Procedure Guidelines

General Considerations

• Specimens must reach the laboratory by 4:00 pm Monday through Friday and 10:00 am on Saturday to ensure same-day processing.

All specimens delivered to the laboratory must adhere to the following requirements.

• It is extremely important that all requisition forms include:

  • Patient's legal name -- legibly printed or typed.

  • Patient's date of birth.

  • Preliminary diagnosis/Clinical history.

  • Type of specimen submitted.

  • All tests desired.

  • Office or hospital submitting specimen.

  • Date of service.

  • Physician's signature.

• The specimen container must indicate:

  • Patient Name

  • Type of specimen submitted.

  • Type of fixative (specimen container should be leak-proof).

• All specimens are in a leak-proof container that is placed in a sealed biohazard specimen bag.

• All bagged specimens shall have an accurately completed requisition accompanying them.

Unacceptable Specimens

• A specimen may be considered unacceptable if certain of the above criteria are not fulfilled. Unlabeled specimens may be returned for proper identification (This is an accreditation requirement).

Note: if cytology fixed slides are co-submitted--they must be placed in a separate bag from the histology specimen to avoid formalin fume contamination.

Fixative Requirements for Specific Tissue Samples