Clinical Virology Laboratory -
Guidelines for Specimens Sent from Outside UPMC

  • Initial screening of the specimen by clinical personnel at the physician's hospital (Is the specimen appropriate to the clinical symptoms? Has it been properly handled?). The physician or hospital personnel may contact the UPMC virology lab at 412-647-3726 to explain the patient history and purpose of the tests.

  • A requisition form(s) providing the following detailed information must be sent along with the specimen(s) to the UPMC clinical virology laboratory:

      Patient name
      Social security number
      Birth date (age is acceptable)
      Diagnosis code
      Type of specimen
      Date and time collected 
      Patient account number
      Clinician name
      Clinician's pager and/or phone number
      Contact details for billing and results

  • UPMC does not have a courier service for transportation of specimens. Hence, depending on the specimen and location of the hospital, specimens should be sent to UPMC by private automobile, taxi, express bus, air express, or express couriers with guaranteed delivery times. Sometimes specimens may be collected directly from the patient at UPMC itself. All packages must be prepaid by the sender. Packages arriving with "bill recipient" will not be accepted for testing.