In emergency medicine, what does "STAT" mean?

In emergency medicine, “STAT” means immediately. The term comes from the Latin statim, meaning “at once” or “immediately,” and signals that a task should receive urgent priority.

Doctors may order a STAT blood test, scan, medication, or consultation when waiting could affect a patient’s treatment or safety. In hospitals, the instruction generally means “do this now,” although the exact response time can depend on the hospital’s policies and the urgency of the situation.

A common mix-up is treating STAT as an acronym. It is not traditionally formed from English words such as “special treatment”; it is a shortened medical use of Latin. The word also appears outside medicine: a STAT order or request in other professional settings similarly means it needs immediate attention.

In laboratory medicine, a STAT result is especially important when it can change immediate management—for example, identifying a dangerous electrolyte imbalance or confirming a time-sensitive diagnosis.