Quebec form
RAMQ Laboratory Requisition
The RAMQ laboratory requisition (requête de laboratoire) is how a Quebec clinician orders insured lab work. The laboratory needs a readable indication, the right tests, and a destination for results. A shopping list with no clinical question is how the lab calls you back — or how you get tests you did not mean to bill.
What the requête has to carry
Use the current provincial or établissement requisition. Hospitals, CLSCs, and private labs may overlay extra fields, but RAMQ still needs the professional's identity, the patient's NAM (numéro d'assurance maladie), and a medical indication. Do not photocopy a 2018 pad that lists obsolete panels.
Write the clinical question in French if the lab is French: 'fatigue, rechercher anémie et dysthyroïdie,' not a paragraph of English HPI. The technologist is not your consultant. They need to know if this is routine, urgent, or fasting.
Insured vs uninsured tests
Some add-on tests are not insured or need a specific indication. If you order a non-insured assay, the patient may be billed. Check the current RAMQ list rather than assuming a Toronto panel is covered in Quebec.
Who may order
- Physicians and other professionals RAMQ authorizes to requisition that test.
- Stay inside your scope. An order for a test you cannot interpret or act on is still your order.
- Delegated requisitions need a named professional. 'The clinic' is not a prescriber.
How to complete the requisition
- Patient NAM, name, date of birth. A transposed NAM is a wrong person's results.
- Your permit number and lieu de pratique. Results go missing when the copy-to address is a defunct fax.
- Indication: one line. Fatigue 6 weeks, on metformin, last A1C 12 months ago.
- Tests: name them. 'Labos de routine' is not an order. CBC, ferritin, TSH, A1C, creatinine — if that is what you mean.
- Urgence vs routine. Do not mark urgent for a screening TSH.
- Copies: who else receives results. Oncology and the GMF family physician both need to be named if both are acting.
- Fasting, timed draws, and pregnancy status when they change the assay.
If you are repeating a test because the last one was hemolyzed, say 'contrôle, spécimen antérieur hémolysé.' Otherwise the lab may cancel a duplicate.
Worked example (fictional)
Family medicine — fatigue and heavy periods
Fictional 41-year-old. Do not copy onto a real requête.
NAM et identité vérifiés. Permis et clinique du GMF. Indication: fatigue 8 semaines, ménorragies, pas de rectorragie. Dernier CBC il y a 3 ans. Routine (pas urgent). À jeun non requis sauf glycémie. Examens: FSC, ferritine, TSH, glycémie, créatinine, ALT. Copies: prescripteur seulement. Patiente avisée de prendre rendez-vous pour les résultats, pas un 'pas de nouvelles = bonnes nouvelles.' Pas de panel oncologique. Pas de vitamine D aujourd'hui.
Why the lab rejects or ignores the form
- Unreadable handwriting or a missing NAM.
- No indication, so the lab cannot justify an insured test.
- Wrong copy-to fax, so you never see the critical potassium.
- Urgent ticked on a screening panel.
- Ordering a test your profession cannot requisition.
Draft the lab requisition from the visit
In Scribeberry, open Forms, search for the RAMQ laboratory requisition, or upload the current official PDF. Generate from the encounter and your notes, then edit every field before you sign. Scribeberry does not pre-map this form. You still review and sign.
Frequently asked questions
Can I order a Toronto-style 'annual bloodwork' panel?
Order the tests you have an indication for. Quebec insurance and lab menus are not Ontario's. Name each test. 'Routine bloods' is not a requisition.
What if the patient has no RAMQ card today?
Follow the lab's rule for identity. You can still write the clinical order. Billing eligibility is RAMQ's problem; a wrong name is yours.
Who is responsible for follow-up of results?
The ordering professional, unless you have a documented copy-to arrangement the other clinician accepted. Put the copy-to on the form. Do not assume the hospitalist saw it.
Does Scribeberry send the requisition to the lab?
No. Scribeberry helps you complete the PDF. You give it to the patient or send it through your lab channel and keep a copy in the chart.
Forms
