Abstract Timely pathology results are critical for appropriate diagnosis and management of patients. Yet workflows in laboratories remain ad hoc and involve accessing multiple systems with no direct linkage between patient history and prior or pending pathology records for the case being analyzed. A major hindrance in timely reporting of pathology results is the need to incorporate/interface with multiple electronic health records (EHRs). We evaluated the Illuminate PatientView software (Illuminate) integration into pathologist's workflow. Illuminate is a search engine architecture that has a repository of textual information from many hospital systems. Our goal was to develop a comprehensive, user friendly patient summary display to integrate the current fractionated subspecialty specific systems. An analytical time study noting changes in turnaround time (TAT) before and after Illuminate implementation was recorded for reviewers, including pathologists, residents and fellows. Reviewers' TAT for 359 cases was recorded (200 cases before and 159 after implementation). The impact of implementing Illuminate on transcriptionists’ workflow was also studied. Average TAT to retrieve EHRs prior to Illuminate was 5:32 min (range 1:35-10:50). That time was significantly reduced to 35 seconds (range 10 sec-1:10 min) using Illuminate. Reviewers were very pleased with the ease in accessing information and in eliminating the draft paper documents of the pathology reports, eliminating up to 65 min/day (25-65 min) by transcriptionists matching requisition with paperwork. Utilizing Illuminate improved workflow, decreased TAT and minimized cost. Patient care can be improved through a comprehensive patient management system that facilitates communications between isolated information systems.
Keywords: illuminate; turnaround time; workflow; anatomic pathology; integrated reporting; electronic medical records