Procedure

Receive an order

Receive a laboratory or imaging order in the department, confirm the patient and sample, and accept it into the work list.

A laboratory or imaging order reaches your department the moment a clinician places it. This page walks you through confirming the patient and the sample, and accepting the order into your work list.

Before you begin

An order lands on your list because the clinician who placed it in Forge routed it to your department. You see the orders your department fulfils, scoped to the access your role carries.

You are signed in as yourself at the workstation.

Your department work list is open in the dock.

Receive the order

1
Open your work list
Open your department work list from the dock.
The list shows the orders routed to your department, the urgent ones first.
If the list reads empty, your access may cover a different department. Ask an administrator to check your role.
2
Confirm the patient
Read the patient label on the order row.
Each patient carries a colour cue drawn from their record, so the same patient always shows the same colour.
If the colour looks wrong for the patient in front of you, reselect the row before you go on.
3
Check the order and the sample
Open the order to read the requested test, the priority and any specimen detail.
The order carries a frozen snapshot of exactly what the clinician requested.
If the sample in front of you differs from the request, hold the order and query it with the ordering clinician.
4
Accept it into the work list
Select Accept.
The order joins your active work list. Where it was waiting in Submitted, accepting moves it to In progress.
If Accept is unavailable, a banner above it names the reason, such as a cosign or an insurance pre-authorisation still pending. The order waits in Submitted until that reason clears.

Figure 1.Diagram showing an order travelling from placement, through routing to your department, to accepted onto your work list, with a held order waiting for its reason to clear.

Confirm both before you accept

The patient label and the colour cue travel with every order row. Checking both before you accept keeps the sample tied to the right record.

Connected machines

Some tests run on a connected analyser, and imaging orders travel to and from the scanner. Those orders cross the on-site bridge that orophin runs on your network. A paused connection holds the order safely and delivers it once the link returns.

Watch a connection from Westron when an expected order is slow to arrive.

Common questions

The order shows on another department's list. Why?

An order appears for the department it routes to. Where it belongs elsewhere, it lands on that department's list. Open the order detail to see where it went.

Can I change what was ordered?

The order carries a frozen snapshot of the clinician's request. To alter it, query the ordering clinician, who holds the order. Your department records the result against it.

What does accepting an order do to its status?

Accepting picks the order up into your active work list. An order that was waiting in Submitted moves to In progress so the fulfilling work can begin.

After you accept

Once the work is done, record the result against the same order so the clinician reads it.

Record a result against the order at record a result.