Glossary of mobile lab, imaging and home health dispatch terms

The words dispatchers, techs and clients use every day, defined plainly. Each term has its own link, so you can share one definition at a time.

AM rounds {#am-rounds}

Early-morning draws at a facility, usually timed so results are back before the physician or nurse practitioner rounds and so fasting patients are drawn before breakfast. The facility sends the patient list the night before or that morning. The facility is on a schedule; the patient list changes day to day. See Standing orders and AM rounds.

Assigned {#assigned}

An order that has been given to a tech but not yet confirmed by them.

Business Associate Agreement (BAA) {#baa}

A contract HIPAA requires when a vendor creates, receives, keeps or sends protected health information on behalf of a covered entity, such as a healthcare provider. It sets out how the vendor protects that information. Ask any software vendor whether they will sign one before you put patient information in their system.

Chain of custody {#chain-of-custody}

The record of who had a specimen, where and when. In dispatch it runs from the draw to the drop at the lab, and on a mobile route it includes every handoff and every time specimens are left at a facility for pickup. In forensic and workplace drug testing the term means something stricter: a signed custody and control form, tamper-evident seals and a defined legal process. A dispatch record doesn't replace that form. See Specimen chain of custody for mobile phlebotomy.

Client portal {#client-portal}

The part of a dispatch system that a client's own staff sign in to. Clients place orders, track status and see only their own facilities and orders. See the client portal.

Completed {#completed}

The tech has finished the order. For lab work, the specimens have been dropped at the lab or drop site. Completion stops the dispatch turnaround clock.

Confirmed {#confirmed}

An order the tech has accepted on their phone. It is the step after assigned.

Departed {#departed}

The tech has left the stop. For a draw, the visit is done and the specimens travel with the tech.

Dispatch board {#dispatch-board}

A screen with one column per tech on shift and orders stacked by status. Dragging an order onto a tech assigns it.

Drop site {#drop-site}

The lab or other location where a tech or courier delivers specimens. A lab order is completed when its specimens are dropped.

En route {#en-route}

The tech has left for the stop. The timestamp marks the start of the drive.

Handoff {#handoff}

One tech giving specimens to another mid-route, for example to make a lab cutoff or split a long day. A good handoff record names both techs and checks off each specimen. See handoffs.

Held order {#held-order}

In dispatch, an order that is assigned to a tech but kept off their phone until dispatch sends it. Used to build tomorrow's work tonight without a notification for every change. Not the same as an order on hold in the lab sense, where the work itself is paused, for example because the patient was hospitalized or the order needs clarification.

Leave for pickup {#leave-for-pickup}

A tech leaving specimens at a facility for a courier to collect later. The tech checks off what was left, and the courier picks up exactly that.

Mobile phlebotomy {#mobile-phlebotomy}

Blood draws performed where the patient is (a home, a skilled nursing facility, an assisted living community or a workplace) instead of at a draw station.

Modality {#modality}

The kind of imaging a tech is trained and credentialed to perform, such as X-ray or ultrasound. EKG isn't imaging, but mobile X-ray companies often send EKGs with the same crews and track them the same way. In mobile radiology dispatch, the exam on the order has to go to a tech who performs it. See Dispatching portable X-ray and ultrasound techs by modality.

On site {#on-site}

The tech has arrived at the stop. Also called "arrived."

Peak and trough {#peak-and-trough}

Two kinds of timed drug-level draws. A trough is drawn just before the next dose, when the level is lowest. A peak is drawn after a dose, at a time the ordering clinician, pharmacy or lab protocol sets. A random level can be drawn at any time, though the lab still needs the time of the last dose.

Portable X-ray {#portable-x-ray}

An X-ray taken where the patient is, using equipment the tech brings in a vehicle. Common in skilled nursing and assisted living facilities, where moving the patient to an imaging center is hard.

Redraw {#redraw}

A second draw ordered because the first specimen couldn't be used: it clotted, hemolyzed, was mislabeled, was drawn outside its window, or didn't have enough blood in the tube (QNS, "quantity not sufficient"). Recording a reason on each redraw shows where they cluster.

Specimen courier {#specimen-courier}

A driver who carries specimens from facilities, draw sites or techs to the lab. Couriers often pick up specimens a tech left at a facility.

Standing order {#standing-order}

Clinically, a provider's order for a test to repeat at a set interval for a patient, instead of being ordered each time. On the dispatch side it becomes a facility visit schedule, such as every Monday and Thursday or the first Tuesday of the month. See Standing orders and AM rounds.

STAT {#stat}

An order that goes ahead of routine work as soon as it comes in, measured against a turnaround target agreed with the client. STAT orders sit at the top of the dispatch screen with a running age until they're completed.

Timed draw {#timed-draw}

A draw that has to happen inside a set window, such as a peak or trough. The order carries the window, the level, any dose and the line the tech needs to know about. See How to schedule and dispatch timed draws.

Turnaround time (TAT) {#turnaround-time}

The time between two points in an order's life, so always ask which two. Labs usually measure from collection or receipt to result. Dispatch measures from when the order was requested to when it was completed, which for lab work means the specimen reached the lab. Dispatch TAT is the part your team controls.

UTO (unable to obtain) {#uto}

A visit where the tech couldn't get the specimen: the patient refused, wasn't there, or couldn't be drawn within the number of attempts your policy allows. Tracking UTOs apart from cancellations shows which facilities, patients or times of day cause them.

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