Computer System for a Hospital Microbiology Laboratory

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Abstract
An online computer system has been developed for a university hospital laboratory in microbiology that processes more than 125,000 specimens yearly. The system performs activities such as the printing of reports, fiscal and administrative tasks, quality control of data and technics, epidemiologic assistance, germ identification, and teaching and research in the different subspecialties of microbiology. Features of interest are smooth sequential transmission of clinical microbiologic test results from the laboratory to medical records, instantaneous display of all results for as long as 16 months, and updating of patient status, room number, and attending physician before the printing of reports. All data stored in the computer-file can be retrieved by any data item or combination of such. The reports are normally produced in the laboratory area by a teleprinter or by batch at night in case of mechanical failure of the terminal. If the system breaks down, the manually completed request forms can be sent to medical records. Programs were written in COBOL and ASSEMBLY languages.