Orchard LIS Software

Of the software that I have used or managed, Orchard is by far the most intuitive and comprehensive

Pros

From the start, the trainers, training program and training facility are impressive. As an administrator, you have the ability to customize software to your existing workflow, create your own quality reports and metrics, or have Orchard assist you in creating them. There is a high level of on site support from installation preparation through implementation and go live, and continuity of support post go live with a very responsive remote tech support team ( 24/7) . It was a huge decision, and purchasing Orchard Software and everything that comes with it has been a benefit to our laboratory. We will continue to utilize Orchard products as more extensive options are developed and become available to meet the need or our growing laboratory.

Cons

The result approval process could be a bit more streamlined for cytology, we are currently working with technical support on improving that process.

Easy to use!

Fast and accurate patient processing. There are a few preferences I wish you could change, but other than that it works very well.

Pros

It easily integrated with our EHR software. This made it simple to get lab results to the doctors. We are able to print labels, requsitions, patient demographics, ect easily from the patients account. We see hundreds of patients every day, and this system keeps the ball rolling. We are never slowed down by the software. It is easy to see what's going on because the design is clean and simple. It is easy to select the tests that need to be ordered, or have them integrated from the EHR. This system limits human error and allows us to not spend as much time double checking everything. The labels print out cleanly and ready to be put on patient samples.

I utilize Orchard Harvest LIS in my reference laboratory

Orchard Harvest LIS controls almost every aspect of our daily operatoins. We rely on it to capture, process, and analyze all data coming off of our analyzers every day.

Pros

Orchard Harvest is an easy to use LIS which makes training new users to its functionality much easier than other LIS systems. It is a reliable platform with a high quality interface.

Cons

I wish the logic/rule building ability was a little more robust. Some rules are limited to single condition statements where multiple IF/AND/OR commands would make rule writing much easier. As a result, some logic decisions require multiple rules where other LIS systems might only require one. It's a fairly minor issue, but it does come up occasionally.

Great, they understand the needs of a laboratory.

Flexibility and ease of use for the end user.

Pros

The best part of the software for me would be the ease of writing rules to enable you to configure the software to fit your needs. You can write rule from Order entry, label printing, result evaluation to result approval. It's very flexible. If you need help writing those rules, the support staff is there to assist.

Cons

I would have said turnover in the support staff, but that problem has been resolved.

I've been an Orchard User for 15 years. Love the ease of use and control that I have.

Pros

Ease of use, multiple ways to perform the same tasks. We use both Harvest and Copia products. The system is designed by Medical Technologists that have actually worked in a lab. They have a totally unique perspective on how things should work.

Cons

Sometimes rule building and report set up can be confusing but the support staff is great is a great help.

Harvest is limited in that it shows thousands of samples are pending, yet it can be only hundreds.

Simplicity of tracking patient history and repeated results. It also is linked to another LIS that we use and it's easy to switch back and forth when reviewing information.

Pros

What I like most about this software is that it's easy to track repeated samples, see patient history, and edit results.

Cons

At the Certifying level, we blindly go through data until we see a sample that is complete, then assess. When you have results coming in from different departments as we do, there's no tab that sorts the completed results. For example, we choose an accession, there are no results yet, then move on to the next one which is also empty, and then maybe ten below it, there's data to look at. There is an Orders With Results tab but that will only show the results of the accession that are complete, yet often there are still results pending from different departments, so it will not be in that view along with the completed results. It makes our process inefficient and untimely.

Overall, it's a good system. Not the best, but good. An improvement over a basic LIS system.

The software saves us a lot of headaches and a lot of different departments are able to utilize this software.

Pros

Most of the commands in the system (at least for the Copia portion) are very intuitive, making it relatively easy to use. Pulling patient reports and searching are very easy.

Cons

What I like least is that there are a lot of pieces that have to be "custom built" for the software, but to me, it would seem that we can't be the only users that would need that function for the software.

Use of this LIS in our setting is less than ideal. It really has not lived up to its expectations.

Pros

The software is pretty easy to use, but it has limited capabilities due to its architecture. Its QC module needs improvement.

Cons

The Harvest LIS does not enable us to pull reports in a manner that we need; it has very little flexibility and customizable solutions.

Poor quality setup and support.

Pros

This software is flexible and if set up correctly could be very useful. Reporting can be done on multiple different instruments with reports.

Cons

The support staff has very little knowledge of the software itself. The staff who set up the software set it up incorrectly and Orchard will not fix. Regulatory issues abound with the way that the software system was set up in our lab including reporting different results for the same test on the same report.