A Global LIS

Laboratory Information System for Global Health

The global health version of OpenELIS Global (http://openelisglobal.org) builds on the foundation provided by the original US Public Health Lab version of OpenELIS Global. Our challenge is to provide the flexibility demanded by different laboratories while maintaining a common code base. Some examples:

• Some laboratories refer to the number attached to the sample as an accession number while others refer to it as a laboratory number.
• End user computer literacy can not be assumed.
• Phone number formats vary country by country.
• The number and kind of patient identifiers varies by country and type of laboratory.
• Required patient demographics may depend on why a test is being requested.
• Address fields are country dependent.
• And many more…

Our goal in meeting these challenges is to ensure that the code does not become fractured by each variation in requirements. We have so far been successful and all of the implementations differ only by configuration files making OpenELIS flexible for every type of lab.

OpenELIS Global is stewarded by the University of Washington International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH). For specifics of I-TECH’s work in two countries where OpenELIS Global is being implemented: I-TECH in Haiti, I-TECH in Côte d’Ivoire.

OpenELIS Global has also been implemented in Vietnam, at sites both in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Contact us if you want to know more.