Laboratory data in motion

You can feel the seismic shift in how we approach and manage laboratory data. Labs have always been data-rich, but scarce in the analysis of the data in near real-time.  The pace of data generation in the laboratory is happening at warp speed – too fast to manage using static reports that are generated once weekly or during a monthly review. Data is rapidly being transferred from one place to another – so fast that traditional laboratory data management tools cannot capture the trends as they are occurring.

Organizations cannot readily react to data that is too old to act upon – the paucity of almost instantaneous data prevents organizations from making key decisions needed to get ahead of the curve. The challenge is to capture this data in motion so that laboratories and healthcare organizations can make concurrent decisions based on the contemporaneity of the data.

Laboratory dashboards -harnessing data in real-time

In a recent COVID-19 LIVE! Briefing hosted by The Dark Intelligence Group, Ulysses Balis, MD, FCAP, FASCP,  Fellow AIMBE, Professor of Pathology & Director, Division of Pathology Informatics at the University of Michigan, presented a dashboard dedicated to the management of COVID-19 testing. The motivation behind the in-house development  was to rapidly build and deploy a COVID-19 dashboard that would help the laboratory make in-the-moment decisions. Access to data and data transparency across the laboratory levels would help managers align their strategy across departmental services. “Our initial goal in building our COVID-19 dashboard was to benefit the laboratory to monitor specific metrics of laboratory performance in real time. Now the data we are generating is also recognized by hospital leadership as mission-critical to support our larger hospital-based decisions,” explains Dr. Balis.

The first version of the University of Michigan’s COVID-19 dashboard was designed with interactive capabilities that would allow for drill-down features into laboratory metrics. The key metrics identified by the lab for this initial launch included:

• COVID-19 order volume tracking and forecasting

  Tracking of the orders from the LIS for COVID-19 to proactive plan capacity testing by type of test (PCR or serology).

• Test turnaround time (TAT) statistics

  On-demand availability of TAT of the daily tests ordered, and tests resulted. This gives the laboratory an indicator of any testing delays or capacity issues in real-time. Data is displayed graphically and in a spreadsheet style based on the view selection.

• Testing positivity rates

  The dashboard displays in real-time the current number of positive test results by type of COVID-19 test with the percentage positive rate based on the query selection.

• Reporting of key metrics to government agencies

  All key data points for reporting to any government agency are available for selection and download to a file for exporting.  The daily metrics include the number of tests ordered, positive and negative rates, positive rates for admitted patients, and a roll-up of cumulative statistics over time.

• Testing map

The dashboard was designed to drill down into the specific counties in Michigan for the number of positive COVID-19 patients with color-coding by the number of cases. This gives the laboratory a visual indicator of the concentration of positive cases throughout the state and where the virus might spread.

Rapid Dashboard Deployment in Two Days. The development of the COVID-19 dashboard and data aggregation tool was needed quickly.  By using R Studio for the development and Shiny Server to publish/host the online dashboard, Dr. Balis and his team were able to stand up the proof-of-concept dashboard application in less than two days.

Impact to you.

The speed of information creation and capture is accelerating faster than labs can manage. Most lab data management tools can only give us  a snapshot of the past. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how important in-the-moment lab data is to help make strategic decisions that directly impact patient care and community policies. No other time in recent history has there been a need to consolidate lab data with more velocity and veracity than in today’s environment.

Laboratory dashboards - data in-flight

The survival of the clinical laboratory is now dependent on making asynchronous data available to managers of the laboratory and their respective hospital leadership. Command centers with teams of hospital professionals as well as public health departments rely on receiving up-to-the-minute, actionable informatic data for COVID-19 testing to help them plan for testing capacity, reagent and consumable availability and PPE accessibility. Meaningful public policy is being derived from the immediacy of the COVID-19 testing outcomes data for infection rates and prevalence.

There is an important convergence of the digital and the biological in real-time to adapt laboratory processes and public policy as the pandemic progresses. We have seen what happens when data is delayed and/or is not complete enough to make decisions. Capturing key lab metrics in the moment can make the difference between being adequately prepared or woefully reactive in the face of a surge in COVID-19 patients.

Inspire you.

New tools are becoming available that make it easier and faster for non-software developers to extract data from the LIS or LIMS and create real-time tools like data dashboards.  Explore your options with your LIS/LIMS and instrument vendors as well as other commercial providers of laboratory data intelligence.

Listen to Dr. Balis’ Dark Intelligence Group COVID-19 LIVE! Briefing presentation here for his insights on why capturing COVID-19 data in motion via a dashboard was a critical need to manage their laboratory operations to support better organizational and public healthcare outcomes.