The Munich Leukemia Laboratory is a leading international provider of leukemia diagnostics. To make it as easy as possible for their senders to navigate through the complex examination spectrum, they use our DORNER Order Entry.
Christian Pohlkamp, MD, Internist, Hematology and Oncology & Head of Cytomorphology, reveals why in this video:
More than 70% of all medical diagnoses are based on laboratory results. These analyses are still largely requested on handwritten paper forms. A comparatively time-consuming and error-prone process.
Christian Pohlkamp, M.D.: With conventionally sent orders, patient identification is often difficult. Or the technical information is simply so incomplete that we can't start the diagnostic process in full, but have to make another phone call afterwards. It seems a bit anachronistic to still be working like this in an age like today. That's why I think that digital order entry will be the only alternative in the medium term.
Why is it important for the MLL to use the DORNER Order Entry?
Christian Pohlkamp, MD: The Munich Leukemia Laboratory is a leading international provider of leukemia diagnostics. So we have a very strong position especially in the German market, which means that a large proportion of outpatient and inpatient hematology providers send samples to us for the diagnosis of leukemias and similar diseases. And we are also an innovation driver, I say self-confidently, i.e. we attach very great importance to digitalization and automation in our laboratory, both in terms of robotics and the implementation of, for example, machine learning methods for the various diagnostic areas. That's what we're committed to.
What do your senders get out of it?
Christian Pohlkamp, MD: A fundamental problem is, of course, the complexity of leukemia diagnostics today, which is not decreasing but will continue to increase over the next few years. In such a diagnostic jungle, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the sender, who may also have to treat mammary carcinomas and intestinal tumors, to find his way around. Therefore, we are grateful that the Order Entry System on the one hand offers great assistance, if only in the selection of methods and in sifting through this jungle of methods. The submitter can request individual assistance based on his level of knowledge. On the other hand, it makes our work easier if the orders arrive with a higher precision and correct content.
Why did you choose our DORNER Order Entry?
Christian Pohlkamp, MD: Leukemia examinations will become increasingly complex in the coming years. Our range of examinations will also be continuously oriented to this and will become more complex and granular. And of course we are very grateful that we have a very flexible partner in DORNER, who always strives to implement state-of-the-art diagnostics in our order entry system in a timely manner and to make the appropriate adjustments, while at the same time making operation simpler and even more intuitive. For example, we are currently working on one-stop-shop packages that allow the sender to order a complex range of examinations, adapted to the respective suspected diagnosis, with just one or two clicks, without having to navigate for minutes through the complex selection of methods and parameters.
Why can't you just keep requesting as you always have?
Christian Pohlkamp, MD: The portals are of decisive importance for us and I think in the medium term at least also for our senders, because it is foreseeable that digitization will increasingly take hold in the medical sector, as well as in all other areas of daily life. Ultimately, the question is: How long can I continue to do without an order entry portal or a digital findings portal? In other words, how long will it still be possible to order samples and call up findings using conventional, analog methods, whether from a technical or data protection point of view? In this respect, I think that in the long run, there will be no getting around the use of such portals.
