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EP-4006556-B1 - SPECIMEN INSPECTION AUTOMATION SYSTEM AND SPECIMEN INSPECTION METHOD

EP4006556B1EP 4006556 B1EP4006556 B1EP 4006556B1EP-4006556-B1

Inventors

  • HAMANO, Satohiro
  • YANO, SHIGERU
  • FUKAMI, MISATO
  • MASUDA, AI

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20200311

Claims (11)

  1. A specimen inspection automation system (10) communicable with an external system comprising: a specimen processing device group (100) including a plurality of processing devices; a device control terminal (101) which controls each of the processing devices; an instruction reception unit (202) that accepts a discharge instruction (212) for promptly discharging a specimen already fed into the specimen inspection automation system (10), the discharge instruction (212) being received from the external system; a discharge planning unit (204) configured to acquire a processing status of the specimen instructed to be discharged, wherein the processing includes the processed item, the unprocessed item, the processing status in any device such as being in conveyance, waiting for analysis, or being in analysis, and the processing completion scheduled time, and to determine whether or not discharge of the specimen instructed on the basis of the discharge instruction (212) is necessary; a discharge specimen storage device (222) that stores the specimen information about the specimen planned to be discharged by the discharge planning unit (204); a discharge instruction unit (206) that creates a discharge destination of the specimen stored in the discharge specimen storage device (222) and a conveyance route to the discharge destination; a discharge mechanism unit (115) for the specimen instructed to be promptly discharged by the discharge instruction unit (206), characterised in that it further comprises an instruction inquiry unit (201) that sends a discharge inquiry information to the external system (110) that can communicate with the specimen inspection automation system (10), wherein the discharge instruction is an indirect instruction sent from the external system (110) in accordance with the discharge inquiry information sent from the instruction inquiry unit (201) to the external system (110).
  2. The specimen inspection automation system (10) according to claim 1, wherein the discharge instruction is a direct instruction sent from an external system (110) that can communicate with the specimen inspection automation system (10).
  3. The specimen inspection automation system (10) according to claim 1, Wherein a TAT management unit (401) that manages a turn around time (hereinafter, referred to as TAT) before an inspection result report in which the specimen is defined is provided, and wherein in the case where the TAT is equal to or smaller than a time-out time, the TAT management unit (401) instructs the instruction inquiry unit (402) to send the discharge inquiry information to the external system (110).
  4. The specimen inspection automation system (10) according to claim 1, wherein the discharge mechanism unit (115) can be attached to and removed from plural devices configuring the specimen inspection automation system (10), and wherein the plural devices include interfaces that detect an attachment state of the discharge mechanism unit (115).
  5. The specimen inspection automation system (10) according to claim 4, further comprising: a route map creation unit (705) that updates a conveyance route map of the specimen inspection automation system (10) every time a connection state of the discharge mechanism unit (115) is switched; and a route map storage device (721) that stores the conveyance route map created by the route map creation unit (705).
  6. The specimen inspection automation system (10) according to claim 5, wherein the discharge instruction unit (704) acquires the latest conveyance route map from the route map storage device (721) to create a conveyance route.
  7. A specimen inspection method of a specimen inspection automation system communicable with an external system (110), the specimen inspection automation system comprising: a specimen processing device group (100) including a plurality of processing devices; a device control terminal (101) which controls each of the processing devices; and a discharge mechanism unit (115) for a specimen instructed to be discharged; wherein the specimen inspection method includes accepting a discharge instruction for promptly discharging a specimen already fed into the specimen inspection automation system (10), wherein a processing status of the specimen instructed to be discharged is acquired, wherein the processing status includes the processed item, the unprocessed item, the processing status in any device such as being in conveyance, waiting for analysis, or being in analysis, and the processing completion scheduled time , and it is determined whether or not discharge of the specimen instructed on the basis of the discharge instruction is necessary, wherein a discharge destination of the specimen determined to be discharged and a conveyance route to the discharge destination are created, and wherein the specimen is discharged in accordance with the discharge destination and the discharge route to the discharge destination, characterised in that the discharge instruction is sent from the external system (110) in accordance with discharge inquiry information sent to the external system (110) that can communicate with the specimen inspection automation system (10) wherein the discharge instruction is an indirect instruction sent from the external system (110) in accordance with the discharge inquiry information sent from the instruction inquiry unit (201) to the external system (110)..
  8. The specimen inspection method according to claim 8, wherein the discharge instruction is sent from an external system (110) that can communicate with the specimen inspection automation system (10).
  9. The specimen inspection method according to claim 8, wherein in the case where a TAT of the specimen is equal to or smaller than a time-out time, the discharge inquiry information is sent to the external system (110).
  10. The specimen inspection method according to claim 8, wherein a discharge mechanism unit (115) for the specimen can be attached to and removed from plural devices configuring the specimen inspection automation system (10) in the specimen inspection automation system (10).
  11. The specimen inspection method according to claim 10, wherein a conveyance route map of the specimen inspection automation system is updated every time a connection state of the discharge mechanism unit (115) is switched and a conveyance route is created on the basis of the updated latest conveyance route map.

Description

Technical Field The present invention relates to a specimen inspection automation system and a specimen inspection method in clinical inspection, and particularly to a technique for reporting an inspection result within a fixed period of time. Background Art In the inspection work of specimens such as patient's blood and urine, the speeding up of work is required. In particular, as to specimens with high urgency (emergency specimens) such as pre-examination inspection specimens and emergency specimens, the time from the arrival of the specimen at the inspection room to the inspection result report (Turn Around Time, hereinafter TAT) is targeted for 20 to 30 minutes. The specimen inspection automation system that automates the inspection work of specimens is constituted of a group of devices which perform pretreatment such as centrifugation, opening, and dispensing, a group of analyzing devices which perform analysis according to inspection items, a group of devices which perform post-processing such as classification, storage, and disposal, a conveyance device which connects between those device groups and generates a conveyance route, and the like. Further, in the specimen inspection automation system, an inspection engineer in charge of inspection work performs information communication with an information system that manages inspection requests and management of inspection results, and is capable of automatically inspecting various fed specimens according to the inspection requests. In addition, in a general specimen inspection automation system, a plurality of feed ports different in priority are provided in a feeding device into which a specimen is fed, and an emergency specimen fed into the feed port high in priority can be processed with priority over a general specimen. However, a problem arises in that in a time zone when many inspection requests are issued, such as in the morning of the beginning of the week, a congestion phenomenon occurs in which a large number of specimens are made stagnant in the device or on the conveyance route due to insufficient processing capacity of some device, and the TAT of the entire specimen including the emergency specimen increases significantly. In order to treat with this problem, there has been disclosed in, for example, Patent Literature 1, a technique of accurately predicting the congestion state of the specimen in the system and adjusting the timing of loading and unloading the specimen and the order of loading and unloading of the specimen in each device, thereby preventing an increase in TAT of the emergency specimen. The document US 2010/250174 A1 discloses a management server for a sample inspection system including means for executing a simulation of the inspection of the samples. Citation List Patent Literature PTL 1: US 2013/0117042 A1 Summary of Invention Technical Problem However, in the conventional technique, when the proportion of the emergency specimens becomes higher than that of the general specimens by excessively feeding the specimen from the feed port high in the degree of urgency, the number of specimens having the same priority increases, thus causing a risk that the effect by adjusting the timing of loading and unloading the specimen and the order of loading and unloading in each device will be impaired. As a result, a congestion phenomenon occurs in which a large number of specimens are made stagnant in the device or on the conveyance route. It is expected that the TAT of the entire specimen including the emergency specimen will be prolonged, that is, this will lead to delays in reporting results. Therefore, there was room for improvement. Further, when a medical doctor suddenly asks for a result report, the doctor can only tell the estimated time when the result can be reported, and only wait until the processing in the specimen inspection automation system is completed. An object of the present invention is to provide a specimen inspection automation system and a specimen inspection method for solving the above problems and reporting results without prolonging TAT. Solution to Problem In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, there is provided a specimen inspection automation system according to claim 1 including an instruction reception unit which accepts a discharge instruction of a specimen, a discharge planning unit which determines whether or not discharge of the specimen instructed on the basis of the discharge instruction is necessary, a discharge specimen storage device which stores the specimen planned to be discharged by the discharge planning unit, a discharge instruction unit which creates a discharge destination of the specimen stored in the discharge specimen storage device and a conveyance route to the discharge destination, and a discharge mechanism unit for the specimen instructed to be discharged by the discharge instruction unit. Further, in order to achieve the above object, in the present inv