Assessment of the Performance of the Laboratory Information System (LIS) Based on the Standards of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

LIS is a system developed for the purpose of collecting, processing, storing, and retrieving the data created in laboratory context. Accordingly, this research intends to evaluate the performance of the LIS based on the standards of the ‎American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in the educational and private hospitals situated in the city of Isfahan. This study is applied and descriptive-analytical in nature. The data were collected using a self-designed checklist prepared on the basis of standards of the ANSI including LIS-8A and LIS2-A, the validity and reliability of which were assessed and confirmed by the experts on laboratory and computer sciences as well as the department’s professors. The data were analyzed using SPSS 20 software using some statistical tests including T-test and ANOVA test so as to examine the informational content of the LISs based on three criteria, namely, data input, data storage, and processing and data output using the foregoing standard. In addition, LEVEN test was used for checking the equality of the variances. Based on the findings of the study, the mean score for the three criteria (data input, data storage and processing, and data output) examined, referring to the standards, was found to be 27.53. As a result, the private and educational hospitals under study did not show any difference in this regard. Furthermore, among the systems in question and in terms of the level of meeting three standards, Kowsar system (%44.5) enjoyed the highest rank compared to other software systems. Given the results, it was found that the standards under study for the LISs have not been given due attention. Hence, it is recommended that the proposed standards be examined and studied by organizations so that a user-friendly and responsive system can be developed based on the results of the needs-analysisdone from the beneficiary organizations.