The SCP (Sterilizer Configuration) segment was introduced in HL7 v2.7 as part of the sterilization and anti-microbial device messaging suite. It describes the configuration of a decontamination or sterilization device: how many devices are reporting, how the device labels itself, what model and type it is, and whether it operates under lot control. SCP gives downstream systems the static device context they need to interpret the dynamic SDD, SLT, and STZ data that follow.
Purpose
SCP answers the question "what is this sterilizer and how should I interpret data from it?" It is sent when a sterilizer comes online, when its configuration changes, or as a header for a batch of sterilization device data. A typical SCP groups a device number, a model name, a device type code, and a lot-control flag so that the receiving lab or central sterile services system can correctly associate cycles, lots, and parameters with a known piece of equipment.
Used in
SCP is most commonly seen in lab automation and sterilization cycle messages:
- ESU — Equipment Status Update — used when a sterilizer broadcasts a configuration or status change.
- ESR — Equipment Status Request — the inquiry counterpart, where a manager asks a device to report its configuration.
- Sterilization cycle messages that batch SCP with SDD, SLT, and STZ.
Field-by-field reference
Source: HAPI HL7v2 v2.8.1 javadocs (https://hapifhir.github.io/hapi-hl7v2/v281/apidocs/ca/uhn/hl7v2/model/v281/segment/SCP.html). Length —; Required and Table # from the HL7 v2 standard where well-established.
| Seq | Name | Data Type | Length | Req | Repeat | Table # | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCP-1 | Number Of Decontamination/Sterilization Devices | nm | — | R | — | — | Count of devices covered by this segment. |
| SCP-2 | Labor Calculation Type | cwe | — | O | — | — | How labor time is calculated for cycles. |
| SCP-3 | Date Format | cwe | — | O | — | — | Date format the device emits in messages. |
| SCP-4 | Device Number | ei | — | O | — | — | Unique identifier assigned to the device. |
| SCP-5 | Device Name | st | — | O | — | — | Human-readable name of the sterilizer. |
| SCP-6 | Device Model Name | st | — | O | — | — | Manufacturer model designation. |
| SCP-7 | Device Type | cwe | — | O | — | — | Coded category of sterilization device. |
| SCP-8 | Lot Control | cwe | — | O | — | — | Indicates lot-tracking behavior of device. |
Most-used fields
- SCP-1 Number Of Decontamination/Sterilization Devices — the primary identifier and the only field consistently required to make the segment usable. A SCP that omits SCP-1 is rejected by most engines as malformed.
- SCP-4 Device Number — the EI that joins SCP to every downstream SDD, SLT, and STZ for the same device.
- SCP-6 Device Model Name — used by maintenance dashboards to filter and group cycles by hardware model.
- SCP-7 Device Type — a CWE that lets receivers route autoclave data differently from washer-disinfector data without parsing the model name.
- SCP-8 Lot Control — drives whether downstream SLT segments are expected; receivers often validate "if SCP-8 indicates lot control, at least one SLT must follow".
Version differences (2.6 to 2.8.2)
- 2.6 — SCP did not exist; sterilizer data was sent as free-text in NTE or via local Z-segments.
- 2.7 — SCP introduced with the eight fields shown above as part of the sterilization device messaging package.
- 2.8 — No structural changes. Vocabulary on SCP-2, SCP-3, SCP-7, and SCP-8 continued to mature; implementations began aligning to UCUM and to industry sterilizer type codes.
- 2.8.1 — The version documented here; field set is identical to 2.8 with refined CWE coding guidance.
- 2.8.2 — No new fields; minor clarifications around SCP-8 Lot Control vocabulary and the relationship to SLT.
Common mistakes
- Sending SCP without SCP-1 — the count field is required and many parsers will refuse the segment.
- Putting the device serial number in SCP-5 Device Name instead of SCP-4 Device Number; SCP-4 is the EI that downstream segments should reference.
- Confusing SCP-6 Device Model Name (free-text ST) with SCP-7 Device Type (coded CWE). Receivers code-route on SCP-7; SCP-6 is only for display.
- Setting SCP-8 Lot Control to "Y" but never emitting an SLT in the same message — receivers cannot match cycles to lots.
- Reusing SCP-4 Device Number across physically distinct devices; the identifier must be unique to a sterilizer.
- Sending SCP to a v2.5.1 receiver — the segment did not exist before v2.7 and will be ignored or rejected.
Examples
Minimal SCP:
SCP|1
Fully-populated SCP:
SCP|1|HOURS^Hours^HL70718|YYYYMMDDHHMM^Long^HL70529|STZ-AUTOCLAVE-07^^STERILE-CENTRAL^EI|Central OR Autoclave 7|MedSteam 5000XL|STEAM^Steam Autoclave^HL70667|Y^Lot Controlled^HL70136
Annotated breakdown:
SCP segment id
|1 SCP-1 Number Of Devices = 1
|HOURS^Hours^HL70718 SCP-2 Labor Calculation Type
|YYYYMMDDHHMM^Long^HL70529 SCP-3 Date Format
|STZ-AUTOCLAVE-07^^STERILE-CENTRAL^EI SCP-4 Device Number (EI)
|Central OR Autoclave 7 SCP-5 Device Name
|MedSteam 5000XL SCP-6 Device Model Name
|STEAM^Steam Autoclave^HL70667 SCP-7 Device Type
|Y^Lot Controlled^HL70136 SCP-8 Lot Control
In-context ESU excerpt (equipment status update from a sterilizer reporting its configuration):
MSH|^~&|STERILECTRL|CSSD|LIS|LAB|20260610081500||ESU^U01^ESU_U01|MSG00001841|P|2.8.1
EQU|STZ-AUTOCLAVE-07^^STERILE-CENTRAL^EI|20260610081500|RUNNING^Running^HL70569
SCP|1|HOURS^Hours^HL70718|YYYYMMDDHHMM^Long^HL70529|STZ-AUTOCLAVE-07^^STERILE-CENTRAL^EI|Central OR Autoclave 7|MedSteam 5000XL|STEAM^Steam Autoclave^HL70667|Y^Lot Controlled^HL70136
In-context ESU excerpt (multi-device configuration broadcast at shift start):
MSH|^~&|STERILECTRL|CSSD|LIS|LAB|20260610070000||ESU^U01^ESU_U01|MSG00001842|P|2.8.1
EQU|STZ-WASHER-03^^STERILE-CENTRAL^EI|20260610070000|IDLE^Idle^HL70569
SCP|1|MIN^Minutes^HL70718|YYYYMMDD^Short^HL70529|STZ-WASHER-03^^STERILE-CENTRAL^EI|Decon Washer 3|HydroClean WD-200|WASHER-DISINFECTOR^Washer Disinfector^HL70667|N^Not Lot Controlled^HL70136
See the ESU message page for the full trigger event and segment grouping.
FHIR mapping
No segment-level ConceptMap is published in the v2-to-FHIR IG for SCP. Conceptually, SCP-4 Device Number and SCP-5 Device Name map to Device.identifier and Device.deviceName; SCP-6 Device Model Name maps to Device.modelNumber; SCP-7 Device Type maps to Device.type. The lot-control behavior in SCP-8 has no direct FHIR analog and is usually represented as a Device.property or a custom extension. Sterilization data overall maps conceptually to FHIR Device, DeviceMetric, and Substance resources rather than a one-to-one segment mapping.
Engine considerations
- Most engines treat SCP-1 as the only mandatory field; build validation rules that confirm it is present and numeric.
- SCP often arrives in a repeating segment group with SDD and EQU. Configure your engine to keep the group intact so the Device Number on SCP-4 can be propagated to downstream SDD-2 and SLT-1.
- The CWE fields (SCP-2, SCP-3, SCP-7, SCP-8) use HL7-published tables in some sites and local tables in others. Centralize the lookup tables to avoid per-channel drift.
- SCP-3 Date Format is informational about how the device formats dates inside its own free-text fields — it does not change how the engine parses HL7 DT/DTM fields elsewhere in the message.
- Because SCP was introduced in v2.7, downgrading to v2.5.1 or earlier requires either dropping the segment or moving its content into NTE/Z-segments.
How Vorro parses and produces SCP
Vorro's pipeline treats SCP as a device-context header. On inbound: SCP-4 Device Number is normalized to an internal device identifier, joined to the active SDD/SLT/STZ in the same message group, and used to update the Device dimension in the analytics warehouse. SCP-7 Device Type drives routing — autoclaves, washer-disinfectors, and ultrasonic cleaners flow to different downstream channels. On outbound: Vorro generates SCP from the device registry, populating SCP-1 from a count of devices in the current ESU, SCP-4 from the registry's external identifier, and SCP-8 from the device's lot-control flag. Vorro guards against malformed SCPs by rejecting messages where SCP-1 is missing, non-numeric, or inconsistent with the number of downstream device segments.
