Test catalogue
/tests is the catalogue — what this laboratory offers, and what each test costs in time. /tests/new adds one, /tests/:testId shows it and /tests/:testId/edit changes it.
Orders reference the catalogue rather than free text. That is what lets a haemoglobin ordered here be recognised elsewhere, and it is what makes a panel more than a list of words.
:::info The catalogue is yours LabFlow ships no pre-loaded national test menu. Shipping one would mean shipping somebody else's clinical decisions as your default. :::
What a catalogue entry carries
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Name | What appears on a worklist and a report |
| Code | Short, upper case, unique in this catalogue |
| LOINC code | Format NNNNN-N. The check digit is part of it |
| Department | Which bench owns it |
| Instrument | Where it physically runs. Two analysers may run one method — the range follows the method, the quality control follows the instrument |
| Method | Recorded on every result, because a range belongs to a method as much as to a patient |
| Container | Tube type and cap colour, as the phlebotomist sees it |
| Storage | How the specimen must be held |
| Unit | See the warning below |
| Reported precision | Reported precision, not analyser precision. Reporting more digits than the method supports invents confidence |
| Critical value | A value where delay causes harm. It escalates to a named clinician and holds release until the escalation is acknowledged |
| Turnaround | Derived from the median transport time measured on this site |
| Notes | Rich text, shown on the catalogue row and on the ordering screen |
:::danger Changing a unit is not a conversion Changing a unit later does not convert released results — it changes what the next one means. A unit change is normally a new test definition, not an edit. :::
Leaving the critical value blank
Blank means this test never escalates. That is a decision, not a default, and it is worth making on purpose.
Three states, and why nothing is deleted
| State | Orderable | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Planned | No | Defined and not yet offered |
| Active | Yes | In use |
| Retired | No | Not deleted — historical results reference it |
A retired test is not editable. Its definition has to keep meaning what it meant when a result was produced against it.