“Learning through writing: Teaching Critical Thinking Skills through writing assignments”
By Alex Andrea B. Sienes
BSMT – 1
MT14 LEC – DD
Over time, we have become more and more dependent on technology, which has also made life more convenient. The development trends include all industries, such as health care, the communication industry, transport, and amusement. The use of technology in healthcare has transformed how we receive and manage medical services, with LIMS (laboratory information management system) being just one example. LIMS is an electronic tracking program used by the healthcare industry to track patient identities and specific information about laboratory procedures and tests performed on them. This system improves the complete usefulness and effectiveness of a laboratory or test plant. In addition, operations were automated, ensuring data integrity, enabling compliance with laws, and improving sample, data, and laboratory resources. In particular, LIMS enforces standardized processes and workflows that allow for meeting legislative requirements and best practices in quality control standards. For instance, it can provide the reports and records required to abide by rules relevant to a certain industry.
Other than that, a good LIMS consists of three major components that enumerate the entirety of its purpose: LIMS protocol execution, LIMS software sample tracking, and LIMS storage organization. Routine execution of LIMS protocols drives the standardized workflows, processes, and procedures in the lab. It ensures that any technician on standby for a specific sample processing sticks to a pre-set procedure. Without this, effective adoption of LIMS is impossible. This secures the organization as it ensures that the software is well established, validated, and calibrated to be effectively put to use by lab employees. The purpose of LIMS software’s sample tracking is to follow a single sample through the laboratory—from its initial entry through testing and storage. The tracking has been done such that identification of staffs who interacted with a sample or storage units like freezers, refrigerators, and other areas becomes easy while monitoring the exact location of every sample, making them easily accessible for a smooth retrieval process that should be error-free. Finally, the LIMS storage organization manages the monitoring of a sample’s journey between lab areas. The laboratory information management system stores a sample from a particular box in a sample vial or tube for an individual. In other words, it means organizing your cupboard or closet to facilitate easy access. Just as you place your foods in a systematic manner on shelves, LIMS will also arrange samples and data that can be easily discovered, used, and traced by various researchers and scientists at once. This prevents any confusion within the workplace, helps maintain quality, and stores everything correctly. Basically, LIMS involves storage arrangements geared towards avoiding any losses and making sure that all resources are in place whenever they are needed.
So, how do LIMS, or laboratory information management systems, work? To put it simply, laboratory information management works as a piece of software that is employed in laboratories for planning and overseeing all the crucial duties and information in a lab, specifically the administration of data and the processing of several lab samples, ensuring that everything within the workplace runs properly.