One of the essential steps in HIV service deliveries is the turnaround time for results. Since the advent of the SURGE activities across Nigeria and the HIV program being considered a priority, the HIV service deliveries have has increased due to the use of innovative tools and techniques to reduce the HIV burden in Nigeria. The focus has been to apply new approaches to priority areas including resource constrained rural communities to accelerate progress towards the national 95 95 95 HIV targets.
To help meet these targets and improve ongoing innovations in HIV services delivery, CDC through the PHIS3 project, launched in October 2021 has identified significant challenges with calculating accurate TAT and matching laboratory data with treatment data on the NDR. There were also significant delays (3 weeks or more) in disseminating ready viral load and CD4 results by PCR labs to ART clinics. To bridge the gaps, PHIS3 developed the LIMS-EMR exchange platform and embedded it as a module on the Nigeria Medical Records System (NMRS) – an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) used in all PEPFAR-supported ART clinics. The LIMS-EMR exchange module is targeted at resource-constrained rural communities with ease of use in mind.
The LIMS-EMR data exchange implementation is an integration process that allows EMR systems at the treatment facility laboratories to make direct communication with the Laboratory Information Management system (LIMS) at the reference laboratories (PCR Labs) leveraging on an API (Application Programming Interface). The process allows for automated logging of sample Information from EMRs into LIMS, as well as querying and retrieving of approved results from LIMS via the EMR systems.
The LIMS-EMR exchange module has helped to eliminate all manual processes related to submission of sample manifests by health facilities to the PCR labs, and receipt of electronic results from LIMS automatically to the EMR, thereby significantly improving TAT and data quality for lab-related data. The solution has been further integrated with the NDR for central reporting of TAT performance, laboratory vs treatment data comparison, and other lab-related reporting.
With the LIMS-EMR exchange platform, clinicians and partners are now able to provide HIV services using innovative tools to reduce turnaround time for HIV results and accurately assess clients needing care as well as prevalence trends too.
PHIS3 is not only designing and supporting the deployment of electronic solutions with PEPFAR partners around the country, but it is also coordinating efforts to establish stand-alone system interoperability.
