| abstract |
A system for testing microbiological specimens and reporting the results thereof. The system comprises at least one workstation which is coupled to a patient information database and a microbiology database. The workstation has data entry means which include a scanner. The specimen is assigned a machine readable identifier. The machine readable identifier is also referenced to data in the patient information database. The workstation uses the scanner to read the identifier assigned to the specimen and retrieve patient information for the specimen. The workstation produces a screen display which comprises the retrieved patient information in addition to interactive fields for performing the microbiological testing of the specimen. The interactive fields include a field for inserting the type of medium used, a field for inserting the observation concerning the specimen, and a field for inserting a description relating to the specimen. Once the testing and recording of results have been completed, the workstation produces a report in electronic form that can be transmitted to a remote location. |