subject: What Is Stat Medical Shipping? [print this page] STAT is a term that most people might only know from their favorite hospital drama on TV, yet this is a term that is actually used in the medical industry every day. It means to do something immediately, and never do people working for the medical industry move as fast as when something is requested on a STAT basis. This is also a term that has carried over from its work in hospitals to the medical courier industry.
A STAT shipping service is a medical courier that is set up to respond to emergency needs from within the health care system. There is often a need for various medical shipments to be sent as fast as they can, and often, lives can hang in the balance. A good example of this is in disaster situations where there may be shortages of blood or drugs and they need to be rushed to the appropriate facilities as fast as possible. It is in order to respond to these types of situations that STAT delivery services exist.
A STAT courier will usually have several vehicles that are only to remain on standby until they are called upon to make a delivery. This is different than the business courier industry when a company might have a network of subcontracted delivery drivers who are working as much as possible. In that model, drivers are often busy and can't respond to new delivery requests quickly; a leisure of time that doesn't exist with STAT shipping.
Usually, STAT shipping will just take place in standard medical shipping units. These are like delivery vans with added security and refrigerated units to store medical material that has to be kept at a controlled temperature. However, there are also a number of STAT couriers that will also offer helicopter courier service. If they don't have their own, they often have a helicopter company that they partner with in case this is required.
The helicopter has become an important part of transporting goods on an emergency basis for the health care system. In major cities, many hospitals have helipads right on the roof of the building. This allows for the couriers to make deliveries quickly and easily to the site without having to content with the slowness of vehicles on the ground, not to mention having to wade through traffic to get to the hospital. Helicopters are also often used when transporting extremely vital medical material, such as transplant organs.
