Selecting the Results Format

Most Laboratories can now send results in either PIT (Pathology Internet Protocol) format, or HL7 (Health Level 7) format.

The difference between the two formats is simply how the text is formatted in the downloaded file. In the beginning PIT was the only format. In the past few years there has been a move to HL7.

Genie can handle either format transparently. That is, there are no settings you need to make in Genie to receive in either format. During the import, Genie can tell the difference between a PIT file and an HL7, and imports them in different ways.

You can receive PIT files from one lab and HL7 files from another.

HL7 has an advantage over PIT files in that they are more "atomic". That is, in a PIT file, an MBA result is one block of text. In an HL7 file, each result is presented separately allowing Genie to extract just the Creatinine result for example.

Note: Genie makes an attempt to extract a handful of separate results from a PIT file simply by seaching the block of text when the result is linked to a patient. It then creates a consultation record and inserts the result into the consultation record. However this only works for some labs depending on how the text is presented. If this isn't working, this option can be switched off in your User Preferences (File > User Preferences > Clinical tab) by deselecting the Extract Pathology Results PIT Format checkbox.

If you receive results in HL7 format you have a great deal more flexibility in what results you want to extract and subsequently graph.

For more information on how to track and graph HL7 results select File > Maintenance & Reports: General Tab and click on the Track Pathology Results button.