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Overview

Specimen Information addresses: The Specimen resource describes a sample of a physical substance collected from a patient for laboratory analysis, diagnostic testing, or other purposes. This profile meets the U.S. Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) v3 requirements for Specimen Information. Specimens can include blood, urine, tissue samples, swabs, and other biological materials collected for testing. The Specimen resource provides information about what was collected, how it was collected, when it was collected, and its current status. Each Specimen Must Have:
  • a specimen code
Each Specimen Must Support:
  • a patient
Profile Specific Implementation Guidance:
  • Since the binding is extensible when a code is unavailable, just text is allowed.
  • in addition to Specimen search criteria, clients may request Specimen resources be included with Observation or DiagnosticReport resource query. An example query is provided in the Notes section below.
This resource conforms to USCDI v3 for Specimen - refers to US Core Specimen Profile 6.1.0. Specimen response will be provided in JSON (refers to Capability Statement) format as per FHIR standard R4 version.

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Must support elements, mandatory and optional search parameters

Specimen must support these elements:
  • type
  • subject
Each Specimen Must Have (Mandatory):
  • type
The following search parameters and search parameter combinations SHALL be supported: The syntax used to describe the interactions is described here. SHALL support both read Specimen by id AND Specimen search using the _id search parameter: GET [base url]/Specimen/[id] GET [base url]/Specimen?_id=[id] The following search parameter combinations SHOULD be supported: SHOULD support searching using the patient search parameter: GET [base url]/Specimen?patient={Type/}[id] The response to any search operation is always a list of resources in a Bundle or an Operation Outcome. The following search parameter combinations MAY be supported: MAY support searching for Observation resources that reference a Specimen using the _include parameter: GET [base url]/[Resource-type]?_id=[id]&_include=Observation:specimen The response to any search operation is always a list of resources in a Bundle or an Operation Outcome.

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Specimen by ID

Read a single Specimen resource by its ID. METHOD GET
PARAMS [base url] * FHIR base url [id] - Specimen’s id HEADERS The Authorization token SHALL be obtained during the Authentication and Authorization process. Go to Authentication and Authorization for further details. RESPONSES EXAMPLE:

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Specimen Search by ID

Search for Specimen using the _id search parameter. METHOD GET
PARAMS [base url] - FHIR base url [id] - Specimen’s id HEADERS The Authorization token SHALL be obtained during the Authentication and Authorization process. Go to Authentication and Authorization for further details. RESPONSES The response to any search operation is always a list of resources in a Bundle or an Operation Outcome. EXAMPLE:

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Specimen by Patient

Search for Specimen using the patient parameter. METHOD GET
PARAMS [base url] - FHIR base url {Type/} - Reference type for the patient resource. Example: Patient/ [id] - Patient’s id HEADERS The Authorization token SHALL be obtained during the Authentication and Authorization process. Go to Authentication and Authorization for further details. RESPONSES The response to any search operation is always a list of resources in a Bundle or an Operation Outcome. EXAMPLE:

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Observation with Included Specimen

Search for Observation resources with included Specimen references. METHOD GET
PARAMS [base url] - FHIR base url [id] - Observation’s id _include - Include related Specimen resources in the response bundle HEADERS The Authorization token SHALL be obtained during the Authentication and Authorization process. Go to Authentication and Authorization for further details. RESPONSES The response to any search operation is always a list of resources in a Bundle or an Operation Outcome. EXAMPLE: