Specimen
A sample of tissue, body fluid, food or other substance that is collected or acquired to support the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or prevention of a disease, disorder or abnormal physical state, or its symptoms.
Appears in
Constraints
n/a
Stereotype(s)
n/a
Attributes
| Attribute | Type | Multiplicity | Attribute note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Specimen Identifier | Identifier | 0..1 | The unique alphanumeric value of the identifier (e.g., A789010, 123456) assigned by the laboratory to a specimen (e.g., an accession number). |
| Specimen Type Code | Codeable Concept | 1 | Uniquely specifies a substance that being sampled or tested (e.g., nasopharyngeal swab, whole blood, serum, urine, wound swab).
Value Set: https://fhir.infoway-inforoute.ca/ValueSet/specimentypecode |
| Specimen Status Code | Codeable Concept | 1 | Uniquely specifies the current state of the specimen (e.g., available, unavailable, entered-in-error).
Value Set: http://hl7.org/fhir/ValueSet/specimen-status |
| Specimen Role Class Code | Codeable Concept | 0..1 | Uniquely specifies the specimen’s functional role in relation to other specimens (e.g., parent, child, pooled, derived).
Value Set: To be developed. |
| Specimen Preparation Type Code | Codeable Concept | 0..1 | Uniquely specifies a form or preparation of the specimen used for analysis or reporting (for example, block, section, smear, slide).
Value Set: To be developed. |
| Specimen Life Cycle Stage Code | Codeable Concept | 0..1 | Uniquely specifies the current stage of the specimen within the laboratory workflow (e.g., collected, received, in testing, in storage, disposed).
Value Set: To be developed. |
| Specimen Special Handling Instruction | String | 0..1 | The directions for handling, processing or storing the specimen prior to analysis. |
| Specimen Received Date Time | Date Time | 0..1 | The date and time the specimen was received by the laboratory. |
Relationships
| From class | From multiplicity | Relationship | To class | To multiplicity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patient Procedure | 0..1 | focuses on | Specimen | 0..* |
| Specimen Imaging Event | 0..* | subject of | Specimen | 1 |
| Specimen | 0..* | collected in | Encounter | 1 |
| Observation | 0..* | about | Specimen | 0..1 |
| Specimen | 1 | has | Specimen Processing | 0..* |
| Specimen | 0..* | associated with | Diagnostic Report | 0..* |
| Specimen | 0..* | subject of | Specimen Collection | 0..1 |
| Patient | 1 | subject of | Specimen | 0..* |
| Specimen Assessment | 0..* | for | Specimen | 1 |
| Specimen | 0..* | has (aggregation) | Specimen | 0..* |
| Specimen Container | 0..* | contains | Specimen | 1 |
| Service Request | 0..1 | defines | Specimen | 0..* |
| Specimen | 0..* | associated with | Imaging Study Series | 0..* |
| Specimen | 0..1 | has (composition) | Clinical Annotation | 0..* |
Contact us
If you have questions about this initiative, would like to be added to our stakeholder notification list or would like to participate in our consultations, please email us.
How to cite:
Canadian Institute for Health Information. Specimen. Accessed November 02, 2026.
