems, 888-738-2227
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Dr. Aller teaches informatics in the Department of Pathology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He can be reached at raller@usc.edu. Hal Weiner is president of Weiner Consulting Services, LLC, Eugene, Ore. He can be reached at hal@weinerconsulting.com.