Within a hospital, there are many departments like Radiology, Surgery, and the Emergency Department. But, there is one part of the hospital that most people do not think about- the Laboratory.
Since the Laboratory is hidden from patients and usually does not have direct contact with the patients as do nurses, doctors, and radiology technicians, we are unknown to the general public in a sense.
And, as a Lab Professional, it can be difficult to describe what we do concisely to someone who is unfamiliar with lab details.
What happens behind the doors of a Clinical (Hospital) Laboratory??
What do Medical Lab Scientists do with the blood and urine collected from patients??
Inside the Laboratory, there are these departments: Accessioning, Chemistry, Hematology, Microbiology, and Blood Bank.
Accessioning is the area of the lab where the specimens (patient blood, urine, other body substances) may be collected, received in the computer, given a barcode, and distributed to the corresponding area of the lab to complete the tests ordered by the physician. Phlebotomists and Lab Assistants perform these duties.
Chemistry is the department that performs the testing on patient blood, urine and body fluids to evaluate the health of the patient’s electrolytes, sugar, lipids, prostate, thyroid, among hundreds of other tests. Sometimes the MLS will have to dilute the patient sample to obtain accurate results, such as a high liver enzyme result from an alcoholic patient with cirrhosis.
Hematology includes testing blood for conditions such as anemia, leukemia, blood parasites like malaria, and blood loss (low hemoglobin) from trauma. Additional procedures for Hematology are bone marrows and body fluids (joint fluid for gout). Often this department encompasses Coagulation as well. Coagulation testing determines how well the patient’s body clots, which is especially important if a patient is stabbed and bleeding out. Another lab area called Urinalysis, testing on urine samples, may also be covered under hematology. Certain microscopic findings, such as a red blood cell cast in a urine sample indicates bleeding from the kidney, so the doctor will follow up with kidney disease testing.
Microbiology lab professionals carry out processes of smearing and streaking patient specimens, such as a swab from a leg wound, onto special plates with media substances to encourage the growth of microscopic organisms like staph bacteria which can be identified and tested against specific antibiotics for the best treatment to cure the infection for the patient.
Blood Bank or Transfusion Medicine provides a crucial service for patients having surgeries that may cause blood loss or patients undergoing chemotherapy with low platelets can receive an infusion of platelets to help with the clotting of blood. Lab Scientists can test for compatibility between the patient and blood products or determine blood types like O positive.
Which area of the lab sounds most interesting to you?
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