Lessons learned from the introduction of a laboratory information system in a state hospital of Athens, Greece

The integration of information systems in a hospital is accomplished by the introduction of a number of specialised and interconnected information systems. At the General Hospital of Athens "G. Gennimatas", a clinical information system (CIS) is installed and running. Shortly after the operation of the clinical information system, the need to couple the CIS with a laboratory information system (LIS) became apparent. The LIS had to be interconnected with the existing clinical information system and the information system for the hospital administration. The difficulties encountered along the progress of this project and the decisions taken in order to obtain the determined goals are presented in this paper. The project management team designed a master plan for the entire duration of the works. Along the course of the project\´s development, many decisions had to be reconsidered, altered or postponed and many arguments had to be discussed leading to a number of compromises.