The Laboratory

Abad, Glory
31 January 2010
RD1

The Laboratory

Today is the hideous day of the week, Monday. Although it is the beginning of a new week, I am exhausted from working all weekend and stressed about my paper that is due at midnight. [THESIS] My bus (life) that I drive often takes a turn into the clinical laboratory that I am employed at which makes my journey worthwhile. [THESIS]

It’s already two to three and I am rushing to clock in because I need to speak to my supervisor regarding my work schedule before I actually start working. After my little meeting with my boss, I head back in the lab and check the schedule to see what work bench I am stationed at today. My co-worker questions me because of the disgust expressed on my face in my reaction to the work bench assignment.

I am in chemistry today. I hate being in chemistry on days where the day before, the chemistry analyzer had an appointment with its service representative to troubleshoot a problem. This means that I have to clean up all of the mess that was left behind because of this previous problem. Specimens that were affected by this error needs to be pulled out and retested to follow quality assurance protocols. Luckily, the service representative didn’t visit our Olympus chemistry analyzer today.

The centrifuge calls me with a beeping sound because the specimens are done spinning. I need to hurry and load those tubes of blood onto the machine. The doctor will be calling soon because it’s the patient in the emergency room that they called a CODE BLUE on. After checking the label for the patient’s name and the ordered tests, I inspect the serum and it is hemolyzed. This has to be cancelled and the patient needs to be redrawn. Although the medical technologist is busy running a complicated test procedure on another specimen, I interrupt him quickly to inquire about the hemolyzed specimen.

He tells me to run the tests despite the fact that the specimen is hemolyzed because it’s a CODE patient, but asks me to call the ER just to let them know that the results might be affected. I call the ER and the unit clerk answers. I tell her the situation and she relays the message to a doctor while I’m put on hold. I hear the doctor in the background saying that they need the results so it’s a good thing that I loaded it onto the analyzer.

Our first outer island shipment of specimens sit on the countertop waiting for me to load them on the chemistry machine. After putting all those tubes on the analyzer, I see that my co-worker in the hematology work station is not there. She is setting up a STAT influenza test at the hood. The hematology medical technologist gazes into the microscope to read a slide. Her job looks fascinating, but very tedious. It seems as if these medical technologists are always so absorbed in their work that they don’t even hear the lab assistant yell “STAT” when there’s a specimen being dropped off. As a team player, I hurriedly put the tube in the rack and onto the hematology machine.

I glance at the clock on the wall and realize that it’s already quarter to six which means I can eat dinner and work on my paper if the other employees don’t converse with me as much. I think the clock at work is always on turbo speed. I guess it’s good because my bus can turn out of that street and head back home to finish my chores and schoolwork. I’m already back from dinner, but haven’t completed any homework because the stench of my co-worker’s food was just distracting.

It’s finally ten o’clock and the last outer island shipment just arrived. The night shift crew came in at 8:45 and has been helping me with the chemistry bench because I am being bombarded with STATS, phones constantly ringing, specimens to be put away, and many other things. The lab assistant brings me my chemistry specimens, but it’s already 10:45. The night shift medical technologist tells me it’s okay if we leave some work behind because they won’t really have many things to do since they did their monthly maintenance on the machines last night.

I hurry to clock out because it’s a little past 11:30 and my husband is picking me up tonight. My bus will be stopping by again tomorrow and it makes my ride more enjoyable because of the many dents it leaves on my bus. Working at the laboratory has improved my work ethics, made me realize that I want to be a nurse instead of a medical technologist, and taught me how to prioritize things in my life.