Before you start: is this site a full lab?
A site registered as a collection centre cannot accession. Its bench screens carry a banner reading This site is a collection center — register specimens and dispatch them to your laboratory. Accessioning, screening and reporting are done at the full lab and are disabled here. Push past it and the action returns This site is a collection center — accession, screening and reporting happen at your full laboratory. That is deliberate. A collection centre draws and refers; the full lab receives and reports. The site kind is chosen when the workspace is created — Full laboratory — testing on site or Collection center — samples drawn and referred to your lab — and it is not a per-user setting. If your banner is wrong, contact support.What you’re looking at
You reach the form from the Worklist: select the specimen’s row and the order workflow sheet opens with Workflow and Chain of Custody tabs. The Workflow tab shows whichever form the current status calls for, so an In transit or Lab intake specimen shows the Laboratory Accession card.
The submit button changes with the answer you give: Record Accession normally, Reject Specimen the moment the primary seal is marked broken.
Accession the specimen
1
Open the specimen
On the Worklist, find it — filter by a status chip or search by Specimen ID, LAN or donor… — and select the row.
2
Enter the accession number and time
Fill in Accession Number * and Received Date & Time *. Record the time the specimen actually arrived, not the time you got to the keyboard; it is the clock every turnaround measure runs from, and a keyboard time flatters your numbers. See Turnaround time.
3
Check both seals
Answer Primary Specimen Seal (Bottle A) * and Split Specimen Seal (Bottle B) * against the paperwork, inspecting the bottles rather than the shipping box.
4
Describe any damage
Marking the primary seal broken reveals Seal Condition Notes *. Describe what you saw — the seal was torn, the signature did not match, the bottle leaked. This note is what a reviewer reads months later.
5
Record where Bottle B is stored
Fill in Bottle B Storage Location in enough detail that a colleague can retrieve the split without you.
6
Save the accession
Select Record Accession. The toast reads Lab accession recorded, the specimen moves on to the next stage of the queue, and a custody event is written with the time and your name.
A broken seal is a fatal flaw
Mark the primary seal broken and the form says so before you go any further: Fatal Flaw — Broken Seal — “A broken tamper-evident seal is a fatal flaw per 49 CFR § 40.83. This specimen will be rejected for testing and cannot be used for any result determination.” Selecting Reject Specimen then raises Confirm Specimen Rejection: “You are about to reject this specimen for testing due to a broken seal. This action will advance the order status to “Rejected for Testing” and cannot be undone. The donor may need to be retested.” Choose Confirm Rejection and the toast reads Specimen rejected for testing due to broken seal.Rejecting for other reasons
Rejecting is a separate grant from accessioning, and the two together are the Accessioning Clerk’s whole job. Reject when the specimen cannot produce a defensible result: wrong tube, insufficient volume, no label, a seal you cannot vouch for, a transport delay past the analyte’s stability. The rejection is recorded as its own custody event, so the reason survives.Reading the chain of custody
The Chain of Custody tab groups every event into four phases — Specimen Intake, Laboratory Analysis, Reporting and Post-Report — each headed with its own event count. Every event card shows a Seal Intact or Seal Broken pill, the released-by → received-by handoff, any notes, the timestamp and the elapsed time since the previous event. Events you will see include Order Created, CCF Completed, Specimen Collected, Specimen Shipped, Specimen Received at Lab, Specimen Rejected, Initial Immunoassay Screen, GC-MS / LC-MS-MS Confirmation, Lab Report Finalized, Report Sent to MRO, MRO Verified, Reported to DER, Order Cancelled, Split Retest Requested, Split Retest Completed and Custody Transfer.Who can do this
Role decides whether the bench opens, and — for this one form — role also decides whether you may book a specimen in. Permission takes over from the screen onward.
There are no specimen permissions. Accession an incoming specimen and Reject an unsuitable specimen sat in the Diagnostics catalogue until August 2026, and the accession form never read either one — so they were removed rather than left implying a control the form did not apply. The form checks the person’s job-title role, and accepts Owner, Manager and Doctor: their job title is what decides. Rejection is not a separate act at all — it is the broken-seal branch of the same accession form.
From the screen onward the permissions are real: Enter results at the bench, then Verify and authorise results. A Lab Manager holds neither by default — authorising a result is a scientist’s clinical act, and it arrives with the access tier rather than the administrative role. A QC Officer is review-only by design.
Two behaviours surprise people:
- Enforcement is opt-in, per person. Somebody never saved in the permissions sheet is unrestricted, and the sheet warns “Saving starts enforcing” — from then on they can only do what is switched on there.
- A denied action is recorded; an allowed one is not. A figure you are not entitled to see is hidden or rendered as a dash, never as a zero.
Check it worked
- The specimen carries its accession number and has moved to the Received filter on the Worklist.
- The Chain of Custody tab shows a new event under Specimen Intake with your name, the received time and the correct seal pill.
- The elapsed time on the new event is measured from the previous handoff, not from now.
Common issues
The accession form is not on the Workflow tab
The accession form is not on the Workflow tab
The tab shows the form for the specimen’s current status. If it is still Collected or In transit, the arrival has not been recorded yet; if it is already Screening, accessioning is done.
Everything on the bench is disabled
Everything on the bench is disabled
You are at a collection centre. Register and dispatch the specimen instead — accessioning happens at the full lab.
I cannot save without seal notes
I cannot save without seal notes
Seal Condition Notes * appears as soon as the primary seal is marked broken, and it is there to be filled in. Describe the damage rather than looking for a way round it.
Failed to record accession
Failed to record accession
The save did not go through. Check the accession number is not already in use — it must be unique — and try again.
I used the wrong accession number
I used the wrong accession number
Ask a Lab Manager. Identifiers on an accessioned specimen are part of the custody record, so corrections are made deliberately and leave their own trail — see Audit log.
The Worklist is empty
The Worklist is empty
It is the drug-testing bench queue. A lab running only standard clinical work sees nothing there, correctly — work those from Test requests.
FAQ
What happens if a seal is broken on arrival?
What happens if a seal is broken on arrival?
The form names it as a fatal flaw under 49 CFR § 40.83, and the specimen is rejected for testing rather than accessioned. It cannot be used for any result determination, the rejection cannot be undone, and the donor may need to be recollected.
Why does Bottle B matter if we only test Bottle A?
Why does Bottle B matter if we only test Bottle A?
Because a donor may request a split retest of Bottle B after a confirmed positive. Recording where it is stored is what makes that possible months later — and the storage note is the only thing standing between a request and a search of the freezer.
Should I use the time on the courier's paperwork or the time I keyed it in?
Should I use the time on the courier's paperwork or the time I keyed it in?
The time the specimen arrived. Turnaround is measured from it, so a keyboard time makes your lab look slower or faster than it is and misstates the custody record.
Can I accession offline?
Can I accession offline?
No. Order capture goes offline; accessioning does not. It is a status-guarded step whose conflicts need a person at the bench — see Working offline.
Does accessioning a specimen report anything to anyone?
Does accessioning a specimen report anything to anyone?
No. It only books the specimen in. Screening, confirmation and the report are separate steps, and no analyte can be called Positive until confirmation — see Screening and confirmation.