subject: Medical Shipping: What Does Stat Mean? [print this page] When a courier company starts branching in to medical deliveries, they quickly find that the medical industry contains a great deal of jargon which is not just restricted to hospitals. You will find that the most unlikely Arkansas courier services will be using loads of complicated medical terms when it comes to the medical divisions of their delivery services. Some of these terms aren't likely to come up very often, but a simple term that is used on a fairly frequent basis, is STAT. This is an important term, both in a hospital an in terms of medical shipping, so it is important to understand its meaning.
STAT, like many of the more common medical terms, comes from the Latin. The root word of STAT is statim, which means immediately. The term is simple, and really means nothing more than that root word means. If you hear someone request something STAT in any type of medical setting, including in a medical courier business, it means that it has to be done as fast as humanly possible.
In the business world, sometimes a courier will have a separate branch of their service which is devoted to making emergency deliveries. This might be called the rush, emergency, or point to point delivery service depending on the company and where they are located. These are divisions which usually have separate vehicles which are set aside in reserve for the purpose of making last minute deliveries when the need arises. In the medical industry, these subdivisions of courier companies are often called the STAT courier service.
STAT shipping is an important part of the medical industry as a whole. Having a quality system of STAT couriers located across the country helps to improve the quality of health care across the nation. By having reliable vehicles available at all hours of the day ready to transport medical material, we ensure that any facility that finds themselves with any kind of crucial shortage can quickly have that need met so that they can continue to offer the highest possible level of care to their patients.
There are many different things that a STAT courier might carry. Sometimes drugs might be shipped when they are only available in limited supplies or are experimental and not in production. Blood can be rushed for transfusions when there is a shortage. Samples are also often rushed to labs so that test results can be given to the doctor quicker.
