Pharmacy & lab
Accession Number
The unique identifier given to a specimen when the laboratory receives it, distinct from the patient number and the order number.
- Category
- Pharmacy & lab
When a laboratory receives a sample it assigns an accession number, usually printed as a barcode on the tube. It identifies that physical specimen — not the patient, and not the order the tests were requested under. One order can produce several specimens, each separately accessioned, because a blood count and a biochemistry panel may travel to different benches and be processed at different times.
Why it matters in a hospital
The accession number is what keeps a result attached to the right person once the tube leaves the collection room. Everything after collection — routing to an analyser, entering a result, repeating a test, tracing a sample that went missing — happens against this number, and a laboratory that labels tubes by patient name is one similar surname away from a result on the wrong record. It is also what makes an audit trail possible: which sample, received when, run on which instrument, verified by whom.
How Trisvio handles it
Trisvio gives every specimen its own accession and barcode, separate from the order and the patient record, and tracks its lifecycle through collection, receipt and resulting. Analyser results arriving over HL7 or ASTM are matched on that barcode; an unmatched barcode is surfaced for a human to resolve rather than discarded or guessed at.
Related
Related terms
- TAT (Turnaround Time)The time from a laboratory test being ordered — or the sample collected — to the verified result being available to the clinician.Read definition →
- Reference RangeThe band of values considered normal for an analyte, which varies by age and sex — and, for newborns, by age in days rather than years.Read definition →
- LIS (Laboratory Information System)The system that runs a laboratory's work — ordering, specimen tracking, result entry, verification, reporting and quality control.Read definition →
- MRD (Medical Records Department)The department that stores, indexes and retrieves patient case records and manages their retention and release.Read definition →
- HL7 v2The long-established messaging standard hospital systems and laboratory analysers use to exchange orders and results.Read definition →
- Westgard RulesA set of statistical rules applied to laboratory control runs to decide whether an analytical batch should be accepted or rejected.Read definition →
- Point-of-Care TestingTesting done beside the patient rather than in the laboratory — glucometers, rapid kits, bedside analysers.Read definition →