What is a Custom Accession Number?
Accession numbers are unique identifiers associated with specimens in the system. Accession numbers default to a 13 digit number that increments by 1 for each new specimen. The accession number can be configured to have between 3 and 13 digits. There are four types of togglable configuration for accession numbers:
- Year
- Month
- Specimen Type
- Free Text
Each of these configurable elements can be enabled, which will cause them to be visible in the accession number when the next specimen is added.
Year
The Year setting describes the inclusion of the year the specimen was added within the accession number. The extra configurable setting within year describes the length of the year value that is included.
Examples of Year enabled on a default accession number:
- Complete : 20240000000000012
- Partial : 240000000000012
Month
The Month setting describes the inclusion of the numerical month value, for the time the specimen was added, within the accession number. There are no extra settings for Month except for enabled.
Examples of Month enabled on a default accession number:
- March : 030000000000012
Specimen Type
The Specimen Type setting describes the inclusion of identifying information about the type of specimen within the accession number. Each specimen type, even custom specimen types, appears within the setting with an entry field for the identifying code. The value that is associated with the specimen type will appear within the the accession number for specimens of the associated type.
Examples of Specimen Type enabled on default accession number:
- Blood : bl0000000000012
- Cerebrospinal fluid : cf0000000000012
- Ear : ea0000000000012
- Stool : st0000000000012
- Urine : ur0000000000012
Free Text
Free text is a configuration that does not have a prepopulated entry in the settings menu. To add a free text element click the Plus icon in the Accession Number settings menu.
Free text allows for the inclusion of any text value in the accession number. Any text can be added through free text and it will appear in every accession number if enabled.