A SILVER LINING TO THE COVID CLOUD

Above: Laura Anderson, Medical Laboratory Technician at MedLab South, Nelson

The rate of electronic orders for lab tests jumped from 25 to 80 per cent in the Nelson Marlborough region during Alert Levels 3 and 4.

While the uptake of lab e-ordering by GPs in our region has been gradual since its introduction in April 2019, the increased use of virtual health consultations during lockdown sent the rates soaring.

MedLab South Laboratory Manager Rebecca Brosnan describes this as a silver lining. “It’s good for GPs and a real win for us at MedLab South where we’ve seen great gains in efficiencies and in data accuracy as a result of the increase in e-ordering,” Rebecca says.

Clinical Information Systems Director Dr Bev Nicolls says the e-ordering gives GPs much-needed information and control and saves precious lab team time.

“When a GP orders lab tests for their patient, on paper, they can’t see if the patient has completed the test, they can’t easily change the test order, nor can they see what stage the test process is at. If they use e-ordering however, then they’ll have that information at hand and greater control of the process,” says Dr Nicolls.

MedLab South are now trying to get all GPs and hospital clinicians to use e-ordering, to build on the gains made during lockdown.