Research Study Coordinators Meeting

Seattle Cancer Care Alliance

Research Specimen Courier Transport Information

Background: SCCA couriers provide transport for research specimens from various SCCA locations to the processing lab. Couriers pick up from Alliance Lab, Radiology, Infusion and CTU. They deliver to the main Digel Lab located in the PHS building and the Research Specimen Processing Facility (RSPF) also known as the satellite Digel Lab. There is one dedicated Research Specimen Courier position, but several different couriers cover the research phone and provide research specimen transport during the day.

Hours of Operation:  Monday through Friday courier delivery starts at 8:30 a.m. and last call is 7:45pm. We recommend that samples have a 60 min. processing window for courier delivery. The Courier will transport samples with a 30 min. processing window for you, but getting it there by deadline is not guaranteed.

 Saturdays, due to light staffing, there is very limited courier delivery between 10am and 3:15pm. So please send in your scheduling template early if you need a Saturday pickup. We will schedule up to two research specimen deliveries during those hours. The samples need to have at least a 60 min. processing window. Note that the Digel lab doesn’t open until 10am, so blood draws should not be scheduled much earlier than that.

Contact Information: Weekdays or weekends, the Research Specimen Courier cell phone number is 445-8823. Please call this number if you have questions about a specific specimen pickup. For Example: if you find out your sample is still waiting, and it’s been half an hour since the original call for pickup, you can contact the courier to make sure they know your sample is waiting. However, please don’t call the courier ahead of time, wait until the sample is actually logged in and ready to be picked up.

**Note: The Research Specimen Courier phone is covered by several different couriers during the day – so the courier you speak to may be a different courier than the person that got the original call.

For concerns about pickups, missed samples or other courier-related issues you can call the Courier Manager at 288-1407 from 7am-3:30pm – Call the Courier Manager if you don’t get an answer from the courier phone or there are issues around a particular sample.

Scheduling: To schedule a Courier pickup, please send a Research Specimen scheduling template to the Research Specimen Courier mailbox ([email protected]) 24 hours in advance. (If you can’t do it that far ahead, we still appreciate a template – it helps us work out staffing.) Please list your contact numbers on the template, just in case. It is also helpful if you email us when a patient is cancelled or delayed.

**Note: Couriers have limited access to email during the day. The Courier mailbox is checked fairly often during the day by the Courier Manager; however, if your issue is urgent, call Courier Manager at 288-1407 or the Research Courier cell phone, 445-8823.

If your sample was late or missed, please email the Courier Manager so we can figure out what went wrong and if we can make changes that might prevent a reoccurrence. Also submit a Patient Safety Net (PSN) report so we can track these issues overall.

Research Specimen Courier: phone 445-8823 Hours: Monday – Friday: 8:30am-7:45pm Saturday: 10am-3:15pm

Digel Lab, PHS Bldg. M5A224: phone 667-4645 Hours: Monday – Friday: 7am-9:30pm Saturday: 10am-6pm Sunday/Holidays: Closed

Created by: Marianne Satterlee – 8/2013