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Foundations

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Standards

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Tools

SSU^U03 — Specimen Status Update

Specimen status update between lab analyser and LIS middleware. The cornerstone of the IHE HL7 LAW (Laboratory Analytical Workflow) profile.

Purpose

SSU^U03 publishes a specimen's status evolution in the analyser chain: scanned, queued, in process, completed, error. One of the "U series" chapter 13 messages introduced in v2.5, and the foundation of the IHE LAW profile. The EQU segment identifies the emitting equipment, SAC carries container details and SPM the specimen.

Segment structure

Structure SSU_U03: MSH, EQU, [SPM, [SAC], [OBX], [OBR], [NTE]].

SegmentRole
EQUEquipment Detail — analyser ID, operational state.
SPMSpecimen — identification, availability status (HL7 0492).
SACSpecimen Container Detail — rack, position, container status (HL7 0370).
OBRObservation Request — attached assay, status (I=in-process).

Real-world example

Tube scanned rack A position 5 on a Cobas Pro, ready for pipetting:

plaintext ssu-u03-example.hl7 
MSH|^~\&|ANALYZER|COBAS|MIDDLEWARE|LIS|20260518083500||SSU^U03^SSU_U03|SSU03001|P|2.5.1|||AL|NE
EQU|COBAS_PRO_001|20260518083500||OPER^Operational^HL70569|MAINT^None^HL70568
SPM|1|SPECNO77123^LAB01|2018-2009^^LN|SER^Serum^HL70487||SST^Serum Separator Tube^HL70488|||||||||||||20260518081500||||AVAIL^Available^HL70492
SAC|||CTR-7712|RACK_A|POS_05|COBAS_PRO_001||5|YELLOW|TUBE|||||SCAN^Scanned^HL70370|||20260518082500
OBR|1|ORD20260518900|LAB20260518017|CHEMPANEL^Full Chemistry Panel^L|||20260518080000||||||||SER||||LAB20260518017||||LAB||I

Acknowledgment (ACK)

plaintext ack-u03-example.hl7 
MSH|^~\&|MIDDLEWARE|LIS|ANALYZER|COBAS|20260518083502||ACK^U03^ACK|ACKSSU03001|P|2.5.1
MSA|AA|SSU03001

Common errors

  • Inconsistent past EQU-2 timestamp: some middlewares reject a timestamp earlier than the last known.
  • SAC-15 (Specimen Container Status) outside HL7 0370: the closed list (Scanned, On hold, Aborted, etc.) must be respected.
  • Missing SPM-21 (Available / Phys. Avail / Limited / Unavailable): the LIS loses capacity-to-analyse info.
  • SSU / SSR confusion: SSR (U04) = request for status, SSU (U03) = unsolicited publication.
  • SSR^U04 — Specimen Status Request.
  • ESU^U01 — Equipment Status Update.
  • LSU^U12 — Automated Equipment Log/Service Update.
  • OUL^R21 — unsolicited result.