Metacontainer Types

Page Description

A metacontainer is a trackable item that may contain samples and/or other metacontainers. Every metacontainer has a type that determines what types of trackable items can be placed into it, its layout, load order, and label format. Examples of types that would be setup are Department, Refrigerator, Freezer, or Tube Rack. These types are then used through non-administration pages to create metacontainers to be managed within Copia to represent real world or abstract containers, such as Special Chemistry department, Specimen Processing fridge, Long-term Storage freezer, or Sendouts to Ref Lab rack.

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Metacontainer Type Setup

  1. Enter the name of the metacontainer in the Name field.
  2. Select the Active checkbox to specify that the metacontainer is active in the system.
  3. Select the Any Type checkbox to have the table display any type of trackable item in the Trackable Item column. The Any Type checkbox allows any metacontainer type or tube/container type to be placed into metacontainers of this type. This would prevent the need to edit the setup of the metacontainer type as other metacontainer or tube/container types are added as they will automatically be eligible to be received by metacontainers of this type.

    Each metacontainer type is allowed to define what other trackable items it can receive. These are Tube/Container Types and other Metacontainer Types that can be transferred/placed into metacontainers of this type. For example, a metacontainer type can be setup for Tube Rack to receive all blood draw tubes, but no other tube/container or netacontainer types. This would prevent a user from trying to place a urine cup or refrigerator into a Tube Rack metacontainer type, but they could place SST and EDTA tubes attached to patient orders into it. 

    Continuing, a metacontainer type setup for Refrigerator could receive any tube/container type, but only Tube Rack metacontainer types.

  4. Select the Any Tube/Container Type checkbox to have the table display any type of tube/container. The Any Tube/Container Type checkbox allows any tube/container type to be automatically eligible to be received by metacontainers of this type.
  5. Select the Select checkbox to select a specific trackable item and tube/container as eligible to be transferred into this metacontainer type.
  6. Select the All Contents Must Have Same Testing Host checkbox if the specimen inside the metacontainer of the type needs to have the same testing host. This checkbox can be used to limit what samples or metacontainers are eligible to be transferred into them.
  7. Select the All Contents Must Have Same Temperature checkbox if the specimen side the metacontainer of the type needs to be stored at the same temperature. This checkbox can be used to limit what samples or metacontainers are eligible to be transferred into them.

    Note that the testing host and/or temperature are not set on the metacontainer or metacontainer type, but is determined by the first sample of the metacontainer transferred into a metacontainer. If the Tube Rack metacontainer type is empty and an EDTA tube is placed in it that has a destination of Main Lab and needs to be refrigerated, these checkboxes, if selected, on the setup of the Tube Rack metacontainer type would only allow other refrigerated samples destined for Main Lab to be placed in the same rack.

    Similarly, the Refrigerator metacontainer type could force all racks placed into it have the same storage temperature as the first one placed in it. When all containers are transferred out of a metacontainer with this restriction on it, that metacontainer becomes empty and can receive any sample or metacontainer again. This allows the same metacontainer to be reused for different destinations or temperatures throughout its life.

  8. Select an option from the Label Format drop-down list to define label format for specific types of metacontainers.
  9. Enter an ID into the Code for ID Generation field to add the unique ID to the metacontainer. When new metacontainers of this type are created, they receive unique IDs generated for them that can be printed on labels and searched for within the application. The value of the Code for ID Generation field can be injected into this ID as defined in the ID generation format for metacontainers on the System Defaults administration page. Thought it needed to be reworded since "defined" is used twice within the same sentence.
  10. Click Save to save the metacontainer type, or click Cancel to not save the metacontainer type.

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Metacontainer Type Layout

This section defines the layout of metacontainers of a specific type. Leaving the Contained Items Have a Position checkbox cleared indicates that there is no structure/organization to contents in the metacontainer. This makes sense for a department, shipping bag, tote, or refrigerator. A maximum number of items is able to be defined, but is not required, as it is also possible to define an unlimited number of contents.

Non-positional

  1. Clear the Contained Items Have a Position checkbox to indicate that the metacontainers add a structure/organization to the contents within the metacontainer.
  2. Enter a value in the Maximum Number of Item ____ to define the number of contents within a metacontainer. Select the Unlimited checkbox to specify that the metacontainer has an unlimited number of contents.

Positional

  1. Select the Contained Items Have a Position checkbox to indicate that the metacontainers have a specific structure/organization to the contents within the metacontainer. This is intended to be useful for racks, shelves, and even multi-well plates.
  2. Select either the Circular or Rectangular options to specify how the metacontainer positions are displayed.
  3. Use the Columns, Rows, Maximum Number, and Labels table configuration items to specify how many columns and rows are displayed in the table as well as the layout. Select either None, Numeric, or Alphabetic from the drop-down list to pick the column and row label format. Click the rotating arrows icon to refresh the table and preview the configuration.
  4. Select the Hide Visualization on Pages by Default checkbox to have the page hide the visualization of the table by default.
  5. Click the Specify Load Order link to manually specify the load order for the metacontainers.

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Specify Load Order

Define the load order on positional metacontainers. This speeds up the transferring process by allowing the next empty position in the metacontainer to gain focus after a previous container has been transferred into the prior position. The load order is defined in a pop-up that is displayed after clicking the Specify Load Order link.
  1. The load order can be defined manually by entering a numerical value in each position.
  2. Select an option from the Predefined Pattern drop-down list to create a shortcut by selecting a predefined pattern for the metacontainer types. Select either By Row: Across then Down, By Column: Down then Across, Snake Down, or Snake Across from the drop-down list.
  3. Click Auto-fill to automatically fill the table with the predefined pattern selected in the drop-down list.
  4. Click Save to save changes made on the pop-up, or click Cancel to close the pop-up without making any changes.

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