Wyoming Department of Health - Public Health Lab

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Wyoming Department of Health, Public Health Lab meets CDC protocols and improves inter-lab communications by integrating LIMS and labeling system

Brady's complete labeling solution improves laboratory records management and saves time for lab staff.

The Wyoming Department of Health, Public Health Laboratory (WPHL) tests approximately 50,000 samples yearly through its Microbiology and Bioterrorism laboratories. The WPHL has implemented a new Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) in conjunction with new labeling procedures to meet the goals of the CDC's Public Health Information Network (PHIN) Preparedness Initiative, streamline the sample labeling process, and ensure the accuracy of their testing and research in the public interest.

The two laboratory divisions of the WPHL provide testing for devastating public health threats such as West Nile Virus and Influenza, plus specialized testing for Bacteriology, Parasitology, Mycobacteriology, Serology, Diagnostic Immunology, Environmental Microbiology, and Molecular samples. The WPHL helps the state's physicians and epidemiologists by alerting them to outbreaks, providing technical advice, and recognizing disease patterns and new pathogens.

With such a vast array of testing completed on approximately one thousand samples each week, accurate records management and sample labeling is essential. In order to develop the consistency of clinical information and communications between the WPHL, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and other labs nationwide, Shelley Hood, Laboratory Project Analyst at the WPHL, researched a number of LIMS options and labeling methods.

"The old labeling system was so archaic - they had labels preprinted with the sample number and then they had hand stampers printed with matching numbers; it was confusing," Hood said.

Working with a Brady representative she met at the annual CDC Public Health Conference, Hood began to build a streamlined information management and labeling system that would increase labeling efficiency and accuracy, save analysts time, and meet the CDC's goals and guidelines for implementing a national network of information systems to help states be prepared for public health emergencies.

According to Hood, "We needed to acquire a LIMS system that would encompass our entire lab. Before, it was several homegrown databases through Microsoft Access and paper."

These older information management methods did not allow for electronic lab reporting or for downloading label information that would meet the Health Level 7 (HL7) standard. HL7 is a protocol for electronic communications that enables labs and health care organizations to exchange key sets of clinical and demographic data without having to remap the information to accommodate different computer applications, lab formats, languages, etc.

Prior to their new LIMS being in place, Hood started doing the research into labeling methods, including printers, scanners, and the labels themselves.

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