What the General Test Requisition is for
The General Test Requisition orders most Public Health Ontario Laboratory tests, with one requisition per specimen. HIV testing, culture isolates and environmental samples have dedicated requisitions.
It is often confused with the Ontario laboratory requisition used for community labs. Tests PHO performs go on PHO’s own requisitions, and PHO only performs tests that are insured services under the Health Insurance Act.
Who completes it
The ordering health care provider completes every section for each specimen. They must be authorized to order laboratory tests in Ontario. The patient completes nothing.
How to fill in the requisition
Submitter and patient information
Enter your licence number, which can be your OHIP billing number, CPSO number or another college registration number, with your name and contact details. In clinics with rotating providers, name the attending provider. Fill in the patient’s details in full. PHO advises against pre-populated fields, because they can carry over outdated or wrong information.
Patient setting, indications and symptoms
Tick the setting that fits this encounter, including congregate living such as a long-term care home or shelter. Tick the reasons for testing and the signs and symptoms, with the onset date. The guide marks onset date as often missed, and some tests aren’t approved without clinical details.
Specimen information
Tick the specimen type and enter the collection date, also marked on the form as often missed. For “Other”, give both the specimen type and the body site, for example a skin swab from the right arm.
Test(s) Requested
Enter each assay by its name in PHO’s test directory, one per line. For multiplex panels, use the assay name, such as gastroenteritis virus detection. For routine hepatitis A, B or C serology, use the hepatitis section instead and tick acute infection, immune status, chronic infection or pre-chemotherapy screening.
Exposures and travel
Give relevant exposures and travel with dates. For an occupational or needlestick exposure, say whether the specimen is from the source or the exposed person.
Common reasons testing is delayed or cancelled
- Identifiers on the specimen container that don’t match the requisition.
- A blank Health Card No. field instead of “not available”.
- Test names that don’t match the test directory, or are illegible.
- No clinical, exposure or travel details for a test that needs them for approval.
- A test that needs pre-approval sent without calling PHO’s Customer Service Centre.
- No collection date.
Submitting and who pays
Send the specimen with its requisition to PHO’s laboratory following the collection, storage and transport requirements in the test directory. Testing is publicly funded as an insured service. Medulla can suggest this requisition from the orders in the visit plan.