Clinical - Specimen
Definition
A specimen in Care is a biological sample that a user collects from a patient for testing. Care always creates a specimen as part of a service request. You cannot create a specimen on its own. The specimen answers a specimen requirement that the underlying activity or service definition sets on that request. Care takes the patient, the encounter, and the facility from the parent service request.
Key Attributes
| Components | What it captures |
|---|---|
| Accession Identifier | The tracking number of the specimen. Care generates the number if you leave the field blank. |
| Status | The current state of the specimen. |
| Specimen Type | The kind of sample, for example blood, urine, or tissue. Care codes the type with SNOMED CT. |
| Collection | The collector, the collection date and time, the quantity and its unit, the collection method, the body site, and the fasting status. |
| Processing | The list of processing steps. Each step holds a processing method, a description, a performer, and a time. |
| Condition | The condition of the sample when the laboratory receives it. |
| Notes | Free text remarks about the specimen. |
Accession Identifier
The accession identifier tracks the specimen through collection and processing. Care shows the identifier as a QR code. To find a specimen, scan the QR code or enter the accession identifier.
Note: The section where you identify the specimen has the title Sample Identification. The rest of the product uses the word "Specimen".
Processing
Each processing step records what a user did to the sample. After a diagnostic report exists for the parent service request, you can no longer change the processing step of the specimen.
Status
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Draft | Care created the specimen against a specimen requirement. The collection details are not complete. This status is specific to Care and is not part of FHIR. |
| Available | The collection details are complete. The sample is ready for use. |
| Unavailable | The sample is not available for testing. |
| Unsatisfactory | The sample does not meet the quality that the test needs. |
| Entered in Error | A user created the specimen by mistake. |
A specimen starts in Draft. You fill in the collection details, and the status moves to Available. If you find a problem with the sample, you discard the specimen as Unavailable, Unsatisfactory, or Entered in Error. These three statuses are final. A discarded specimen does not return to Available.
Permissions
| Permission | What it allows | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Can Create Specimen on Facility | Create, update, collect, process, and discard a specimen. | Facility Admin, Admin, Doctor, Nurse |
| Can Read Specimen | View a specimen and the specimen history. | Facility Admin, Administrator, Admin, Staff, Doctor, Nurse, Pharmacist |
Related
- Flow: Collect a specimen
- Flow: Process a specimen
- Flow: Discard a specimen
- Flow: View specimen history
- Concept: Service Request
- Concept: Diagnostic Report