This International Standard specifies general messages for electronic information exchange between analytical instruments (AIs) and laboratory information systems (LISs) within a clinical laboratory. It is applicable to the specialities of clinical chemistry/biochemistry, haematology, toxicology, microbiology, virology and immunology. It is not applicable to the blood transfusion and blood bank speciality This International Standard covers the specification of messages used by communicating parties and the syntax in which they are communicated. It does not cover the transport mechanisms used for the message interchange.
This International Standard is applicable only to character-based message information. It is not applicable to the communication of graphical or image information.
NOTE The provisions for this International Standard have been validated in the domains and for the purposes described above. However, messages conforming to this International Standard may be considered by some user communities to meet their needs for purposes outside this scope. Use of the messages in these circumstances is not precluded by the scope.