The link between specimen and patient indicates that the specimen was collected from that patient. Unless a specimen is accidentally linked to the wrong patient, there should not be a reason to make a change except during the rare case where there was a transplant involved. To change which patient a specimen record is linked to:

• Open the specimen record for the specimen to which you would like to reassign to a different patient. See Editing Specimen Records for instructions on how to do this.
• Select File-Change Patient from the menu on the specimen detail window

• Fill in the appropriate data in the Patient Information area of the window.

• If the patient to be linked to already has a record in one of HCI's databases (or, in the Enterprise Data Warehouse — indicated by having an MRN), search for that patient record to link it using an alias such as MRN or HCI Person ID. Select the alias type in the Patient Alias field, entering the actual alias in the field next to that drop-down, and clicking on the magnifying glass icon next to that field. If a matching patient is found, the patient information will be filled in automatically.

• Fill in the appropriate data in the Collection Information area of the window. (See note below if the collection record already exists — usually because other specimens were collected at the same time.)

• If the collection record to be linked to already exists, you should search for that collection record using a collection alias such as a Collection ID or HCI Number. Select the alias type in the Collection Alias field, entering the actual alias in the field next to that drop-down, and clicking on the magnifying glass icon next to that field. If a matching collection record is found, the collection information will be filled in automatically.

• Searching for an existing collection record, prior to searching for a patient, will identify the patient and fill in the patient information as well. You cannot transfer the collection from one patient to another, even if the specimen is the only specimen collected during that collection event. Entering the specimen's previous collection ID will indicate that the specimen should still be linked to the original patient.

• Clickto make the change indicated by the information entered on the window.