In this article you can find how to print lab labels directly from OP.
Planning step 1: What needs to go on the labels?
Every lab's requirement for specimen identification may be slightly different. It is usually some combination of:
- Patient name
- Patient DOB
- Specimen draw date/time
- Practice's account/ID number with the lab
- Patient ID number ("PATNO")
- Practice's accession number with the lab (requisition number)
Determine what your lab requires for its specimen label. The default lab label provided by the lab may be what the lab prefers, but in many cases, the lab's preferred label is much more complex than what the lab requires.
For example, here is what Quest would prefer our practice to provide. It has three ID numbers, the patient's full name and DOB, and the collection date and time:
However, in practice, Quest accepts a much simpler label, which is only three lines:
Therefore, you may not need to replicate the official labels provided by the lab. You may be able to get away with something much simpler. Ask your lab.
Planning step 2: What size label will you be using?
Labels come in slightly different dimensions and sizes. You don't want to print a 2.5x3 inch label format onto a 2x2.5 inch label, or it will look squished. Printing a 1x2 inch label format onto a 4x6" label will be so tiny it will be barely legible.
Our practice has had good success with the Dymo LabelWriter 550 Turbo Desktop Label Printer which can print a variety of labels. In our case, we use Dymo 30347 book spine (1” x 1-½”) labels. This is small enough to be economical while large enough to be legible and quick.
Planning step 3: How are you connecting your label printer to your OP/network?
This is a question best posed to your IT team rather than OP. Answers depend on:
- What kind of in-office network do you have?
- Do you want to print labels from every exam room, or just your lab?
- Do you have cloud or on-premise OP?
In our case, our label maker is located next to our lab computer. We only print specimens from the lab computer, and when we print the label report, we choose that particular printer to send copies to the label printer.
End to end: How it works for us
We identify a child who needs Quest labels printed. The task falls on the nurse or MA who actually drew the blood or collected the urine from the child.
Since that child is in our office today with an appointment, we right click on the Schedule, then go to Print Other Reports, to find our lab label report:
The lab label needed by Quest for our account appears:
We choose the correct lab label printer. If we need 3 labels, we change Number of copies under Copies in the print dialogue box.
We click Print. The labels pop out of the lab printer, where the nurse affixes them to the specimen.
