Home visit dispatch

What the dispatch board manages

The Home Visit Dispatch Board follows a home collection from the first appointment through assignment, tube handoff, field collection, return, and per-sample lab receipt. Use it only for orders whose visit type is Home. The board appears when home-visit dispatch is enabled and your role has dispatch access.

You can also open the board directly from Order Details > Actions > Manage Home Visit. Use Print Home Visit Barcodes there before preparing the physical tubes and containers. This keeps the order, patient, visit, and sample handoff connected.

How the board is laid out

The board has three parts:

1. Stage cards across the top. Each card shows how many visits are in that stage. Select a card to show only those visits.
2. The visit list on the left. Each row shows the patient, the visit date and time, who is assigned, and the next step. Use the search box to find a patient, phone number, order, or assignee, and use All dates, Today, or Tomorrow to focus on a day.
3. The selected visit on the right. It starts with a Next step box that tells you what to do now and holds the button for it. Below are the visit details, the samples, the progress steps, and the history.

The board updates as soon as a carrier reports a step from the field, without reloading (if the live connection is interrupted, it refreshes every minute). Select Updated next to the date filter to refresh immediately. On a phone, selecting a visit scrolls down to its details.

Stage	What belongs here
All Open	Every home visit that is not finished yet. This is the default view.
1 To Schedule	Home orders without a confirmed address, date, and time.
2 To Assign	Scheduled visits that still need a carrier or branch user.
3 In Progress	Assigned visits waiting for tube handoff, travelling, collecting, or returning.
4 To Receive	Visits back at the lab with samples waiting to be received into a storage location.
Needs Attention	Overdue, failed, cancelled, or incomplete visits. Check this stage first.
Completed	Visits where every sample was received at the lab, or closed as collected in the lab.

You don't have to use the Carrier Portal

Kashef follows the samples, not only the carrier steps. When a sample is collected, received or processed in the lab (for example, the patient came to the branch, or staff collected without the Carrier Portal), it counts as collected for the home visit too.

• When every sample is already collected, the Next step box shows Samples already collected. Use Close as Collected in Lab to finish dispatch. The window lists every sample and how it was collected. Closing changes no sample, result, or payment.
• If no visit was ever scheduled and every sample was collected in the lab, the order shows No visit needed and dispatch counts as complete.
• The order's Managing Dispatch step turns green as soon as every sample is in the lab, so the order moves to Completed orders once results are released and payment is settled.

Don't step through the carrier statuses on someone's behalf just to close a visit. Use Close as Collected in Lab instead.

Schedule and assign

Rescheduling updates the latest visit attempt. Earlier attempts keep their original appointment, address and completion history.

A connected AI tool can read your branch's dispatch board and visit details. With assignment access, it can find eligible carriers and branch users and preview a schedule, reschedule or assignment. Confirm the patient's full address, date, local branch time and chosen assignee, then review the exact changes before confirming. Rescheduling resets the latest attempt's escalation and closure details; earlier attempts keep their history. Reassignment is available before tube pickup. Changed visits, samples or assignee choices require another preview. It can also close the latest visit as collected in the lab once every sample is collected or received, without changing any sample or result. Tube handoff, field collection, lab receipt and a separate revisit still use their own workflows.

Select the visit and use Schedule Visit in the Next step box. Confirm the full collection address, the date, and the local branch time. Include the building, floor, apartment, and a landmark. After scheduling, the details show the patient phone as a tap-to-call link and an Open in Maps link for the address.

You may assign either:

• an active carrier allowed to work in the branch; or
• an eligible operations, technician, or manager user from that branch.

If you do not choose anyone while scheduling, the visit moves to To Assign and the next step becomes Assign Carrier / User. Until the tubes are handed over, Reassign and Reschedule stay available under Other options in the Next step box. These actions are available to managers, Operations, and users granted the dispatch assignment permission.

When the visit is assigned, the next step is Hand over the tubes. Give the assignee every tube and container, then use Confirm Tube Handoff and tick every barcode handed over. On a revisit, the list contains only the missing or replacement barcodes for that attempt. A partial handoff is rejected. The carrier can also confirm the handoff in the Carrier Portal.

While the visit is in the field, the board shows Out in the field and there is nothing to do: the carrier reports each step from the Carrier Portal. If the carrier missed an update, use Update Status under Other options, choose the next valid state, and enter a clear reason. Kashef keeps the Operations user, old and new states, and reason in the history. This does not bypass sample requirement confirmations.

Carrier field workflow

The assigned carrier uses the mobile Carrier Portal. Home visits appear before inter-lab transfer work.

1. Assigned: Compare the barcode, tube type, sample type, and test codes. Select every listed tube and use Confirm tube pickup. The carrier cannot leave with only part of the required handover.
2. Tubes Picked Up: Use Start route when leaving the lab.
3. En Route: Use Arrived at patient only after reaching the collection address.
4. Arrived at Patient: Process each sample separately. Enter the actual collected volume and confirm every preparation requirement as Met, Unmet, or Override.
5. Collection Complete: This state is reached automatically after every required sample is successfully collected. Use Heading back to lab when beginning the return. The carrier may also head back earlier from En Route or Arrived at Patient when operationally necessary, but must explain the early return. Arrival and collection are never marked complete merely because the carrier returned.
6. Heading Back to Lab: Use Finished at lab only after the samples and carrier reach the receiving desk.

An Unmet requirement keeps that sample uncollected and visible for follow-up. Use Override only when the lab's approved protocol allows it; an accountable reason is mandatory and retained with the sample.

If an action is rejected, read the validation message, correct the tube selection, requirement, volume, assignment, or visit state, and retry. Do not skip milestones by asking lab staff to mark the visit complete.

Receive returned samples

When the carrier marks the return as finished, the visit moves to To Receive and the next step becomes Receive the returned samples.

1. Select Receive Samples. Every returned sample is ticked for you.
2. Untick any sample you have not physically checked.
3. Select the active branch saving location, such as a refrigerator, rack, or shelf, and confirm.

To place samples in different locations, receive them in separate rounds, or use Receive on a single sample row in the Samples list.

Kashef changes each clinical sample to Received, records the receiving user and time, and places it in the selected location. The visit becomes Completed only after every returned sample is received. Samples then continue through the normal Sample Log and processing workflow.

Never select a convenient location temporarily. The selected location is part of the custody record and must match the physical placement.

Progress and history

The Progress list shows each step of the visit: assigned, tubes handed over, on the way, arrived at patient, samples collected, heading back, back at the lab, and received at lab. A step turns green only when its timestamp or per-sample evidence exists; later statuses never turn a skipped arrival or collection green.

The Samples list shows every barcode with its status, tube type, tests, any exception reason, and the saving location after receipt.

Under History, Activity lists assignment, status changes, unmet requirements, overrides, collection, and receipt with who did each one and when. Visit Attempts compares the assignee, schedule, and reason of every attempt. Use this evidence when investigating a missing tube or a timing dispute.

Needs attention: revisits and overdue visits

Review Needs Attention before routine work. Common cases include an unreachable patient, an incorrect address, unmet preparation, a failed visit, or an overdue return.

Collection is incomplete means a finished, failed, or cancelled attempt still has samples that nobody collected, in the field or in the lab. Use Schedule Revisit, enter the reason, new date and time, and choose the same or a different carrier or branch user. The window lists the samples the revisit will collect and the samples that stay as they are. Kashef creates a linked attempt with only the samples that still need collection.

A revisit never rejects a sample and never changes results. Samples collected in the field or in the lab, and their results, stay untouched. If a collected tube really must be drawn again (for example, it was hemolysed), reject that tube from the sample page and tick Require New Sample Collection. Its new tube appears in the Sample Collection Workbench marked Recollection, and the next revisit includes it.

A tube with released results cannot be rejected. Amend the released result on the results sheet instead.

Kashef checks open visits every hour. A visit becomes overdue 24 hours after its scheduled time, reaches level 2 after 72 hours, and level 3 after 7 days. Managers receive an in-app alert, and the board shows This visit is overdue.

After following up, either use Reschedule with a confirmed new appointment, or use Close Visit under Other options. Closing requires a Cancelled or Failed outcome and a reason of at least 10 characters. The order, visit, notifications, and history are kept.

Onward transfers are separate

If samples must continue from the home-order branch to another branch or partner lab, the selected visit shows an Onward transfer card with its status, carrier, and destination. Use Open Transfer to manage claim, pickup, drop-off, and destination receipt in the sample-transfer workflow. Do not use a transfer to represent the carrier's home-visit tube handoff or return to the originating lab.