Identification number of the material obtained, as a reference for inquiries to the source organization. In a transmural setting, this number will consist of a specimen number including the identification of the issuing organization, to be unique outside of the borders of an organization.

The identifier assigned by the lab when accessioning specimen(s). This is not necessarily the same as the specimen identifier, depending on local lab procedures.

The availability of the specimen.

This element is labeled as a modifier because the status contains codes that mark the resource as not currently valid.

SpecimenMaterial describes the material obtained or the isolate that was derived from the material. If the LOINC test code also implicitly describes a material, this element may not conflict with the description. If desired, this component can provide a more detailed description of the material: LOINC codes only contain the materials at a main level. This is in line with the agreements made in the IHE/Nictiz program e-Lab.

If the test is carried out on derived material (such as plasma), this element will still contain the material drawn (in this case, blood). In this case, the LOINC code will generally refer to plasma.

The type can change the way that a specimen is handled, and drives what kind of analyses can properly be performed on the specimen. It is frequently used in diagnostic work flow decision making systems.

Date and time that the material is handed over at the laboratory or specimen collection center. This is the issue with material that is collected by the patient himself.

Reference to the parent (source) specimen which is used when the specimen was either derived from or a component of another specimen.

The parent specimen could be the source from which the current specimen is derived by some processing step (e.g. an aliquot or isolate or extracted nucleic acids from clinical samples) or one of many specimens that were combined to create a pooled sample.

Details concerning a test or procedure request that required a specimen to be collected.

The request may be explicit or implied such with a ProcedureRequest that requires a blood draw.

Person who collected the specimen.

References SHALL be a reference to an actual FHIR resource, and SHALL be resolveable (allowing for access control, temporary unavailability, etc). Resolution can be either by retrieval from the URL, or, where applicable by resource type, by treating an absolute reference as a canonical URL and looking it up in a local registry/repository.

Optional Extension Element - found in all resources.

There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone.

The start of the period. The boundary is inclusive.

If the low element is missing, the meaning is that the low boundary is not known.

The end of the period. If the end of the period is missing, it means that the period is ongoing. The start may be in the past, and the end date in the future, which means that period is expected/planned to end at that time.

The high value includes any matching date/time. i.e. 2012-02-03T10:00:00 is in a period that has a end value of 2012-02-03.

If the end of the period is missing, it means that the period is ongoing

Total volume of the collected material. If it is necessary to determine the absolute amount of a particular substance in the collected material, the volume thereof must be given.

The context of use may frequently define what kind of quantity this is and therefore what kind of units can be used. The context of use may also restrict the values for the comparator.

If relevant for the results, the method of obtaining the specimen can be entered as well.

Not all terminology uses fit this general pattern. In some cases, models should not use CodeableConcept and use Coding directly and provide their own structure for managing text, codings, translations and the relationship between elements and pre- and post-coordination.

Source of the definition for the extension code - a logical name or a URL.

The definition may point directly to a computable or human-readable definition of the extensibility codes, or it may be a logical URI as declared in some other specification. The definition SHALL be a URI for the Structure Definition defining the extension.

Qualifier to refine the anatomical location. These include qualifiers for laterality, relative location, directionality, number, and plane.

Source of the definition for the extension code - a logical name or a URL.

The definition may point directly to a computable or human-readable definition of the extensibility codes, or it may be a logical URI as declared in some other specification. The definition SHALL be a URI for the Structure Definition defining the extension.

Morphology describes morphological abnormalities of the anatomical location where the material is taken, for example wound, ulcer.

A reference to a code defined by a terminology system.

Allows for translations and alternate encodings within a code system. Also supports communication of the same instance to systems requiring different encodings.

Codes may be defined very casually in enumerations, or code lists, up to very formal definitions such as SNOMED CT - see the HL7 v3 Core Principles for more information. Ordering of codings is undefined and SHALL NOT be used to infer meaning. Generally, at most only one of the coding values will be labeled as UserSelected = true.

A human language representation of the concept as seen/selected/uttered by the user who entered the data and/or which represents the intended meaning of the user.

The codes from the terminologies do not always capture the correct meaning with all the nuances of the human using them, or sometimes there is no appropriate code at all. In these cases, the text is used to capture the full meaning of the source.

Very often the text is the same as a displayName of one of the codings.

Textual description of procedure.

Note that FHIR strings may not exceed 1MB in size

A coded value specifying the procedure used to process the specimen.

Not all terminology uses fit this general pattern. In some cases, models should not use CodeableConcept and use Coding directly and provide their own structure for managing text, codings, translations and the relationship between elements and pre- and post-coordination.

Material used in the processing step.

References SHALL be a reference to an actual FHIR resource, and SHALL be resolveable (allowing for access control, temporary unavailability, etc). Resolution can be either by retrieval from the URL, or, where applicable by resource type, by treating an absolute reference as a canonical URL and looking it up in a local registry/repository.

The specimen number extension is used when the collected material is distributed from the original tube or container across multiple tubes. In combination with the specimen Id the extension yield a unique identification of the tube or container

Textual description of the container.

Note that FHIR strings may not exceed 1MB in size

Container type describes the envelope in which the material is collected or sent. Examples include blood tubes, transport container, possibly including culture medium.

Not all terminology uses fit this general pattern. In some cases, models should not use CodeableConcept and use Coding directly and provide their own structure for managing text, codings, translations and the relationship between elements and pre- and post-coordination.

The capacity (volume or other measure) the container may contain.

The context of use may frequently define what kind of quantity this is and therefore what kind of units can be used. The context of use may also restrict the values for the comparator.

The quantity of specimen in the container; may be volume, dimensions, or other appropriate measurements, depending on the specimen type.

The context of use may frequently define what kind of quantity this is and therefore what kind of units can be used. The context of use may also restrict the values for the comparator.

To communicate any details or issues about the specimen or during the specimen collection. (for example: broken vial, sent with patient, frozen).

For systems that do not have structured annotations, they can simply communicate a single annotation with no author or time. This element may need to be included in narrative because of the potential for modifying information. Annotations SHOULD NOT be used to communicate "modifying" information that could be computable. (This is a SHOULD because enforcing user behavior is nearly impossible).