Lab manager / chief pathologist

Run the laboratory end to end: watch TAT, verify lab reports, plan QC and audits, and manage analyzers and staff.

Lab manager / chief pathologist

Who this is for

You run the laboratory. In CareList the Lab manager / chief pathologist role combines two things:

• Management access, like a quality manager: checklists, assignments, approvals, deviations, analytics, employees and settings.
• Every laboratory step on a test order: register, collect, receive, process, report, verify (sign off) lab reports and deliver. You can also manage equipment, maintenance schedules and consumables.

You cannot verify imaging reports. That needs a radiologist (see Radiologist).

Note: The demo data does not include a lab manager login. An administrator creates one under More → Employees → + Add employee and picks the role Lab manager / chief pathologist. See Staff and roles.

What you see

Bottom tab bar: Home, Tasks, Scan, Diagnostics and More. Your fourth tab is always Diagnostics, even in a hospital.

More sheet:

Below these are My account, User manual and Help center. You do not see Patients: lab roles have no patient access.

Your day

1. Open Diagnostics. Read the three tiles at the top: In progress, TAT breached and Verified today, plus today's average TAT and on-time percentage.
2. Tap TAT breached and chase every red order. You also get a notification the first time an order passes its target.
3. Check Tasks: are the daily Daily Internal QC (Westgard) and Analyzer Start-up & Daily Maintenance checklists done before the first patient run?
4. Verify reports waiting in Reported status (filter In progress, then open each one).
5. Open More → Approvals and sign off submitted checklists and audits.
6. Review More → Deviations and turn real problems into corrective actions.
7. Once a week, look at More → Analytics and the weekly email report.

Step by step

Verify a lab report

1. Open the order from Diagnostics (or scan its sample label from Scan).
2. Check the results in your lab system and, if your SOP needs it, complete the Report Verification & Release checklist (Add checklist).
3. Tap Mark as verified. The confirmation shows the TAT and whether it was on time or target missed.

If the order has a critical result, the call must be logged first. See Critical value workflow.

Watch turnaround time

1. In Diagnostics, use the filter chips In progress, Breached, Ready, Closed and All.
2. Narrow with All departments / All priorities, or search by name, patient ID, accession or test.
3. Breached orders have a red edge and a TAT breached badge. Targets: STAT 1 h, Urgent 4 h, Routine 24 h.

Plan daily QC and maintenance

1. Open the Tasks tab and tap + Assign.
2. Pick Daily Internal QC (Westgard), set the Location (for example Biochemistry), tick the technician under Who, set Due and Repeat: Daily.
3. Tap Assign & notify. Repeat for Analyzer Start-up & Daily Maintenance and Reagent & Lab Fridge Log.

See Checklists and schedules.

Approve checklists

1. More → Approvals. Each submitted checklist shows the person, location and score.
2. Tap Approve, or type a Note (required to send back) and tap Send back.

See Approvals workflow.

Manage analyzers

Register analyzers under More → Equipment, set up Maintenance schedules and track reagents and spares in Consumables & spares. Breakdowns go through Work orders. See Equipment breakdown.

Delete a wrong order

Managers see Delete order at the bottom of an order. Prefer Reject / cancel with a reason: deletion removes the order from TAT statistics.

What you can't do

Try it

No lab manager user is seeded. Sign in as admin@diagnostics.test (password password): the administrator has everything a lab manager has, plus imaging verification. To test the exact role, create a Lab manager / chief pathologist under Employees. Then follow Lab test order workflow.