A courier platform is only as good as what the driver does with it. The StatVault medical courier driver app is built for people on the road, in parking garages and in hospital basements, on the phones they already own: a logistics driver app that also carries the proof a specimen run needs.
A logistics driver app for Android and iPhone
The app runs on Android and iPhone. Drivers install it on their own phones, sign in, and see their work. There is no special device to buy or hand out, and most updates arrive over the air without a visit to the app store.
The day on one screen, with the building knowledge attached
The driver sees the orders and route stops assigned to them, in order, with the address, the access point, the box, and everything drivers before them have learned about the site: which door, which buzzer, where the box hides, and photos of the actual door and the actual box. A first visit to a building is marked, so a driver knows to read the notes before they arrive.
Stops at the same door sit under one heading as a visit, numbered down a rail, so several drops at one hospital read as one stop with a line per order. A new order from dispatch sounds, and sits at the top of the list under a red strip until the driver confirms it. Each pickup and drop is a short checklist: arrive, scan the box tag by NFC or barcode or photograph the box, count the pieces or name who received them, a photo or signature where a rule asks for one, and the pick-up or deliver button as the last step on the rail. The dispatcher's manifest sidebar draws the same numbered list from the same data, so dispatch and the driver read one screen.
Drivers build the site knowledge
The people who know a building are the people who walk into it every day. The app lets a driver add that knowledge from the stop itself: a photo of the after-hours dropbox, the badge-reader door, the loading dock, a note that the buzzer is on the left. It is attached to the building's access point, dispatch curates it, and the next driver sees it on their first visit instead of calling in. When dispatch needs something specific, they flag the stop, and the driver sees a camera chip and a Dispatch needs request pinned at the top of Improve this location: "photo of the dropbox", "which door has the badge reader". A popup at the stop can ask for it, and it never blocks the pickup. Read more under dispatch.
NFC at the box
At a clinic lockbox the driver taps the NFC tag with the phone. Android reads the tag on contact. iPhone uses a scan button. The tap is matched to the stop, and it becomes proof of pickup in the chain of custody. Where a site has a barcode instead of a tag, the driver scans that; either one is evidence. A driver who cannot scan says so and picks a reason, and the record shows the missing scan rather than hiding it. Read more in NFC proof of pickup.
The offline outbox
Signal disappears exactly where specimens are: basements, loading docks, lead-lined rooms. Every tap, photo, signature and completion goes into an outbox on the phone first, then to the server. If the phone is offline, the outbox waits and sends everything the moment the connection returns, in order, without duplicates. A driver never has to ask whether the tap took.
Photos and signatures
Drivers capture photos at the stop and signatures at the drop on the same phone. Both are attached to the order and show up on the order detail for dispatch, and each one is a line in the dispatch event log the moment it arrives.
A company can require them, as a rule with a scope rather than a blanket: for an order type, a customer account, a site, a single door at a site, one specimen box or every registered box, always or only at the last pickup of the day at that box. The app holds the driver at that step until it is captured and says which rule asked. A rule set to Ask shows a popup once and never blocks, and a mail run that no rule names gets no prompts. The box-clear photo at the last pickup of the day is the one labs ask for most. It works without signal, and a dispatcher can always complete the order from the board.
Chat, and a walkie-talkie
Chat with dispatch is built in: text, photos and voice. In a direct message the app is laid out like a radio: a full-width HOLD TO TALK bar, with the keyboard one tap away behind it. A driver with gloves on, a bag in one hand and a phone in the other holds the bar, talks, and lets go. Dispatch hears the clip with a radio chirp, on its own volume that the master mute never silences, and a transcript lands in the thread a few seconds later, so what was said is searchable afterwards. Dispatch can message one driver, a saved group, or the whole fleet, and acknowledgement cards make sure an important message was answered, not just seen.
GPS that holds up
While the driver is on shift the app reports position steadily, including when the screen is off. That feeds the live map in dispatch and gives the custody record observed arrivals and departures instead of guesses.
Temperature tags
When temperature tags ride in the vehicle or the bag, the driver's phone relays their readings while the app is open, and takes an extra reading at each pickup, delivery and box scan. The driver does nothing extra. Dispatch sees the readings under that driver.
Related
Further reading: The Driver App.
Questions couriers ask
- Which phones are supported?
- Android phones and iPhones. Drivers use the phones they already own.
- What happens with no signal?
- Every tap, photo and completion goes into an outbox on the phone and is sent the moment the phone reconnects. Nothing is lost in a basement.
- Does it track GPS all shift?
- Yes, while the driver is on shift. Position feeds the live map and the custody record.
- Can drivers message dispatch?
- Yes. Chat with dispatch is built in, including photos and a hold-to-talk walkie-talkie whose clips are transcribed into the thread, and dispatch can message several drivers at once.
- How do drivers get updates?
- Updates arrive over the air, so most improvements reach drivers without a trip to the app store.
- What if the box tag will not read?
- The driver scans the site's barcode where there is one, takes a photo of the box, or chooses Nothing to scan here and picks a reason. The stop still completes, and the custody record shows the scan as missing.
- Can a phone on silent miss a new order?
- New orders and their reminders ring at alarm volume, so silent mode does not hide them. Dispatch can also ring a driver's lost phone from the map.