Specimen Transport
Your specimens travel under documented custody, in the temperature condition they require, packaged to the standard recorded on the run sheet. Every handoff is signed and timestamped, so the record accounts for the specimen at each step of the run.
UN3373 Category BSentinel moves laboratory specimens between collection sites and reference laboratories across the DFW east corridor: Fate, Rockwall, Royse City, Rowlett, Wylie, Forney and Kaufman. Every run travels under a documented chain of custody, at the temperature the payload requires, packaged to the UN3373 Category B standard and verified before the vehicle leaves your dock.
Before we accept a payload, we confirm its packaging against UN3373 Category B requirements, and we decline Category A infectious substances. The run sheet travels with the specimen for the length of the run, and the completed record is retained and provided on request.
- Signed chain-of-custody record for every handoff
- Temperature logged at pickup and at delivery
- Packaging standard recorded on the run sheet
- Documentation retained and produced on request
- Packaging Standard
- UN3373 Cat B
- Temperature Options
- Ambient, Refrigerated, Frozen
- Custody Record
- Signed, timestamped
- Category A
- Not accepted
How a run works
- 1Booking and confirmation
You book by phone or through the form on this site. We confirm back with the pickup location, the window, and the handling the payload requires, so the details are settled before a vehicle moves rather than sorted out at your counter.
- 2Packaging check at pickup
We check the payload against UN3373 Category B before accepting it: primary receptacle, secondary packaging, absorbent material sufficient for the volume, and an outer container marked and labelled. The standard the specimen actually travelled in is written onto the run sheet. If the packaging does not meet it, we say so at the counter, not afterward.
- 3Identification
Specimens are recorded by accession or container ID, the number your laboratory assigned. No patient name, no date of birth, no medical record number and no ordered test enters our run sheet or our dispatch system at any point in the run.
- 4Temperature
The cooler is matched to the payload before the run rather than selected from whatever is in the vehicle. Ambient, refrigerated or frozen. The condition is recorded at pickup.
- 5Custody in transit
The specimen stays in our possession for the length of the run. Each transfer records time, origin, destination, condition and packaging standard.
- 6Delivery
At the receiving laboratory the handoff is signed and timestamped, and the temperature is recorded a second time. The record shows the condition the specimen travelled in, not only that it arrived.
- 7The file
The completed run sheet is retained and indexed. When you need it, for your own compliance file, for an accreditation review, or for a question raised weeks after the fact, it is produced on request rather than reconstructed.
What we decline, and why
A courier that accepts everything is telling you it is not checking. Four things get declined at the counter, and each one is worth stating plainly so it is never a surprise on a live route.
Category A material carries packaging, training and handling requirements that fall outside what Sentinel operates. We transport Category B under UN3373 and we decline Category A rather than improvise around the difference. If your facility has a Category A need, you will hear that from us during onboarding, not at your dock.
If the triple packaging is incomplete, the absorbent material is insufficient for the volume, or the outer container is unmarked, we do not carry that payload. We tell you what is missing and re-collect once it is corrected. Accepting a non-compliant package and carrying it anyway does not solve your problem. It moves it into a vehicle and makes it a shared one.
A specimen with no accession or container ID cannot be entered on the run sheet, which means it cannot be tracked. We do not solve that by writing down a patient name. We hold the specimen and call you.
If a payload needs a handling condition we cannot verify or record, a temperature we cannot hold for the length of your route or a custody requirement we cannot capture, we decline it. A courier taking work outside its capability is not being accommodating.
Common questions
- What happens if a specimen is compromised in transit?
- You hear it from us before you hear it from anyone else. Condition is recorded at both ends of the run, so if a container leaks, a seal fails or a temperature moves outside range, the event is documented with the time it was found and you get a call while we are still in the vehicle. What happens next is your decision. Our job is to make sure you are making it with the full record in front of you.
- How long do you keep the chain-of-custody record?
- Completed run sheets are retained and indexed rather than filed loose, and produced on request. Retention terms for contracted accounts are set in the service agreement, so the period matches what your own accreditation body or client contracts require of you.
- Can you hold frozen specimens for the length of a run?
- The cooler is matched to the payload and the condition is recorded at both ends. Tell us the temperature range and the route length at onboarding and we will confirm whether we can hold it before you commit to us. If a route is long enough that we cannot, we would rather say so than find out on the first live run.
- We already have a courier. What does switching actually involve?
- Your route profile is built and confirmed before the first live run: dock location, access instructions, the named contact, the window, and the handling each payload needs. There is no learning period where your specimens are the training material. Facilities usually run us in parallel on part of their volume before moving the rest.
- The requisition is in the bag. How does patient data stay out of your systems?
- It stays sealed. We identify specimens by the accession or container ID, a number only your laboratory can resolve to a patient. We do not transcribe identifiers, photograph labels or requisitions, or enter them into any Sentinel system. There is nothing to expose in our software because nothing is put there.
- Do you cover our location?
- The corridor runs Fate, Rockwall, Royse City, Rowlett, Wylie, Forney and Kaufman. If you sit just outside it, ask. Contracted routes across the wider DFW area are handled case by case, and the answer depends on the window rather than the mileage.
Tell us the route, not just the address
The fastest way to get a useful answer is to say where the specimens are collected, where they need to land, how often, and what temperature they travel at. Send that through the quote form or to dispatch@sentinelmedicaltransport.net, and we will come back with whether we can hold that window, what the route would look like, and what it costs. If we cannot serve it, you will get that in the first reply.
Request a quoteGet Started
Let's talk about your routes.
Tell us what you move and when. You'll hear back the same business day.
Do not include patient information. This form is for facility and scheduling details only. Never enter patient names, dates of birth, medical record numbers, diagnoses, or any other patient-identifiable information.