Viewing electronic lab reports
Updated over a week ago

The TELUS Collaborative Health Record (CHR) integrates with several provincial lab vendors. While the integration varies for each province/lab vendor, viewing and managing the lab reports themselves is the same. In Ontario, HRM and OLIS function differently than other electronic labs. See Viewing reports from HRM and Accessing OLIS lab reports.

For more information on configuring electronic labs for your domain, see:

You receive the lab report in the Inbox. Electronic lab reports have a lab flask icon associated with them, while faxed lab reports have a paperclip icon.

๐Ÿ’ก Tip: The number within the red circle indicates the number of abnormal results in that report.

Depending on your configuration:

  • If a provider's license number matches the one on the report, it will go into their inbox or if no match is made, the report goes into a shared default inbox.

  • All labs go to one shared inbox.

The lab report is also saved to the assigned patient chart, within the Patient Files section. If the CHR cannot match the report to a patient, you must manage these unmatched lab reports (see Managing unmatched lab reports).

โš ๏ธ Important:

Steps

1. To access reports from the inbox:
a. From the main menu, click Inbox.

b. Click the desired report. It opens in a new window.
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2. To access lab reports from the patient chart:

a. Open the patient chart.

b. From the Start/Open menu or the Quick Menu, click one of the following:

  • Lab Results (shows the individual lab tests).

  • Patient Data > Latest Lab Results folder (shows the individual lab tests).

  • Patient Files > click the Lab tab (or domain-specific lab/tag) to see specific lab report types. Click the report to open it in a new window.


    ๐Ÿ“Œ Note: It is up to your clinic to develop a workflow for tagging lab reports. Your clinic may break down lab types into different tabs. See Categorizing lab reports.

3. Review the lab report that opens in a new window.

The report header provides basic details, including the patient's name, lab vendor and accession number. If the lab is not matched to a patient, a red warning banner appears. See Managing unmatched lab reports.
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๐Ÿ“Œ Note: The accession number is assigned to the sample when it arrives at the laboratory. If you receive misdirected lab reports, you can provide this number to the lab vendor for investigation.

๐Ÿ“ŒNote: When a lab report comes in with the same accession number as a previous lab report, and you already marked the original lab report as reviewed, you can identify which lab results are new and which ones have been updated since you first marked the report as reviewed. Any lab results that were added to the report since you reviewed it are marked with a New indicator, and any lab results that changed are marked with an Updated indicator.

The report is broken into sections based on lab tests. Each test has its own header, showing the test name, ordering physician, collected on date etc. The test results/values are shown in a table format, showing the Name and Result. Abnormal values are highlighted in red with an arrow showing if it is Below Low Normal or Above High Normal. A red caution symbol highlights other abnormal results, for example Few, Cloudy, Trace etc.

๐Ÿ“Œ Note: Excelleris BC, eHealth, Cerner in PEI and Alberta Health System will update reports when new results are available from the lab vendor. Under the lab test name, you will see the status (Complete, Corrected, Partial etc.). For example, for a CBC blood panel, A1c tests take longer. The lab vendor sends the lab report without HbA1c tests, with a status of Partial. When the vendor has those counts, they resend the final report with a status of Complete.

4. Perform the required action for the report.

For more information about the general inbox item actions (Comments, Mark Reviewed, Quick Message, Edit, Share, PDF, Referral), see Viewing and managing inbox items.

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Description

Navigate directly to the patient's chart.

Save a specific lab result as a new document. A new PDF file is saved in the patient's chart > Patient Files section. You can add comments or share and edit the new file.

๐Ÿ’ก Tip: This is useful if you need to send the results outside of the CHR through outgoing referrals or to the patient via the patient portal.

Generate trending lab values in both a table and graphical format. For more information, see Viewing and saving trending lab graphs and tables.

๐Ÿ’ก Tip: This is useful for reviewing ongoing medical diagnoses.

Updated January 30, 2024

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