Specimen Management

Tip:

Context-Sensitive Help in LDMS

For many fields in LDMS, press Ctrl H after selecting the field to open a help window. This works in drop-downs in Specimen Management, for example, to show you what address is associated with a clinic code or what an additive code actually means. Whenever you don't know what something is, select it and press Ctrl H .

LDMS Specimen Management is the place where specimen information is entered and maintained in LDMS. This is where you can add new specimens, correct issues with existing specimens, add new participants, assign tests, mark specimens for shipment, etc. Specimen Management is the only place in LDMS where new specimens can be created.

To work with LDMS in general, there are two important points to understand:

LDMS is aliquot-driven: Records in LDMS's internal database are organized by primary and aliquot, and aliquots are the basic unit of information. All actions in LDMS (testing, shipping, and storing) happen to aliquots.
LDMS is also group-driven: When a group is selected in Specimen Management (and you must select a group), LDMS enforces rules for specimen entry determined by leadership for that group. Frontier Science works closely with network leadership to maintain each group's rules within LDMS.

Important terms in LDMS

primary: This is the sample that was collected from the participant, such as a tube of blood.
aliquot: This is the derived unit from the primary.
specimen: This is a generic term for either primaries or aliquots.
specimen ID: An identifying number assigned by LDMS to primaries and aliquots that is not necessarily unique, and does not show the relationship between primaries and aliquots. By default, this number is unique per derivative type.
group: Individual clinical trial networks, research groups, etc available in LDMS. Every specimen and participant enrollment must be associated with a group.
global specimen ID: A number assigned by LDMS to every primary and aliquot. It is unique among all specimens at all LDMS laboratories, and clearly shows the relationship between primaries and aliquots.
participant (or patient): The individual from whom you've collected samples. The words participant and patient are used interchangeably in this manual.
participant (or patient) ID: A unique identifying number assigned to each study participant.
visit ID: The combination of the visit and visit unit (such as 1 WK).
specimen date: The date that the specimen was collected from the study participant.
specimen time: The time that the specimen was collected from the study participant in 24-hour format.
received date: The date that the specimen was received at the processing laboratory, where the primary was processed into aliquots.
received time: The time that the specimen was received at the processing laboratory.
processing time: The time that the processing laboratory begins to process a specimen into aliquots.
frozen time: The time that specimen is put into a freezer and the freezing process begins.