When a patient specimen arrives at Mayo Clinic Laboratories, it’s the mission of the Specimens Operations team to deliver it quickly and safely to the lab for testing. 

“We’re the first step when a sample arrives, and that first step is a critical first step,” says Angela Reese-Davis, Mayo Clinic Laboratories senior manager of operations.

With more than 40,000 specimens arriving every day, each stage of the process must be carefully planned and orchestrated. And from areas such as Transportation and Global Logistics to Specimen Distribution, every staff member involved knows they play an important role in delivering those samples where they need to go.

“You feel this overall sense of positivity in the group,” Reese-Davis says. “Everybody’s doing what they need to do to get the job done.”

While the operations run like clockwork, everyone understands that the ultimate goal of all this precision is to help people — to get the patients waiting for test results the answers they need.

“Our team is extremely diverse and talented, and really performing at a high level,” Reese-Davis says. “The sample is in good hands with the team out here because people care.”

Watch the following video to get an inside look at the journey a patient specimen takes from the moment it comes in the door at Mayo Clinic Laboratories through its final destination in the lab.