Specimen conditions

A specimen condition is a 3-letter code that indicates the status of a specimen.

Every primary specimen and aliquot specimen in LDMS has a condition assigned to it. The default condition for new specimens is SAT (satisfactory), but there are many others.

The majority of conditions indicate a deviation from the expected handling for a specimen. For example, if a specimen was supposed to be collected in one type of tube but another was used, the INT (incorrect tube type) condition code could be used to indicate this.

There are several places where the condition of specimens can be changed:

• on the Specimen Management page, by editing an individual specimen
• when receiving specimen data from a shipping file
• on the storage page all specimens in a storage location can be modified

A common use for specimen conditions is indicating when an expected primary specimen was not collected. By setting the specimen’s condition to an applicable code (such as QNS if not enough sample could be collected) and by entering descriptive comments, you can explain the omission of the expected specimens.