VDL Results Access Overview

The University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has launched a new results access website to make receiving and interpreting the results of your sample submissions easier. Learn more about the new website and all of its helpful features by watching our video tutorial below

Links to specific sections of the video tutorial

Instructions to access results

Expand all

Login

Login section of video tutorial

  1. Enter the credentials you will be using for your session (clinic or individual practitioner)
  2. Select “Remember me” if
    1. you are using a private device that will not be shared and you would like to minimize the number of times you need to enter your credentials
  3. do not select “Remember me” on shared or unsecured devices for data security

Forgot your username or password? Click the link and provide the required information to request these.

Landing page

Landing page section of the video tutorial

Landing page navigation

  • The case list for your login will be displayed, ordered by descending Accession/Case Number
  • The bottom of page will have clickable page numbers and arrows to help you navigate
  • The top of the page will have a header which shows you who you are logged in as
  • The Settings link allows you to customize the columns that you view in your case display, as well as which fields will be listed on the floating box, which will show up on your case list when you open the summary accordion for large cases; These selections will be saved for your login so you shouldn’t need to reset these each session
  • There is also a search bar at the top of the page which allows free-text input for a quick search or you can select the down-arrowhead button to access options for an advanced search
    • Advanced search
      • Fields will intelligently update the available options as you start typing
      • Multiple fields can be populated for more refined searches
      • Some fields, such as Result, will depend on another field, such as Procedure, so that you cannot choose an option until the dependent field has been filled out
      • Some fields may not apply to your situation if your cases do not use that particular identifier, such as Flow or Production Manager
      • You can save searches as “Default Search” and that will be what is displayed each time you login, instead of the entire case list
      • To clear an advanced search, you may click the X in the search bar or the “Clear” button and then the “search” button in the Advanced search dropdown
      • Depending on the user type you are logged in as, you may use the Advanced search menu to choose to see only cases that were directly assigned or accessioned under your username
  • The columns can be sorted by clicking the column header; if the order change is opposite what you wanted, click again and the order will reverse; a third click will bring the order back to the default order
  • The column width is set based on the number of columns you have selected to display using the Settings page, and the width of your viewing window.
     

Interacting with cases

Interacting with cases section of the video tutorial

  • New cases or cases that have had result or demographic updates that you as the user have not yet seen will show up in your case list with a yellow star after the accession number and the text will be bold. Cases that have not changed since your last interaction with them will not have a star and will be in normal typeface.
  • When you have been viewing cases for a period of time, you will need to refresh your browser or logout and log back in gain in order to see cases which have updated since your most recent login timestamp
  • Cases may be interacted with either by clicking on the case header row, which will be highlighted depending on where your mouse is, or by clicking one of the icons that will show up on the right hand side of the case row your mouse is hovering over
    • Clicking on the case header row will open an accordion with the summary information for that case
      • The accordion may be closed individually by clicking on the case header row again, or if several case accordions are open, you may close all of them at once by clicking the button in the lower right with the two opposing arrow heads
      • The summary information will be aggregate information from all of the samples and tests together, such that you will see counts of positives or negatives and ranges of Ct values or titers or other result modifiers
    • Bacterial sensitivities and other information, such as E. coli virulence gene PCR results will be displayed as a pop-out box that can be displayed by hovering over a result that is underlined. It will remain open as long as you continue to hover over that result or the pop-out box but will close once you move away from the result
    • If you have a case accordion open and you scroll such that the case header row is off of the screen, a floating box with the fields you set in your settings preferences will be displayed near the top of the screen
    • If you would like individual animal detail or to access your reports or other documents, click one of the icons on the right hand side of the case header row.
    • Once you enter one of the other pages for the case, the additional icons will be available by hovering over the circle with the three horizontal lines in the lower right corner of the screen
    • Once you have entered one of the other pages for a case, you may return to the case list by clicking the “Case List” button at the top of the window. You may also navigate to the next or preceding cases by clicking the buttons with case numbers on either side of the Case List button
  • Details Page: This page will display the individual animal results for testing such as Bacteriology, PCRs, or serology tests
  • Reports Page: This page will display the Detailed Diagnostic Report by default but will have options that may be selected in the left hand frame. Options include a scan of your submission form, the Diagnostic Detail report which will have all of the individual animal test results, the pathologist’s written report if applicable, and any attached results, such as sequences, comments, or reports for outsourced testing. Depending on the testing performed, there may also be options for a Diagnostic summary report, which has the written information and any attachments but shows test results as a summary, or for other special reports such as the Susceptibility report or Serology report.
  • Request Additional Tests pop-up: This will open a free-text response box that will allow you to type what additional tests or queries you may have about a particular case into the box, and once you click submit it will email the case coordinator. The email will have the case number and the requester’s information (Clinic name if the clinic login or the Veterinarians name if using a practitioner login), and whatever is entered into the response box, so please be as specific as possible, for example, type in “Sequence PRRSV from serum pool #22 and #24” and not just “Please Sequence this”, which may be confusing if a case has several pathogens detected or several positive samples. If you change your mind about submitting a request, you may hit the ESC key or click outside of the pop-up box to close it without submitting. If the request was successful, you will see a small box temporarily display in the lower left corner of your window that indicates the request was sent.  If your user account has an email address set up in our LIMS, you will also receive an email with the request you submitted. This functionality may not be enabled for your account, depending on the preferences of your clinic/organization account or current VDL policies. 
  • Share diagnostic report pop-up: This will open a free-text response box that will allow you to type in the email addresses which you would like to share the detailed diagnostic report with. Separate multiple email addresses from each other with a space. The recipient(s) will receive an email with a link to access only the detailed diagnostic report for the specified case. The links are one-time use only, will expire after 5 days, and will become invalid if your intended recipient forwards the link to someone else. This functionality may not be enabled for your account, depending on the preferences of your clinic/organization account or current VDL policies.
  • Download: This will allow users to download CSV files with the eligible results. There may be a slight delay once this is clicked before the download dialog opens.
  • Billing Page: This will display a document with the projected billing for your case, as currently configured in our system. This is not the final invoice, which is processed through a separate system

Mobile access diffferences

Mobile versions section of the video tutorial

  • Most of the points described for the desktop version also apply to the mobile version
  • Important differences
    • You will see a continuously scrolling list of cases represented as tiles with the demographic information, rather than rows with column headers
    • The case tiles that are displayed are not sortable at the time of this demonstration
    • The case summary is displayed by clicking the button marked “Summary” and not by clicking on the main case header
    • The icons for the additional pages for the case, such as Details, Reports, or Request additional tests, are either buttons on the case tile or accessed by selecting the three-dot menu on the upper right corner of the case tile
    • Reports are PDFs and will not automatically display on your mobile device’s screen. Depending on the device you are using, your device will initiate a download automatically or you will need to click on the hyperlink that says “Touch here to see full report” to initiate the report download
    • On the reports page, to see the additional report format options you will need to click on the bar-graph-appearing icon in the upper left of the header, which will show the left hand frame with the different report option available
       

Functions on the website are subject to change and, depending on the type of login you are using, you may not have permissions to access all cases or features available to a clinic login, or to perform some of the actions demonstrated in this video.

Please contact the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory if you have any further questions. Email: [email protected]  Phone: 612-625-8787