SpecialtiesKind of practice
The diagnostic laboratory: from specimen number to a released result with a named reviewer
DrOnlineIQ follows a specimen from registration to release: an accession number and a barcode label, results typed by hand and flagged only against the ranges your laboratory enters, a recorded acknowledgement for critical values, and review and release by a named doctor. It is not a complete laboratory information system: there is no analyser link and nothing is interpreted. No real laboratory has run a full working day on it yet.
Create a free 14-day trial account with demonstration data, or ask for a demo. Do not enter real patient data during the trial.
Who it serves and what it solves
Laboratories that run on paper, notebooks and spreadsheets
Every specimen gets its own number and label, and its stage (registered, collected, received, in analysis, results entered, reviewed, released) sits on one worklist instead of in a notebook.
The laboratory manager who decides what counts as abnormal
The product comes with no reference values. You enter each test with its unit, ranges by sex and age, and critical limits, and results are flagged only against what you entered.
The doctor who signs the report
Only the doctor named on the order can review and release, only after every requested test has a result, and a critical value cannot go out until the clinician who was told is on record.
Front desks that take requests from outside physicians
Record the requester's name and contact, choose the patient, name the reviewing doctor, and register the specimens. The released report is in the patient's portal and can be printed.
A realistic day
A request comes in
A doctor of your organisation orders a laboratory test from the patient's file, or the front desk records a request from an outside physician with the requester's name and contact. Either way an active doctor is named as the reviewer.
Specimens get numbers and labels
On the worklist, staff pick the tests asked for. One specimen is made for each specimen type, so two tubes are two specimens, each with its own accession number (the year and a six-digit sequence, like 2026-000123). The label shows a Code 128 barcode of that number, the patient, the specimen type and the test codes.
Collection and receipt
Staff record the collection (container, note, who and when) and the receipt in the laboratory. A specimen that cannot be used is rejected with a written reason; with recollection chosen, a new specimen is made for the same tests with a new number linked to the rejected one.
The technician types the results
Each requested test gets a value typed by hand with its unit filled in. The line shows within range, low, high or not compared. A value in a different unit is stored as typed, marked unit mismatch, and keeps the specimen from being marked complete until it is entered again in the right unit.
A critical value is acknowledged
When a value passes a critical limit your laboratory set, the specimen cannot be released until someone records which clinician was told, how they were reached (free text, like a phone call to the ward at 14:05) and when.
The reviewer reviews and releases
The doctor named on the order records the review, may write a summary for the patient, and releases. After release the patient sees the values, units, ranges and that summary in the portal, and the report can be printed.
A correction is an amendment
After release nothing is edited. The assigned reviewer amends with a written reason: new versions of the changed results are added, the old ones stay in the history, and the patient's copy is marked as amended with the reason and date.
Who does what
- Reception
- Takes in outside requests and registers specimens. Sees the worklist and released reports, but not values before release.
- Practitioner
- Types results when needed, records critical-value calls, rejects specimens, and, as the assigned reviewer only, reviews, releases and amends.
- Cashier
- Has no access to the laboratory module.
- Owner
- Builds the test catalogue and gives the technician and manager roles. Can register, collect, receive and cancel, but does not type, review or release results.
What the product does today
Specimens: an accession number per clinic and year from an atomic counter, a database rule that no number repeats, and a printable label with a Code 128 barcode of the number.
A per-clinic test catalogue: code, names in Arabic and English (Kurdish and Persian optional), unit, number or text value, specimen type, ranges by sex and age, and critical limits. A test is switched off, never deleted, and two ranges that could contradict each other are refused.
Results are typed by hand and stored as versions that are never overwritten. A flag appears only against a range you entered; with none, the value shows as not compared.
Units: a unit different from the test's is flagged and never converted. No flag or critical check is made on it until a person enters the value again in the right unit.
Critical values: release, and an amendment that creates a critical value, are blocked until the clinician told, the way they were reached and the time are recorded. The check is in the application and in the database.
Review, release and amendment by the assigned reviewer only, with the history kept. The database also refuses a release without a review.
Roles: technician and manager roles given by the owner on top of an ordinary role. Each cell of the permission table is fixed by an automated check, and another clinic's records answer as not found.
A trail: every step, from registration to amendment, is written with who did it and when.
What one result line keeps
Each typed result is stored as a version and keeps what was in force when it was typed:
- The value as typed, in Latin digits, and its unit.
- The flag: within range, low, high, not compared or unit mismatch, and the critical mark if one applies.
- The reference range and critical limits of the test at that moment, so editing the catalogue later does not change old results.
- The test code and names as they were.
- Who typed it, when, and its version number; an amendment adds its amendment number.
Setting up and moving over
What you need before it works
- A private file store connected to your deployment. Until then every upload answers with a clear error and nothing is stored.
- Switch the Laboratory module on in Settings, organisation, together with Results (it is on by default for an organisation registered as a diagnostic laboratory).
- Build the test catalogue: for each test a code, names, unit, specimen type, ranges and critical limits. The product contains none, so have a clinician approve what you enter. There is no import; tests are typed in.
- Make sure at least one active doctor exists, because only a doctor can be the reviewer. On the Laboratory staff page, give bench staff the technician role; they keep their ordinary role, normally assistant.
- Bring a computer with a browser and an internet connection, and a printer that can print a web page for labels and reports. Label printers and barcode scanners have not been tried, so print a few labels and scan them before you rely on them.
- Previous paper or spreadsheet results are not imported. Start with new specimens and keep the old records where they are.
Limits worth knowing
- No analyser, laboratory-system (LIS) or HL7 link, and no CSV import: a person types every result.
- Nothing is interpreted or diagnosed. A flag says only where a typed number falls against the range you entered.
- Label printers and barcode scanners have not been tried. The barcode is compared with a reference encoder, not with hardware.
- Not a complete laboratory information system: no quality control, reagent or lot tracking, no panel as one orderable item (a panel is several tests), critical limits per test and not by age, and no automatic billing (a test can only be linked to a price-list item).
- The same doctor can type, review and release a result. There is no switch that forces two people; the trail shows who did each step.
- Nobody is told of an amendment automatically. Inform the person who requested the test yourselves.
- No real laboratory has run a full working day on it yet.
Questions
Is this the same as the dental laboratory part of DrOnlineIQ?
No: lab orders for prostheses such as crowns and dentures are a separate part of DrOnlineIQ for dental laboratories, and the diagnostic laboratory described here neither reads nor writes them.
Can it take results from our analyser?
No. There is no analyser, LIS or HL7 link and no CSV import. Technicians type each result, and the product flags it only against ranges you entered.
Who decides what is normal or critical?
You do. The product ships with no reference or critical values. The owner or the laboratory manager types them for each test, and a clinician should approve them. If no range fits the patient, the result shows as not compared.
What happens if the unit I type is not the test's unit?
It is stored exactly as typed and marked unit mismatch. Nothing is converted and no flag is given. The specimen cannot be marked complete until a person enters the value again in the test's unit.
Can I enter a result like <5 or positive?
A number test takes plain numbers such as 5.2; a comma, a sign or <5 is refused rather than guessed. For words like positive or negative, define the test as a text test. Digits typed in Arabic-Indic or Persian forms are stored as Latin digits.
Can a released result be changed?
Not by editing. Only the assigned reviewer can amend it, with a reason. The earlier versions stay in the history and the patient's copy is marked as amended.
Who can see values before release?
The owner, doctors and laboratory technicians and managers. Receptionists and assistants see the worklist but not the values, and cashiers do not reach the module.
Price
Plans are annual. Prices are read from the same list that checkout uses.
Essential
499,000 IQD
/ year
Professional
699,000 IQD
/ year
Business
1,200,000 IQD
/ year
Enterprise
By agreement
Try it in your own practice
Create a free 14-day trial account with demonstration data, or ask for a demo. Do not enter real patient data during the trial.
Content last updated: 2026-10-24