Module guide · Clinical

Laboratory

From ordering a test to a verified result: specimen collection, results entry, microbiology, instrument quality control, and life-safety critical-value notification, all in one module.

Overview Dashboard Test catalog Orders worklist Order detail Specimens Results Microbiology Quality control Critical values Good practices

What this module is for

A lab order travels through a clear pipeline: order → collect specimen → receive it in the lab → enter a result → verify it. This module covers every stop on that pipeline, plus the reference data and safety workflows around it.

Who uses it

Physicians and nurses order tests. Phlebotomists collect specimens. Lab techs and laboratorists enter and verify results, run quality control, and manage the microbiology workflow. Lab directors manage the test catalog and QC.

Where to find it

Open Laboratory from the sidebar. Eight screens: Overview, Orders Worklist, Results, Specimens, Critical Values, Microbiology, and (lab-admin only) Test Catalog and Quality Control.

1
Order
A physician or nurse creates a lab order from the dashboard, picking a patient, priority, and one or more tests.
2
Collect & receive
A phlebotomist collects the specimen on the order's detail page; the lab receives it or rejects it if unusable.
3
Result
A tech enters the result, which starts out Preliminary. Critical values trigger the notification workflow.
4
Verify
A qualified reviewer verifies the result, moving it to Final. Corrections after that go through a documented Amendment.

A few terms you'll see throughout

LOINC and CPT are standard codes identifying exactly which test it is, and how it's billed. A critical value is a result so abnormal it's potentially life-threatening and must be phoned to the ordering provider immediately, not just posted to the chart. TAT is turnaround time, how long a test normally takes.

Laboratory dashboard

The landing page: today's workload at a glance, a searchable recent-orders list, and the shortcut to start a new order.

Stat tiles

Field	What it means
Pending Orders	Orders not yet completed.
STAT Pending	Urgent/STAT-priority orders still pending.
Completed Today	Orders finished today.
Critical Unack.	Critical results not yet acknowledged by a physician.

Search by patient name, or filter by status (Pending, In Progress, Completed, Cancelled). STAT orders sort to the top and get a light red row highlight. Each row shows order #, patient, tests, priority, status, ordering physician, and date, with quick Complete / Cancel buttons for open orders. Click a row to open the full order.

"New Lab Order" form

Field	What it means
Patient*	Search and select an existing patient.
Priority	Routine, Urgent, or STAT. Defaults to Routine.
Select Tests*	Search the test catalog and check one or more tests; selected ones appear as removable chips.
Clinical Information	Reason for testing / ICD-10 justification.
Notes	Additional free-text notes.

Creating an order only opens it, it does not collect a specimen or enter results, those happen next on the order's own page.

Test catalog

The master reference list of every test the hospital can order: its codes, category, specimen, normal range, critical thresholds, and turnaround time. Lab-admin only.

List and filters

Field	What it means
Search	By name, LOINC, CPT, or alias.
Category	Hematology, Chemistry, Microbiology, Immunology, Serology, Molecular, Toxicology, Urinalysis, Coagulation, Blood Bank, Endocrinology, Genetics, or Other.
Export / Import CSV	Download the whole catalog, or bulk-upload a CSV of new/updated tests.

"New Test" form

Field	What it means
LOINC Code*	The standardized test identifier.
Name*
CPT Code / Short Name	Billing code and a short display name.
Category	Defaults to Chemistry.
Specimen Type	Defaults to Serum internally.
Normal Min / Max, Unit	The reference range and its unit.
Critical Low / High	Thresholds that flag a result as a critical value.
TAT (hrs)	Expected turnaround time in hours.

A test can be Retired (grey badge, kept for history) or Activated again.

Orders worklist

The full working queue of every lab order, not just recent ones, filterable and paginated.

Filters

Field	What it means
Search	Patient name, or an order number (auto-detected).
Status	Pending, In Progress, Completed, Cancelled.
Priority	Routine, STAT, Urgent, ASAP.
From / To	Date range.

Columns: order #, patient (with MRN), tests, a done/total progress bar, priority, status, specimens ("received/total" or an amber "To collect" badge), and order date. Export CSV downloads orders in the selected date range (defaults to the last 30 days).

Order detail

The busiest screen in the module: specimen collection, results entry, and verification for one order.

A specimen must be collected and received before you can enter a result

Clicking Enter Result (or Culture / Sensitivity) without a usable, received specimen shows an error asking you to collect and receive one first.

Specimens panel

Field	What it means
Collect Specimen	Specimen type (Blood Venous, Urine Clean Catch, CSF, Wound Swab, and many more), collection method, container, volume, site, collected-at time, fasting checkbox.
Receive / Reject	Mark a collected specimen received, or reject it with a condition (Hemolyzed, Clotted, Insufficient, Contaminated, Wrong Container, Expired, Mislabeled) and a required reason, this triggers recollection.

"Enter Result" form

Field	What it means
Result Value*	The measured value; the field border turns red if it falls in the critical range, amber if merely outside normal.
Unit / Reference Range / Instrument / Methodology	Pre-filled from the test catalog where known.
Resulted At*	Defaults to now.
Tech Comments	Optional free text.

Culture & Sensitivity (Microbiology tests only)

No growth checkbox, gram stain, organism, colony count, ID method, MDRO flag (with a type field, e.g. MRSA), isolation-required and public-health-reportable flags, and a repeatable list of antibiotic sensitivities (drug name, Susceptible/Intermediate/Resistant, and MIC value).

Results start Preliminary; a Verify button finalizes them. The order itself can be Completed or Cancelled (reason required) while still open, and a Report PDF is always available.

Pending — order created, nothing collected yet

In Progress — specimen collected and/or being worked

Completed — all tests resulted and closed out

Cancelled — the order was called off

Specimens

A dedicated lookup to find and act on any specimen across the whole lab, independent of a specific order's page.

Field	What it means
Search by	Patient, order, accession number, or barcode, toggle the mode then search.
Receive	Marks a collected specimen as physically received in the lab.
Reject	Same condition + reason form as on Order Detail.

Status shows as In Transit (collected, not yet received), Received, or Rejected.

Results

A patient-centric view: search one patient, browse their lab order history, review, verify, amend or print results.

Search a patient, pick one of their past orders on the left, then review its results on the right. Print History (90d) downloads a 90-day PDF for the patient; each order also has its own PDF.

Corrections use Amend, never a silent edit

Once a result is Final or Corrected, fixing it means clicking Amend, entering a new value and a required reason (citing CAP GEN.41096). This creates an audited change record instead of overwriting the number, a lab-accreditation requirement.

Microbiology

A specialized dashboard for infection control: drug-resistant organisms, public-health reporting, and a hospital-wide antibiogram.

MDRO by Patient

Search a patient to see their history of multi-drug-resistant organism infections, so staff know if isolation precautions are needed. Isolation-required rows are highlighted.

Public Health Reporting

Organism results still awaiting notification to public health authorities. Mark Reported once notified.

Cumulative Antibiogram

For each organism cultured in the past year, the percentage of isolates susceptible to each antibiotic, helping clinicians pick an effective empiric antibiotic.

Quality control

Lab-admin only. Confirms instruments are measuring accurately by testing known reference samples, and tracks any failures needing supervisor sign-off.

"Record QC Run" form

Field	What it means
Test*	From the active catalog.
QC Material / Lot Number / Instrument*	e.g. "Bio-Rad Lyphochek", the lot in use, and the instrument name.
QC Level	Level 1, 2 or 3. Defaults Level 1.
Measured / Target Mean / Target SD*	What the instrument read, versus the expected mean and standard deviation.
Shift	Day, Evening, or Night. Defaults Day.

A run is judged against Westgard rules automatically; a failure shows the rule violated and lands on the failures table. Review lets a supervisor document a corrective action.

Critical values

Tracks dangerously abnormal results that must be phoned to a physician immediately, and proves that it happened.

Stat tiles

Field	What it means
Unresolved	Critical values not yet acknowledged.
Avg Ack Time (min)	Historical average time to acknowledge.
TJC Benchmark	A fixed reference of ≤ 60 minutes, the Joint Commission's target.

"Acknowledge Critical Value" form

Field	What it means
Provider Name / Role*	Who was notified and their role.
Method	Phone, In Person, or EHR. Defaults Phone.
Read-back documented	Checkbox confirming the receiver repeated the value back, a Joint Commission requirement.
Notes	Optional.

Unacknowledged values escalate

Past 30 minutes with no acknowledgement, an Escalate button appears; past 60 minutes the row is flagged red for breaching the TJC benchmark.

Good practices

Collect and receive before you result

The system enforces this with an error message, so build the habit: collect, then receive, then enter the result.

Verify promptly

A result sitting in Preliminary isn't final, and won't show as complete on the worklist's progress bar, until someone verifies it.

Critical values need a phone call, not just a chart entry

Acknowledge with the read-back checkbox honestly checked, escalate rather than let one sit past 30-60 minutes.

Back to all guides Book a live demo