Getting started with LOINC

Legacy general-discussion
1

hi,

Our company wants to Look in to the LOINC. We are at starting stage. Downloaded LOINC databases (.MDB) and inserted in to mysql.and we have a few doubts:

  1. How can i order a Lab test report
  2. Where can i find i test results.
  3. please give me idea on LOINC tables.



    Helping will be really appreciated, Thanks in Advance,



    Regards,



    Praveen
2

Hi Praveen,



In the LOINC database, the field order_obs denotes which codes are orders, observations or both. Will your software be housing the full database of lab and clinical codes, and allowing the sites to select the subset that they’ll utilize? Will the LOINC code be utilized in outbound messages to health information exchanges, or public health departments? Will your EMR be driving the physician’s orders to the lab, as well as receiving information from the local hospitals and reference labs on sendout work? Hope these questions help you define the scope of the development tasks.

3

Hi,

We are a software developing company. Looking for implementing loinc codes in to our EMR. We have already LOINC database.

Please give me steps to implement.



Thanks in Advance.



Praveen

4

LOINC is a terminology standard that provides universal codes and standardized names for laboratory tests and other clinical observations. LOINC does not provide any actual clinical care or laboratory testing. It is designed to be used in conjunction with a messaging exchange standard like HL7 to communicate clinical results between computer systems. We encourage you to review the documentation available on the LOINC website and check out the slideshow tutorials.



Regards,

5

Hi pdbanning,

Thanks for giving reply.

Yes, our software be housing the full database of lab and clinical codes and also allowing the sites to select subset that they will be utilize.

yes, LOINC code be utilized in outbond messages to health information exchanges. here doubt regarding how can we use.

Yes, our EMR be driving the physicians orders to the lab. also receiving information from local hospitals and labs.



We have a few doubts regarding LOINC codes integration in to EMR:

  1. Where can i find test name from the LOINC data base?
  2. Is component name same as test name?
  3. How can i link all the tables in LOINC database (i mean answer, answer_list, answer_string, code_system, delimiter, form_data, form_data_reference_info_lk, hierarchy, hierarchy_data, key_index,key_word, linguistic_variant, link_type, loinc, loinc_detail_type_1, loinc_linguistic_variant, loinc_part_lk, loinc_reference_code_lk, loinc_unit,part, part_decision, part_ling_variant_synonym, part_linguistic_variant, part_type_synonym and etc).
  4. Give me steps or idea on ordering a test in our EMR using LOINC data base?
  5. Is only one loinc table is enough for integrating loinc in to our EMR (ordering a test or viewing test results) or all?
  6. How can we view results in our EMR using LOINC?



    Please provide some documents or steps for integrating LOINC in to our EMR (especially test ordering and viewing test results). We also referred LOINC user manual from LOINC and RELMA web site.



    Thanks in Advance,



    Praveen
6

Hi everyone,



Please help me out regarding LOINC into EMR.



Thanks

7

Hi,



How can we load LOINC standard in to EMR?



Thanks in Advance.



Praveen

8

Loading LOINC into any system is quite easy…the database is available as a text file or in Microsoft Access (mdb) format that you can import into any standard database program. The hard part is what you are going to do with it: receive incoming HL7 results from labs, organize your flowsheet view, build decision support algorithms, etc. To do any of that you’ll need a lot of content expertise. Again, I’d highly recommend review the documentation available on the LOINC website and consider attending one of the LOINC tutorials.



To get to some of your earlier questions…


1. Where can i find test name from the LOINC data base?


LOINC provides several kinds of names for a given concept, and they are all in the LOINC table. The fully-specified name is the formal, uniquely-defining LOINC name. There is also a Long Common Name, a Short name, and we are experimenting with a Consumer-friendly name. See the LOINC User's Guide for more info.

2. Is component name same as test name?

No, the Component is one part of the fully-specified LOINC name...it identifies the analyte, and can also have sub fields. See the LOINC User's Guide for more info.


3. How can i link all the tables in LOINC database (i mean answer, answer_list, answer_string, code_system, delimiter, form_data, form_data_reference_info_lk, hierarchy, hierarchy_data, key_index,key_word, linguistic_variant, link_type, loinc, loinc_detail_type_1, loinc_linguistic_variant, loinc_part_lk, loinc_reference_code_lk, loinc_unit,part, part_decision, part_ling_variant_synonym, part_linguistic_variant, part_type_synonym and etc).


You should also be aware that there is an important difference between the LOINC database and the database that the RELMA program uses. The RELMA database is covered by different license and terms-of-use.

As for the rest of your questions...I think you'll have to figure that out on your own since you are building the software.
9

Hi dvreeman,

Thanks for giving reply. Ya after seeing different documents we found the difference between LOINC and RELMA databases. RELMA is for mapping the results.We uploaded the LOINC in to MySQL database. Having a few doubts while implementing LOINC :


  1. Is HL7 is compulsory for using LOINC codes?
  2. If yes which version of HL7 is better.
  3. How can i use LOINC codes for ordering a test without using a HL7 standard?
  4. If HL7 compulsory how can i use LOINC codes for ordering a test or viewing the result.
  5. If we want to mapping our lab or clinical codes to LOINC codes then what we can do?
  6. Is RELMA is the solution?
  7. Then how it is done?



    Please don’t hesitate to answer these questions. We referred LOINC and RELMA manuals.



    Thanks in Advance.



    Regards



    Praveen.
10

Here are some suggestions about your questions. Whether or not to use HL7 depends on what you are trying to accomplish. In most places around the world, it is the standard for ordering and sending results, and it is the reason LOINC was created (to have a universal identifier in such messages). So, would highly recommend it. Whether it is mandatory or not would depend on the institutional/governmental/political policies and it not something Regenstrief/LOINC has any say over. The question of which version of HL7 to use (v2 or v3) depends on your data exchange partners - each has pros and cons. Here in our local environment, nearly every clinical laboratory can send results using HL7 v2, but few (if any) can send v3…though in other contexts like clinical documents, v3 standards like CDA are starting to take off. Canada’s national network development is all based on V3. If you need to map your lab codes to LOINC (which I suspect you do), then you will need someone with content expertise to do the mapping. RELMA will be a great help and has lots of features for this purpose. You will need someone with knowledge about the lab tests to dig in and learn how to use the program and learn about the LOINC naming conventions to help pick the right terms.

11

Hi everyone,

We want to find out the basic information on order_obs field in loinc database.The data for this field is both or observation. We want to find out the information on difference between order, observation and Both.



please provide me with an example of difference between order, observation and both.



Thanks,

Praveen

12

“Order” means that the LOINC code represents an test that is only orderable. “Observation” means that the LOINC code represents a test that is resulted, but not orderable. “Both” means that the LOINC code represents a LOINC code that is both orderable & resultable.



As a general rule, panels are order only. For example, a CBC or Urinalysis is an order. The individual observations in the panel are often (but not always) observation. Hemoglobin is an example of a result that is both an order and an observation.



Hope this helps.

13

Hi all,



We successfully downloaded and used latest version of Loinc (loinc 3.2). But now we want to download loinc 2.27 where can we find the link for download. While searching loinc 2.27 in loinc.org it is redirected to loinc 3.2. please provide us link for download Loinc 2.27 data base. Thanks in Advance.



Thanks and Regards,

Praveen.

14

Hello,



We are about to implement LOINC codes in our Laboratory Information System. We have requirement to implement LOINC Version 2.38. On this website www.loinc.org I am unable to download Version 2.38 LOINC set. Could you please help me with it?



Thanks!



Regards

Ratna

15

Thanks, for this link. it works and I have to download from this link.

16

Check out answers to the question “Where can I find previous versions of LOINC to download?” in the FAQ Entry on the main LOINC website.

17

hi all,

We successfully downloaded and used latest version of Loinc (loinc 3.2) at our business

thanks all.

18

Hi

  1. Lab testing must be ordered by a licensed health care professional or that person’s authorized designee. and See the LOINC User’s Guide for more info

  2. NO

  3. You should also be aware that there is an important difference between the LOINC database and the database that the RELMA program uses. The RELMA database is covered by different license and terms-of-use.

source: https://hptraining.edu.vn/khoa-hoc/khoa-hoc-do-hoa

 

19

Hello,

I’m very new to LOINC and learning as much as I can since our LIS is going to be coming online in the near future, and we want LOINC to be a part of it.

Where is the best place to get started to better understand the uploading of LOINC information into an LIS. I have gone through the Essentials, but still not quite understanding what that process is. Also, we recently got a file from our reference laboratory (Mayo) with information on our send out tests, but it DID NOT contain the LOINC codes. If they had a file that did contain their LOINC codes, how would one upload that into the LIS? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Sam

20

what if only test name is given with result for example only glucose-positive is given. so how we map these test without any system,scale,unit etc.