Ask any clinic how lab reports reach them. The answer is almost always the same. On WhatsApp. As a photo.
This works, until it does not. The photo sits in a group with forty other messages. Somebody has to find the patient file and put it in. Sometimes nobody does.
And when you want to compare today's haemoglobin with the one from three months back, you are scrolling through old chats.
Two halves of one problem
Sending the test is the first half. Getting the report back is the second. Most clinics have a jugaad for both, and neither is written down anywhere.
Sending. The doctor writes the tests on a slip. The patient carries it to the lab. If it is urgent, somebody phones ahead. If the slip is lost, the tests are guessed.
Receiving. The lab finishes and sends a photo or a PDF. Somebody at the clinic files it. Or means to file it.
What it looks like when both halves are joined
If your lab uses the same software, you tick the tests during the consultation and press send. The order goes into the lab's work list with the patient details already filled. Mark it urgent and it shows in red at the top of their list.
When the report is ready, the lab uploads or types it, and it comes on to that patient's chart. Nobody attaches anything. You get a message the moment it is in. And if some value is dangerously high or low, that alert comes first, instead of sitting quietly in a list.
The part doctors like most is the trend. Because values are kept as numbers and not as a picture, today's result sits next to the last one and the one before. You can see which way it is going. That is usually the useful thing.
Reports that can be checked
One more point worth asking about.
A report made properly can carry a QR code that proves it is genuine and not changed. Anybody can scan it and confirm the result came from that lab.
This matters for insurance, for second opinions, and for any report that leaves your clinic. A photo of a printout proves nothing.
Five things to ask
- 1Can I send the test order from the consultation screen, without writing a separate slip?
- 2Does the finished report attach itself to the right patient, or does somebody file it?
- 3Are values kept as numbers, so I can see a trend? Or only as an image?
- 4Am I told when a result is critical, or do I have to go and look?
- 5Does my lab have to sign up, and what does it cost them?
Question five is the one companies are vague about. Ask directly. If a lab has to do nothing at all for this to work, ask exactly how the report is getting in.
The honest limit
Same as with the pharmacy. Your lab has to be on the same software. In Clyno the lab signs up itself and the portal is free, but somebody has to actually do it.
If you send most tests to one nearby lab, that is one conversation. If you use six labs, it is six.
In short
- Reports on WhatsApp get lost, and cannot be compared over time.
- Sending the order from the consultation screen removes the paper slip.
- The report should go into the right patient file on its own.
- Values kept as numbers give you a trend. A photo gives you nothing.
- Critical results should come to you. You should not have to search.
- Your lab has to sign up also, so ask what that involves.
See how the lab side works, and the wider guide on running the clinic, lab and pharmacy on one system.