This week, SEDRI-LIMS finally went live in COMRU's research laboratory at the Angkor Hospital for Children (AHC) in Siem Reap. This was the culmination of months of customisation, refinement and on-site testing with real patient data following our visit in December. One reason it has taken a little longer than expected to reach this stage is the sheer complexity and attention to detail associated with a research lab that has been performing AMR for over 10 years (and using a bespoke system that has been honed to its specific needs and standard operating procedures). Moreover, the facility recently achieved ISO 15189 accreditation, which places additional demands on the LIMS in use. For one thing, we were required to include the associated crest images in specimen reports to a very exacting specification!
Despite the sometimes painful process, we fully welcome this level of rigour as it lifts the quality, coverage and flexibility of the system, something that will benefit all current and future sites. Massive thanks to Paul Turner, COMRU Director, and Clare Ling, Operations and Laboratory Manager for their tireless diligence and thoroughness in testing each new version we gave them as we inched steadily towards the final, deployable version!
As with all live sites, new issues are raised by creating support tickets, either via the website or by emailing the support alias (which automatically generates a case). Tickets are prioritized, resolved and tracked to completion by both sides and are only closed once the client is fully satisfied. If software updates are required as part of the resolution, they are deployed to a staging area first, whereupon the client must sign them off before they are deployed to the production system in live use.
Congratulations COMRU!! We're looking forward to a long and successful deployment of SEDRI-LIMS!!
Article first published: 07/06/24