Entering a New Specimen

Entering a specimen in LDMS is a multi-step process, and many networks have their own rules and workflows. You should always follow the procedures defined by individual groups. The material in this section should, however, apply to most specimen entries.

Figure: Specimen Entry Workflow. The numbered call-outs are referenced in the steps below.



Entering a new specimen:

  1. Enter the participant's information into the Patient Grid at the top of the screen. (#1)

    1. Select a Group (sometimes called the network or project) from the drop-down. This must be done first because it affects other fields.

    2. Enter ID1 for the participant. For many groups, this is called the PID or patient identifier, and its format is specific to that group.

    3. Enter ID2 for the participant. For many groups, this is a study or protocol number.

      Note:

      For most groups, studies are selected from a pre-populated list. Studies can be added or removed by Frontier Science as needed. If you are looking for a study but find that it is not available, contact LDMS User Support.

    4. Enter ID3 for the participant. This is often a sub-study number though some do not require or use this field.

      Note:

      For networks that use ID3 for SID (study identifier), NOSID may be a valid entry. You would do this when a SID hasn't be assigned yet, then update the participant's information later once it has been assigned.

    5. Enter the Visit and [Visit] Unit for the this particular specimen entry.

    6. Enter the clinic for this particular specimen entry. If you want to know what clinic is associated with a code, select it and press Ctrl + H.

    7. To enter additional information, such as whether or not the participant was fasting, click the

  2. Enter the information for the first primary into the Primary Grid in the middle of the screen (#2).

    1. Enter the Spec[imen] Date from the drop-down. This is the date that the specimen was collected from the participant.

    2. Enter the Rec[eived] Date from the drop-down. This is the date that the specimen was received by the processing laboratory.

    3. Enter the Rec[eive]d Time into the bottom. This is the time (in 24-hour format) that the processing laboratory received the specimen.

    4. Enter the number of tubes collected for the primary into the # of Tubes box. If you're planning to pool multiple primaries together, enter one.

    5. Select the Primary Type from the drop-down. If you need to enter more than one type of primary, they must be added as separate tubes.

    6. Enter the Other Spec[imen] ID.

    7. Enter the Spec[imen] Time in 24-hour format. This is the time that the specimen was collected from the participant.

  3. Click the button (#3). This will add the number of tubes you entered to the primary grid below.

  4. For each primary added, select an Additive from the drop-down. After doing this, the Specimen ID will be generated (the Global Specimen ID isn't generated until you click the button later.

  5. For each primary added, enter the Volume and Units for the primary. It is acceptable to pool primaries of the same type for the same participant together. (e.g. two 10 ML tubes drawn from the same participant, with the same additive, and the same specimen time can be entered as become one 20 ML tube).

  6. Click a primary row to select it (it will be highlighted). When an aliquot is added, they will be derived from this primary.

  7. Enter information for the first aliquot into the aliquot grid. (#4)

    1. Enter the number of aliquots that were derived from this primary for a specific derivative type into the # of aliquots field. If you have more than one type of derivative for the primary, they must be added separately.

    2. Enter the Vol[ume] and [Volume] Units for the aliquots. This is the volume per aliquot, not the total.

      Note:

      CEL (cells) is expressed in millions in LDMS. For example, if you need to enter 2 million CEL, enter 2 into the Vol field, not 2,000,000. When you click the button later to add the records later, the volume will automatically be converted to millions.

    3. Select the Derivative type from the drop-down.

    4. Select the Sub Add[itive]/Der[ivative].

    5. Click the (#5).

  8. After all of the primaries and aliquots have been added, click the button from the LDMS toolbar.

  9. If the group and ID1 combination have never been entered before, LDMS will prompt you to add the new participant to LDMS.

  10. LDMS will prompt you to print labels for your aliquots. Select the group from the Format drop-down, the Barcode Content and label Size.

When you are entering specimens, you'll see all the primaries for a particular visit, as well as all the aliquots derived from each primary on the same screen. This is the only time you'll see all this visit information on the same screen. Once you click the button, the entries will be split up by primaries. If you click the button from the LDMS toolbar, you'll see the last primary. Using the database navigation buttons from the LDMS toolbar, you can see that all of the primaries for the visit are now on different screens.

Figure: The Specimen Management screen before and after adding records. The left side shows how a visit will appear when it is being entered; the right side shows how two different primaries are split into two different records.