Optimizing COVID-19 testing capabilities and clinical management using pathology informatics

Srikar Chamala; Sherri Flax; Petr Starostik; Kartikeya Cherabuddi; Nicole M Iovine; Siddardha Majety; Kimberly J Newsom; Mary Reeves; Michael J Joshi-Guske; Maggie M Downey; Tanmay P Lele; Michael J Clare-Salzler

doi:10.1093/jamiaopen/ooaa055

Optimizing COVID-19 testing capabilities and clinical management using pathology informatics

JAMIA Open. 2020 Dec 5;3(4):523-529. doi: 10.1093/jamiaopen/ooaa055. eCollection 2020 Dec.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
² Department of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
³ Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
⁴ IT Applications and System Development, UF Health Shands, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
⁵ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019, first reported in China in late 2019, has quickly spread across the world. The outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. Here, we describe our initial efforts at the University of Florida Health for processing of large numbers of tests, streamlining data collection, and reporting data for optimizing testing capabilities and superior clinical management. Specifically, we discuss clinical and pathology informatics workflows and informatics instruments which we designed to meet the unique challenges of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing. We hope these results benefit institutions preparing to implement SARS-CoV-2 testing.

Keywords: COVID-19; clinical laboratory information systems; diagnostic tests; medical informatics; pathology.

Publication types

Case Reports