THE CLINICAL WORKSTATION AS A MEANS OF IMPROVING LABORATORY USE

Driven to make timely decisions, doctors may act with less than all of the relevant patient data. Sub-optimal use of clinical laboratory res ources can result. Our clinicians' workstation (CWS) is meant to provi de doctors and nurses ready access to laboratory results in a form tha t makes the data easy to review and use. In addition, the workstation provides immediate feedback regarding blood orders, to encourage appro priate clinical practice. Feedback is based on the medical staffs clin ical guidelines that have been incorporated into an embedded expert sy stem, CWS also helps blood bank physicians to monitor, review and cont rol requests for special needs such as irradiated products. Challenges to system acceptance await those trying to bring functional decision support to the clinical environment. Among these are barriers to under standing and cooperation posed by departmental boundaries and interact ing professional cultures as well as the politics of hospital-based in formation systems.