Why This Keeps Happening
An address is not a receiving point. A hospital campus may have six. Lab receiving, pharmacy, central supply and sterile processing are frequently in different buildings with different hours and different doors. A courier given only an address will find the most obvious entrance, which is almost never the right one.
What Should Be Documented Before Day One
- Receiving point by shipment type
- Correct door, dock or suite with the after-hours alternate
- Hours for each, and what changes at night and weekends
- Badge, escort or advance-notification requirements
- Named receiving contact and a backup
- What to do when the primary contact isn't available.
The Onboarding Question That Predicts Everything
"How will you document our receiving points before the first run?" If the answer is "the driver will figure it out," you'll spend the first month correcting it — and again every time the courier changes.
Wrong-Door Deliveries Are Custody Events, Not Inconveniences
A specimen left at a front desk is a specimen outside documented custody and outside temperature control, held by someone with no training in either.