JP2001165935A - System and method for processing specimen information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system and method for processing specimen information, by which the cost required until a survey report is prepared can be reduced by improving the confirmation work of the matching properties between a written examination request with respect to specimens collected by a medial institution and specimen containers containing the specimens. SOLUTION: The medical institution performs preparation (business X) of a written inspection request px for OCR, and an examination laboratory writes the number of specimen containers received qx and the names of a patient on the written examination request px. The request px and containers qx are delivered into one of the local offices of the examination laboratory. The local office reads out the number of the sample containers received, prepares sample bar code labels L by the number of the received containers, and delivers containers qy to an examination center after sticking the labels L to the containers (business Y). In addition, the local office prepares examination denoting data qy by extracting items for examination from the request px and directly transmits the data qy to the examination center (business 'Z'). The examination center reads out the bar codes and prepares inspection data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention improves the work of confirming the consistency between a test request form for a sample collected at a medical institution and a sample container containing the sample, and
The present invention relates to a sample information processing system and a sample information processing method that reduce costs up to creation of a test report.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In medical institutions such as small hospitals and private medical practitioners, there are many cases in which there is no facility for testing blood or other collected samples, and there is often no test staff.
For this reason, in such a medical institution, there is a case where a tester is requested to test a specimen. An inspection company collects a sample container containing a sample such as blood collected from a medical institution together with a test request form, performs a predetermined test at a dedicated test center, and delivers a test report to the medical institution.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a series of business flows of a sample information processing system when a medical institution as a customer requests a test for a sample from a test company and the test company delivers a report. FIG. In FIG. 7, (a) is a business of a medical institution, which performs business A and G. (B) is a business during the collection and delivery of the inspection company, which performs Ba business.

[0004] (c) is a service of a branch office such as a sales office or a branch office of an inspection company, which performs tasks C and F. (D)
Perform the work of D in the work of the inspection company's headquarters. (E)
The E work is performed by the work of the inspection center of the inspection company. As described above, the branch office, the head office, and the inspection center of the inspection company are arranged independently of the medical institution.

Next, the operation A will be described. In medical institutions, samples such as blood collected from patients are
The sample is stored in a container qa to which a label on which the name of the sampler (patient) is written is attached (hereinafter, a container storing such a sample is referred to as a sample container). Further, an examination request form p in which a medical institution name, a patient name, an examination request item, and the like are entered is created.

This inspection request form is a set of two sheets, and the second sheet uses sheets to be copied. Then, the first sheet is made a copy of the medical institution, and the second sheet is given to the person in charge of the inspection company.
The inspection request form is read by a reader (OMR) of an optical mark reading system in which predetermined inspection request items are read. The person in charge of the testing company collects the sample container and the test request form in the medical institution, compares the sample container qa with the request form p, and checks the consistency of the patient name and the like.

When the distance between the medical institution and the inspection agency is short, the person in charge of the inspection company moves by car or on foot, but when the distance is long, the person in charge of the inspection company becomes a train car. And high-speed transportation such as aircraft,
The sample container qa and the test request form p collected at the medical institution are carried to the destination institution.

A description will be given of a business Ba during collection and delivery of an inspection company. As described above, the inspection request form is prepared so as to be read by the OMR method, but the paper passed to the person in charge of the inspection company is red. For this reason, the white paper and the reflected light are formed in the same manner, and the inspector can visually check the marked items. However, in this state, the OMR cannot read, and the person in charge of the inspector inspects. It is necessary to remark the request form.

When the person in charge of the inspection company moves a long distance, the remarking operation is performed during the waiting time of the vehicle or in the vehicle. In addition, if there is enough time, a task of attaching a test label to the sample container may be further performed.

The operation C of the branch office will be described. Here, the remaining work of the task of remarking the test request form and attaching the test label to the sample container is performed. In addition, after a sample number is assigned, a test label provided with the number is attached to the sample container. The sample container qb to which the test label is attached is a test instruction data.
Before the inspection center.

Thus, the sample container qb is stored in the test instruction data.
The reason why the sample is sent to the inspection center prior to the data is that the destination organization and the inspection center are often separated from each other in terms of distance, and it takes time to move the sample container. The person in charge at the branch office will bring the re-marked inspection request form to the headquarters.

Since the number of test requests and the number of sample containers collected from a specific medical institution are large, the consistency between the test request and the sample container carried out by a person in charge of a tester at the medical institution is high. If the reconciliation operation is not completed, the reconciliation operation may be performed at the branch office.

The operation D of the headquarters will be described. The inspection request form is read by the OMR, and the data of the inspection request item is input to a large-sized computer. Also, attributes such as patient names are all input to the large computer. Then, inspection instruction data r corresponding to the inspection request item for each attribute is created and transmitted to the inspection center. These tasks are performed using the time during which the sample container qb is sent from the branch office to the inspection center.

The service E of the test center compares the test instruction data r with the patient name and sample number of the sample container qb sent in advance, and based on the test instruction data r, And perform a predetermined inspection. In addition, the inspection data sa is created based on the inspection result and transmitted to the branch office. Incidentally, special test data sb such as a graph may be directly transmitted to a medical institution without passing through a destination institution.

The service F of the branch organization prepares an inspection report t based on the inspection data sa transmitted from the inspection center. Further, the examination request form p and the examination report t are compared, and the contents are confirmed by comparing the patient name and the examination request item. When the content confirmation is completed, the inspection report t is delivered to a medical institution. The medical institution confirms the inspection report t delivered in the task G.

Inspection companies have set up headquarters with large computers to handle tens of thousands of data per day.
In addition to the headquarters, a testing center that performs sample testing work and a branch office that is a direct contact with a medical institution are arranged. There are dozens of branch offices scattered throughout the country.

At the time of testing a sample, a test request form and a sample container are exchanged between a medical institution and three types of organizations (a branch institution, a headquarters, and a test center) having different work contents and different distances. It is moving. Since the delivery date of the test report is often about one day, it is necessary for the test contractor to promptly process the test report. As described above, the test request form is separated from the sample container, and the sample container is preceded by the test center. -It is necessary to carry in.

A sample collected at a medical institution is stored in a sample container and handed over to a testing company along with a test request. The testing company performs the above-mentioned operations at the branch office, the headquarters, and the testing center. Reports have been delivered to medical institutions. As described above, between the medical institution, the branch office of the inspection company, the headquarters, and the inspection center, sample information such as an inspection request document, inspection instruction data, inspection data, and inspection report is transmitted. It is formed and transmitted between related departments, and constitutes a sample information processing system.

[0019]

As described above, the medical institution prepares a test request form for each collected sample.
Some patients may collect more than one specimen at a time. In such a case, the sample container is transported to the test center while the medical institution and the test contractor overlook that the number of sample containers received and the number of test request documents of the same patient are different. If so, it would be difficult to determine in a short time which sample container collected from which medical institution does not match the test request form, causing a problem in prompt processing of sample information. .

Although the sample container is directly sent from the institution to the inspection center, the contents of the inspection request form are sent from the institution to the inspection center via the headquarters. That is, the test instruction data based on the test request form and the sample container are sent separately to the test center. In the test center, when comparing the test instruction data with the sample container, the consistency is visually determined using the patient name and the sample number as keys.

However, since the number of data processed at the headquarters is tens of thousands or more per day as described above, a large amount of test instruction data and sample containers are matched at the test center even at the test center. You have to judge sex. For this reason, for example, in the case of a patient having the same name and the same name, there is a problem that a determination error occurs when confirming the consistency and it is not possible to create accurate examination data.

Further, since the inspection request form is made on the OMR reading paper, the inspection contractor needs to remark the inspection request form, which causes a problem that the operation becomes complicated.

In the prior art, inspections have to be carried out between three types of organizations, such as branch offices, headquarters, and inspection centers, which are arranged at separate positions as described above, and have different business contents of inspection companies. There is a problem that the distribution route between the request form and the sample container is complicated and the cost increases.

In view of the above problems, the present invention improves the work of confirming the consistency between a test request for a sample collected by a medical institution and a sample container containing the sample, and improves the test report. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sample information processing system and a sample information processing method that reduce costs up to creation.

[0025]

Means for Solving the Problems To achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 provides a sample information creating system,
A department in charge of information processing and a testing department for creating test data are independently arranged for a medical institution that collects a sample, and a sample container storing the sample is placed in the department in charge of information processing. And to the inspection department,
A sample information processing system that executes a predetermined process in each section, and reads an optical character (O
An entry field for the sample collection target name and the number of sample containers received is provided in the test request form for CR), and the department in charge of information processing reads the test request form with the OCR, and the number of sheets corresponding to the number of sample containers received A sample number is assigned to the bar code label, and the name of the sample to be collected is printed and issued in an image, attached to the corresponding sample container, and the test instruction data is prepared based on the test request form. The inspection section reads out the bar code and associates the bar code with the test instruction data, and prepares test data of the sample based on the test instruction data. The department in charge of information processing creates an inspection report based on the information.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sample information processing method, wherein a sample is collected at a medical institution, and the name of the sample and the sample are collected in an optical character reading (OCR) test request form. Filling the number of received sample containers to be stored, and carrying the sample containers and the test request form to a department in charge of information processing, which is arranged independently from the medical institution,
The department in charge of information processing assigns a sample number to the barcode label of the number corresponding to the number of sample containers received, prints the target name of the sample collection in an image, and issues it. Affixing to a container, preparing test instruction data based on the test request form, transferring a sample container having a barcode label attached to a test section, and performing the test. Transmitting the instruction data, reading the bar code and making it correspond to the test instruction data, and preparing test data of the sample based on the test instruction data; Is transmitted to the department in charge of information processing, and a step of preparing an inspection report in the department in charge of information processing based on the inspection data.

According to the features of the first aspect of the present invention,
The inspection request form is formed of OCR reading paper.
For this reason, it is not necessary to remark the inspection request form, and the work load of the inspection company is reduced. In addition, a column for entering the number of sample containers received is provided in the test request form. For this reason, it is possible to easily confirm the consistency between the number of test request documents and the number of sample containers received.

Also, based on the number of sample containers received in the test request form, a bar code label is issued in which a sample number is assigned and a sample collection target name is printed in an image. For this reason, when attaching a bar code label to a sample container, it is easy to check with the sample collection target name entered in the sample container, and the bar code label is attached to the corresponding sample container without being mistaken. Can be attached. Also,
Since the barcode label is attached to each sample container, if the number of sample containers received and the number of test request documents are different, which medical institution is different? Can be confirmed in a short time, and post-processing can be performed quickly.

Further, the inspection section reads out the bar code affixed to the sample container and associates it with the test instruction data, and prepares test data for the sample based on the test instruction data. . For this reason, the test data can be created accurately without mistaking the sample.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the sample information processing is executed between the medical institution, the information processing department, and the examination department, the distribution mechanism is simplified as compared with the related art. The cost can be reduced.

[0031]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the present invention, the examination request form created by the medical institution uses a paper that is read by an optical character reading system reader (OCR). FIG.
(A), (b) is an explanatory view showing an example of such an inspection request form. As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, a test request form for each patient is created in pairs.

On the examination request form, a customer name (medical institution name), customer code, examination request items, etc. are printed.
The first sheet of the inspection request form is for an inspection company, and the second copy is a copy for a medical institution. This is because if the inspector uses the copy paper as in the past, the copy paper will be read by the OCR in a state where dust is attached to the copy paper, and the OCR may mistakenly read the characters. is there.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing an example of a sample container for storing a patient sample. This sample container is the same as that used conventionally, and the patient's name is written on a label. Also,
The display of “A1” indicates the type of container (what kind of container for inspection).

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing items to be entered by a tester in a test request form in a medical institution, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a sample container delivered from a medical institution to a person in charge of the tester. is there. As shown in FIG. 5, the person in charge of the laboratory receives two sample containers qx of the patient name “Ichiro Kono” from the medical institution. The sample container qx includes a type A1 type and a type B type.

In this case, the person in charge of the examination company checks the patient name entered in the sample container qx, and determines a predetermined position of the examination request form px, for example, a part where the customer name is entered. Then, the patient's name is written by hand in the space between the part where the number of receptions is written. The patient name entered in the examination request form px corresponds to the “target name of sample collection” in claims 1 and 2. In the column of the number of receiving containers, enter that one container is A1 and one container is B. A copy of the inspection request form px filled out by the person in charge of the inspection company is given to the medical institution.

The person in charge takes the test request form px and the sample container qx back to the branch office. In the branch office, the inspection request form px
Is read by the OCR, and a bar code label for the sample test is issued. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of such a barcode label issuing process for a sample test.

In FIG. 6, the inspection request form px is read by OCR, data is input to a computer, and a sample number is assigned. At this time, what is read by the OCR is not the inspection request item of the inspection request document px but the column of the number of sample containers received described in FIG. Next, the printer operates according to a command from the computer, and issues the sample barcode labels L for the number of received papers. This sample bar code label L
Contains the customer name, sample number (a201001-00a),
The type (A) of the container is entered.

As described above, the required number of sample barcode labels L are issued based on the number of sample containers received, so that the number of sample containers received and the number of test request documents differ. Can quickly check which medical institution it belongs to, and can perform post-processing quickly.

The handwritten patient name "Ichiro Kono" (name of the subject for sample collection) entered in the examination request form px is an image data
Is read as the data and the image is displayed on the sample bar code label L.
Is printed on the page. Therefore, when the sample barcode label L is attached to the sample container, it can be easily compared with the patient name (the target name of the sample collection) entered in the sample container, and the barcode is applied.
The label can be affixed to the corresponding sample container without mistake. This sample bar code label L is attached to the sample container so that it does not overlap with the patient name of the label on which the patient name is written at the medical institution.

At the branch office, the sample container qy on which the sample barcode label L is formed is carried out to the inspection center. On the other hand, in the branch office, the inspection information is input by a computer based on the inspection request form and data processing is performed. After carrying out the sample container qy to the inspection center, subsequently, correction of the OCR misread characters, the number of test request books,
Correction of inconsistency with the number of sample containers received.

When issuing a sample bar code label L at a branch institution, the consistency between the sample container and the number of test request books is determined by the digitized test information and the number of sample containers received. Since the confirmation is performed automatically, the confirmation work is improved. If the number of sample containers received is larger than the number of test request documents, a sign indicating "too much" is entered in the sample barcode label L for the sample container. When these correction operations are completed, test instruction data for each sample is created from the digitized test information and transmitted directly to the test center without passing through the headquarters.

The test center reads the bar code of the sample container and creates test data for each sample based on the test instruction data. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a human error such that the test result of the sample is mistaken for the test result of another sample. In addition, a predetermined test is also performed on the sample in correspondence with the correct test instruction data for the sample container having the "too much" indication. Inspection data
The data is sent to the branch office including the graph.

At the branch office, a report is created based on the inspection data transmitted from the inspection center, and the report is checked against the inspection request to confirm the consistency of the inspection contents. This report is delivered to the requesting medical institution.

At the branch office, inspection instruction data is created based on the inspection request form, stored in the memory of the computer, and transmitted to the inspection center. In addition, inspection center
Inspection data transmitted from is stored in the memory. Thus, the test instruction data and the corresponding test data are stored in the memory one by one. For this reason, since examination data for each medical institution and for each patient are accumulated, useful data for the medical institution such as a change in the physical condition of each patient and an increase or decrease in the number of patients can be obtained.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a sample information creating system according to the present invention. Regarding the work in each department of the medical institution and the laboratory, the same reference numerals are given to the work having the same contents as in FIG. The branch office corresponds to the information processing department in claims 1 and 2, and the inspection center corresponds to the inspection department in claims 1 and 2. In FIG.
(A) In a medical institution, a work (X) for preparing an OCR examination request form is performed. The person in charge of the test company receives the sample and enters the number of sample containers received and the patient name in the test request form.

Next, the test request form px and the sample container qx to which the test label is attached are carried into the branch office. At the branch office, the number of sample containers received and the sample collection target name are read out by OCR as described above, sample barcode labels L for the number of sample containers received are created and affixed to the sample containers,
The sample container qy is carried into the inspection center (operation Y). Also, the inspection items are extracted from the inspection request form and the inspection instruction data
Creates a query qy and sends it directly to the inspection center (task Z).

In the inspection center, inspection data sa and graph inspection data sb are created and transmitted to the branch office. The destination organization prepares a report t based on the test data sa and the test data sb in the graph, and delivers the report t to the medical institution.

As described above, in the sample information creating system of the present invention, the headquarters is not involved in the distribution of test requests and samples. The local organization only issues instructions (m) for normal operations and has only received reports (n). Therefore, the distribution mechanism of the sample information creation system is simplified.

In addition, each branch office independently checks the consistency between the sample container and the test request form. Since the test request form and the sample container handled by each branch organization are collected from a limited range of medical institutions, the number of data is smaller than the centralized processing at the headquarters. Can be checked quickly.

Further, based on the number of sample containers received,
A code label is created so that the number of sample containers and the number of test request documents can be automatically compared. Since the bar code of the sample container is read out at the test center and the test is performed in correspondence with the test instruction data, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a mistake in the sample. .

[0051]

As described above, according to the features of the first aspect of the present invention, the inspection request form is formed of OCR reading paper. For this reason, it is not necessary to remark the inspection request form, and the work load of the inspection company is reduced. Also,
An entry field for the number of sample containers received is provided in the test request form. For this reason, it is possible to easily confirm the consistency between the number of test request documents and the number of sample containers received.

Also, based on the number of sample containers received in the test request form, a bar code label is issued in which a sample number is assigned and a sample collection target name is printed in an image. For this reason, when attaching a bar code label to a sample container, it is easy to check with the sample collection target name entered in the sample container, and the bar code label is attached to the corresponding sample container without being mistaken. Can be attached. Also,
Since the barcode label is attached to each sample container, if the number of sample containers received and the number of test request documents are different, which medical institution is different? Can be confirmed in a short time, and post-processing can be performed quickly.

The testing department reads out the bar code affixed to the sample container and associates it with the test instruction data, and prepares test data for the sample based on the test instruction data. . For this reason, the test data can be created accurately without mistaking the sample.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the sample information processing is executed among the three places of the medical institution, the information processing department, and the examination department, the distribution mechanism is simplified as compared with the related art. The cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a sample information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an inspection request form.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a sample.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an inspection request form.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a sample.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of operations of a branch organization.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional sample information processing system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 X, G Business of medical institution Bb Business of inspection company performed at medical institution Y, Z, F Business of branch organization of inspection company E Business of inspection center qx, qy Sample container px Test request form py Test instruction data sa, sb inspection data t inspection report

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kenji Yamazaki 44-3, Rengezocho, Shogoin, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto F-term in Falco Biosystems, Inc. (reference) 2G058 GC02 GC05 GD06 HA00 5B049 AA01 AA06 BB41 CC21 DD02 DD05 EE05 FF02 FF03 FF09 GG04 GG07

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A medical institution that collects a sample is provided with a department in charge of information processing and a testing department that creates test data, each of which is independently arranged. A sample information processing system that executes predetermined processing in each of the departments while moving to the department in charge of information processing and the testing department, and includes a sample collection request form for optical character reading (OCR) for the sample. A column for entry of the subject name and the number of sample containers to be received is provided, and the department in charge of information processing reads the test request form with the OCR, and enters the sample number on a bar code label corresponding to the number of sample containers to be received. At the same time, the name of the sample to be collected is printed and issued in the form of an image, attached to the corresponding sample container, and the test instruction data is created based on the test request form. In step (1), the bar code is read out and made to correspond to the test instruction data, test data of the specimen is created based on the test instruction data, and the information processing department based on the test data. A specimen information processing system for creating a test report. 2. A step of collecting a sample at a medical institution, a step of writing a target name of the sample collection and a number of sample containers to be received for storing the sample in an inspection request form for optical character reading (OCR), Bringing the sample container and the test request form into the information processing department, which is located independently of the medical institution; and reading the test request form by the OCR in the information processing department, and receiving the sample containers. A sample number is assigned to the number of barcode labels corresponding to the above, the name of the sample to be collected is printed and issued in an image, and the label is attached to the corresponding sample container. Preparing test instruction data by carrying out the test, transferring a sample container to which a bar code label is attached to an inspection section, and transmitting the test instruction data. - Reading the test instruction data and making it correspond to the test instruction data, preparing test data of the specimen based on the test instruction data, transmitting the test data to the information processing department, and examining the test data. Preparing a test report in a department in charge of information processing based on the information processing method.