Specimen Acceptability

PRC-PALM-5.2-pro: SPECIMEN LABELING AND ACCEPTABILITY PROCEDURE

1. Upon receipt in the laboratory each specimen will be examined for proper labeling to ensure, consistency with the Specimen Labeling and Acceptability Policy.
2. Specimens that meet the requirements for specimen container labeling will be processed    according to established laboratory procedure.
3. Specimen Labeling Requirements:
   Each specimen container must have a label firmly fixed to the primary container. Primary container is defined as the innermost container received by the laboratory that holds the specimen.
4. Specimens shall be appropriately labeled with one label per guidelines listed below* and not be fixed to the container lid or placed in the biohazard specimen transport bag.

 
HFH Core laboratory shall work with supplier to ensure extra labels shall not be placed loose inside the biohazard bag and two labels shall not be shared by one specimen container/tube.

*Properly labeled specimens must accompany a laboratory requisition or an electronic order containing the following patient identification information.

• Patient’s full name [last name, first name]
• Patient’s Medical Record Number or Date of Birth
• Date & Time of specimen collection [ time sensitive specimens]
• Source or Site of specimen [non-blood body fluids, microbiology, cytology and surgical specimens]
• Preoperative, postoperative diagnosis and clinical history, including last menstrual period [where applicable for cytology and surgical tissue specimens]
• Test(s) requested
• Collector’s identification
• Patient location
• Patient gender or sex
• Ordering physician’s name and doctor code
• Address of ordering physician
• ICD diagnostic code

The specimen label must contain the following minimum information.

• Two patient identifiers, neither of which is the patient location
• Patient’s full name [last name, first name]
• Patient’s Medical Record Number or Date of Birth
• Date of specimen collection
• Time of specimen collection [time sensitive specimens]
• Specimen description or anatomic site of the specimen [non-blood body fluids, microbiology, cytology and surgical tissue specimens]

Specific guidelines for HFH Automated Core Laboratory refer to “Specimen Labelling Standard Work”. All specimens [blood tubes] for Core Clinical Laboratory must be labeled correctly per Standard Work. One label per tube affixed correctly to specimen.