so you're a nurse right?

The majority of healthcare clients have not a clue what goes on in the lab.  Most of the time, the face of our department coming in to wake them up for the big morning draw.  The patients two identifiers are checked on the attached armband and they repeat them outloud if able.  Orders are entered into a computer system by physicians and others and they print on a label printer in the core lab or in the ER.  That's when we know to head out and get the specimen.  

All the samples, including blood and every other body fluid you can think of, are received into the laboratory information system and these orders cross interfaces to the analyzers.  Results are verified by a tech and critical values called and documented on the spot.  The LIS won't let you proceed without doing it.  

In large hospitals, techs are pretty much dedicated to one area with an occasional cross train.  In our situation?  We all do it all, literally.  From drawing blood to running a CBC to doing calibrations to red tagging blood we respond, and quickly.  We answer the phone, receive specimens tubed from ER, haul pathology specimens down from the OR and a lot of other things.  A very lean staff covers the entire hospital and an outpatient department plus supports other services like interventional cardiology and point of care testing.  The whole deal is a 24/7 operation because we are a regional medical center, one of several in western Tennessee.

There are very few people going into laboratory science these days.  One reason is the lack of recognition and difference in pay with other healthcare providers.  Today's MT students are learning the technologies that are far beyond me and will make a big difference in testing.  Yet, they still won't be recognized which is a shame.

We have a week in April honoring us as a profession but then everybody else does too!  I have been privileged to work with an amazing team of tough healthcare practitions from physicians on down.  I have been talked down to, yelled at, harassed ( not sexually ) by doctors and it's a miracle I didn't lose my religion on more than one occasion.  The same is true for all the other folks in other departments.  Thanks to corporate workplace harassment guidelines that ain't cool anymore.  

I've had a lot of favorites along the way, even had crushes on a few.  But in the end, I always stood my ground and had backup.  Each of us as caregivers have the right to call each other out when it's something important involving patient care.  It's why we're THERE people, and just because somebody's on an ego trip that doesn't mean you have to back down from your convictions.

Jim Caylor is one of quirkiest guys I know personality wise.  He told me once that all his high school buddies were shocked when they found out he was a surgeon.  This kind Christian man prayed with each and every patient before a procedure.  He was always my advocate, trying to help both personally and professionally.  I first met him in Sunday school at the FUMC when Fred brought him in.  He also held my hand through the deaths of both parents all the way to the grave.

There are so many wonderful people who have taught me about the ethics of healthcare that I couldn't begin to name them all but their stories will come out eventually.

Y'all know what a big  mouth I got ^j^