June 3, 2007
Doctors receive critical lab test results via SMS
Surgeons at Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore can now receive critical laboratory test results via SMS on their mobile phones, reports Channel NewsAsia.
"Some 12,000 laboratory tests are carried out on patients at Tan Tock Seng Hospital every day. And for about 60 of these patients, it is important that doctors receive the test results as soon as possible.
Until recently, laboratory technicians used to call ward nurses to inform them of abnormal results in urgent cases. The nurse would page the doctor who would then call the ward to find out the details of the results so she would have to sit by the phone to wait for the doctor to answer the page.
... The computer system picks up any abnormal results on critical tests and sends an SMS to one of the doctors in charge of the case.
And the doctor gets the result in two minutes rather than 18 minutes under the old manual system."
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