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Entering a result and authorising it are two different acts, and often two different people. A technician can run the sample and type the reading — on this screen that is not behind a permission at all, so anyone who reaches Lab Reports can do it. Moving that test into Completed is the clinical sign-out — the point at which the result becomes reportable, and the point at which a referring doctor can see it — and only someone holding Verify and authorise results can do it.

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What you’re looking at

Results are worked from the Lab Test Reports table on the Lab Reports page — “Complete list of all laboratory tests”. Its columns are Patient ID, Patient Name, Test Name, Status, Date Ordered, Ordered By and Payment, and it carries a Search reports… box and a status filter of All Status, Pending, In Progress, Completed and Cancelled. A Critical badge overrides the status badge on any test with a critical value, so a critical result cannot hide behind Completed. Each row’s menu offers View Details, Start Test, Enter Results, Edit Results, Print Report (on a completed test) and Print Receipt. Owners and managers also get Cancel Test on a pending or in-progress test. Selecting Enter Results opens a full page headed Enter Lab Results — “Enter results for the lab test.” — with a Test Parameters card listing every analyte. The empty state. With nothing matching you get No lab reports found and Try adjusting your search or filter criteria. A new lab sees that until its first request is raised.

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Enter the readings

1

Start the test

Find the request and select Start Test. The toast reads Test marked as in progress, and the status moves from Pending to In Progress so the rest of the bench can see it is being worked.
2

Open the result form

Select Enter Results. Each analyte appears as its own field, typed from your catalogue — a number with its unit, or a picker showing Select value for a list like Positive / Negative / Indeterminate.
3

Enter every parameter

Work down the list. The card shows how many are done as {n} / {n} parameters filled, and marks the analytes that carry critical limits with a Critical badge.
4

Save

Save the form. The toast reads Lab results saved successfully. The test stays In Progress — saving a reading is not signing it out.
If any value breaches a critical limit, the form raises Critical values detected! — “Please notify the appropriate personnel.” — with Print Lab Report and Done. Act on it by phone; do not wait for someone to open a report.

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Verify and complete

Moving the test into Completed is the verification step, and it needs Verify and authorise results. Read every value against its reference range before you do it, and give critical values the extra look their badge is asking for: anything outside the critical low or high limits you set on the catalogue test raises a Critical flag and is counted on the Lab Station as Critical Results (“Requires immediate attention”).
Completing a test is the clinical sign-out. Once it is Completed the result is reportable and can reach a clinician who will treat from it. Verify each value first, and act on a critical result by phone rather than waiting for someone to open a report.
To change a value after completion, use Edit Results. That needs Amend a verified result, and both the original and the correction stay in the record.

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What completing also does

Completing a test draws down the reagents attached to it in your catalogue, so your stock reflects the run without anyone counting bottles. The drawdown rides alongside the status change and can occasionally fall behind, so treat your reagent counts as very good rather than perfect, and spot-check with a stock count. See Reagents and consumables.

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If your site is a collection centre

Result entry is disabled at a collection centre. Attempting it returns This site is a collection center — results are entered at your full laboratory, and bench screens carry a banner saying the same. Register and dispatch the specimen instead; the full lab enters and verifies.

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Who can do this

Role decides whether the bench opens. Permission decides which half of the job is yours — and on this page that split is the whole point. Only the status change is gated here. Typing readings into the parameter form and moving a test from Pending to In Progress are ungated — the check fires on the transition into Completed, and again on any edit to a test already Completed. So a clinic that wants the two-person rule enforced must rely on Verify and authorise results; withholding Enter results at the bench will not stop anyone typing a reading on this screen. (That permission is real elsewhere — it gates the DOT screening forms and analyser acceptance.) A Lab Manager does not hold verify by default. Managing the lab and signing a result out are different jobs: verification arrives with the access tier, where Own bench grants result entry only, Whole lab adds verification at that site, and All sites adds amendment on top. A QC Officer is review-only by design and holds neither.

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Supervision — who checks whose work

A lab can require that a named technician’s work is checked. The staff sheet asks Do {name}‘s results need verifying before release?, and the model behind it is plain: a technician may run the sample and enter the reading, but the Lab Director — or another scientist qualified to verify — has to authorise the result before it can be reported, and is the only one who may amend it afterwards. Eligible verifiers are lab scientists, doctors, radiologists and the owner. Accessioning clerks, phlebotomists and unlicensed technicians are the supervised side, and a Lab Manager manages rather than signs out. 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.
See Permissions.

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Check it worked

  • The test shows Completed in Lab Test Reports, and any critical analyte shows a Critical badge.
  • Lab Station › Analytics moves Pending Tests down and Completed Tests up, with its “{n}% completion rate” caption.
  • A report can now be produced from the test — see Produce and release a report.

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Common issues

You hold Enter results at the bench but not Verify and authorise results. Hand it to a verifier. This is usually deliberate supervision, not a misconfiguration.
Either the test is already Completed, where the action becomes Edit Results, or you opened the request from Test requests without being a lab scientist — that path shows Only lab scientists can conduct or update lab tests and opens read-only.
Start Test did not go through. Refresh the table and check the test has not already been started or cancelled by someone else, then try again.
Those come from the catalogue, not the result form. Fix them on the test’s Parameters tab and every future run inherits the correction — see Add your tests and panels.
Check the test has reagents attached in the catalogue. If it does, run a stock count to reconcile — see Reagents and consumables.
You are at a collection centre — This site is a collection center — results are entered at your full laboratory. The full lab enters and verifies.
Tell a verifier immediately. Amending a completed result needs Amend a verified result, and both the original entry and the correction stay in the record — see Audit log.

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FAQ

Yes, with Amend a verified result — the grant that issues a corrected report after authorisation. It is normally held only by the verifier and the All sites tier. The original stays in the record beside the correction; nothing is overwritten silently.
Because entering a reading and taking clinical responsibility for it are different acts. Where a technician is supervised, a qualified verifier authorises before anything can be reported — and is the only person who may change it afterwards.
No. Saving leaves the test In Progress and visible only inside the lab. Nothing reaches a clinician, a patient or a referrer until the test is completed and a report is produced.
It overrides the status badge on the row and counts the test under Critical Results on the Lab Station. It does not phone anybody — that part is yours.
No. Order capture goes offline; result entry and verification do not, because a merge conflict on a signed result is a patient-safety event. See Working offline.