I was curious how Meditech users with the Echo analyzer handle the QC going across the interface.  Right now with how we are doing it..........it doesn't.  We have to burn in to a CD and save it till the "end of time"........joking.  We are building 6.1 and looking to find a way to get to flow across the interface. 

 

Our idea was.........generating a QC specimen and then matching the long Echo QC barcode and then matching it to the Meditech QC specimen number.

 

We are looking for ideas of what other places of done to fix the archaic method of scanning to a CD and keeping "forever".

Define each of the QC materials and then add them to the analyzer type dictionary.

 

Have Meditech fix if the mnemonic is truncating.

rrcc1974: The barcode length on the QC material is too long and meditech wont accept that length.

Ask Immucor what the unique number is for each QC material and have Meditech fix it.  They did it for Chinook Health Region in Alberta.

Here’s our ECHO QC process: (at CRH)

                The WBcorQC samples are loaded, we order a Group and Screen on each then run them on the ECHO. Then the results are transmitted to Meditech (to an open analyzer batch)

                Meditech auto creates a specimen number for each QC sample transmitted and we review and verify. (We are currently only transmitting the ABORH and Antibody screen QC but no Kell or Rh phenotyping.) If QC fails a “Q” (actually letter Q) is transmitted and we have our QC canned text “LQCV1” attached which we results etc.

                The QC results are archived to discs with the rest of the ECHO patients results from the ECHO but also the results  are in saved Meditech and can be viewed by specimen number under :

• QC Icon (Module)
• Inquire

At Month end I ensure all exceptions are addressed (which I review weekly anyhow) and I review the Data Review report both of which are currently in the QC module under “Reports”. I can save an electronic copy of the Data Review Report in our “shared drive”. (It is about 350 pages long most months so it is not convenient to print and store.)

We do not send qc across to MEDITECH.  The qc is maintained on CD Rom with weekly backup and on the ECHO hard drive in between backups.  Not worth the hassle of maintaining QC databases in MEDITECH when the ECHO is a perfectly acceptable database.