Data Management and Integration of Clinical Laboratory Information: Current Status and Future Perspectives of Physiological Function Examination Systems in Japan

摘要

The roles of the clinical laboratory department in each hospital are becoming more important than before. On the other hand, there have been endeavors to seek a way to integrate and systemize examinationsand testing and to add values to the results. The role of the laboratory department in the medical field is significant in making decisions on diagnosis and treatment. Increasingly, laboratory information of value is being more heavily demanded from the out-patient and in-patient clinics. Our department has been responsive to the current needs of those workplaces, and over the past 5 years has developed an examination system using computers. Currently this system is operating in the blood examination and physiological examination branches. Furthermore, we are developing a new system with the aim of establishing “electronic medical records.” At first, we explain in this paper the background and reason why we intend to manage and integrate the data of clinical laboratory information. Then we provide an overview of the present status and perspective of the physiological examination system in Japan.