Shipping blood samples refrigerated: here’s how to do it

Blood tests are, in English, bloody important. There is a lot involved here. Just take the logistics. How do you transport the blood tube from the hospital to the laboratory? Or rather, how do you keep the blood tube in optimal condition during transport? The current way of working is usually far from ideal. For conditioned transport, hospitals or laboratories depend on external parties. This is a time-consuming and costly process. Fortunately, this can be done faster and cheaper! Read about the simple solution for refrigerated transport of blood in this article.

Chilled from A to B

It is important to keep blood refrigerated or frozen. This is because it keeps the risk of bacterial growth low. A freezer or refrigerator is excellent for this purpose. But what if the blood has to be transported from one location to another? In that case, a refrigerator is not available. There are several options for conditioned transport. All these options have advantages and disadvantages.

The refrigerated car

Refrigerated trucks are often used for conditioned transport. This is therefore

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basically a refrigerator on wheels, with some additional options added. However, this option is not cost-effective for transporting small units. You always pay full price, regardless of the size of your cargo. The transportation of blood, on the other hand, is characterized by small numbers. Tubes are transported in a box of up to 15 units at a time. So it is very inefficient to rent a refrigerated truck for such small units.

Conditioned Shipping

Another option is conditioned package shipping. Delivery services often offer the ability to deliver packages conditioned. So this is a godsend for small units such as blood tubes. However, this comes at a price. Conditioned shipping of packages is not cheap! Fortunately, there is a way that is more economical. You can read more about this in the next section.

Switched gel packs: cheap and effective

So outsourcing conditioned transportation is expensive and time-consuming. You can save a lot on this by taking matters into your own hands! This can be done very simply. All you need are switched gel packs and a freezer.


A loose gel strand, switched gel strand and EPS box

What are switched gel packs?

Gel packs are leak-proof

polyethylene bags filled with an innovative cooling gel. From these gel packs, a strand is made. In this way, a switched gel pack is created. These gel packs are the same size as the standard blood tubes used. So this is a perfect match! Thus, the gel packs provide optimal protection for the sample. “False air” (which affects the temperature) gets no space this way. Thus, the sample remains optimally cooled or frozen.

Step by step protection

Switched gel packs have simple instructions for use.

  1. Wrap the blood tubes with the switched gel packs.
  2. Place in the freezer.
  3. Put the frozen gel packs in an EPS box. This insulating box is perfect for conditioned transport.
  4. Your cargo is ready for transport!

You can transport the EPS box yourself in your car or have your staff do so. Do you have neither the time nor the capacity for this? Then you can also simply have the box delivered by post. The normal parcel rates apply. This is not expensive! For the previously mentioned option of conditioned delivery you pay much more. With switched gel packs, however, your blood samples get from A to B inexpensively. But more importantly, the samples remain perfectly cooled during the entire transport. Now that’s bloody cool.

A solution for every conditioned challenge

Conditioned transport is a profession in its own right. Each product therefore requires a specific approach. This is just as true for blood tubes as it is for medicines. However, there is a solution for every conditioned problem! Coolpack delivers customized solutions and thinks along with you. Do you have questions? Or are you facing a conditioned challenge? Contact our experts! They will be happy to assist you.

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We weigh the interests of the customer, the environment and society, as well as ourselves as an organization, in all business decisions. In this way, we achieve balanced business operations and together ensure an ever better world.

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