Automating all the steps involved in laboratory testing from specimen processing to storage, retrieval, and disposal of specimens is referred to as:

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Total Laboratory Automation describes a fully integrated system where every stage of the lab workflow is automated, from receiving and accessioning the specimen through pre-analytic processing, analytic testing, post-analytic handling, storage, retrieval, and eventual disposal. The goal is a seamless, hands-off process with consistent results, faster turnaround, better traceability, and enhanced safety. Middleware and bar-code labeling are components used within automation, but they don’t by themselves automate the entire workflow: middleware connects instruments and data systems, and a bar-code label is a tracking element. Discrete automation, by contrast, automates individual steps or instruments rather than the whole process.