The current scope of the existing laboratory portion of the LOINC database includes all observations reported by clinical laboratories, including the specialty areas: chemistry, including therapeutic drug monitoring and toxicology; hematology; serology; blood bank; microbiology; cytology; surgical pathology; and fertility. A large number of terms used in veterinary medicine have also been included. In addition, the scope includes those non-test measurements that are commonly required to interpret test results and are usually included as part of the report with the laboratory observations. Examples include:
- for cervical pap smears, the phase of menstrual cycle or use of estrogens
- for arterial blood gases, inspired oxygen
- for drug concentrations used in pharmacokinetics, the dose
- for a blood bank, the number of units dispensed
The June 2000 release contained our first foray into order sets/batteries. Existing LOINC codes could always be used to order the specific tests observation, but prior to 2000 there was no mechanism to use LOINC codes to order a set of observations.
The clinical portion of the LOINC database covers tests, measures, and other observations about a patient that can be made without removing a specimen from them. LOINC has codes for observations like vital signs, hemodynamics, intake/output, EKG, obstetric ultrasound, cardiac echo, urologic imaging, gastroendoscopic procedures, pulmonary ventilator management, radiology studies, clinical documents, selected survey instruments (e.g. Glasgow Coma Score, PHQ-9 depression scale, CMS-required patient assessment instruments), and other clinical observations.