It is extremely frustrating as a lab tech to hear nurses talk about the lab like we just press buttons. In fact it is appalling, especially when we go through many of the same, and many more, college courses.
They even go so far as to refer to our profession as one where you don't have to think. Wow. I couldn't imagine someone not thinking when they are identifying antibodies your patient has, then trying to type the corresponding antigen negative blood so your patient doesn't have a transfusion reaction. Or when we are performing a differential that lets the doctor know the patient has CLL.
Not to mention that we have to look at previous labs and document why there has been a significant change. Or worse yet, figure out that the results are not consistent, and the nurse or CNA has mislabeled specimens.
We bust our butts, and when we are not actively testing specimens, we are calibrating, running QC, and doing maintenance on the machines.
All while getting paid much less for being just as essential and having just as much education.
Also, we do not cause your specimens to be hemolyzed. We are not shaking them up, I assure you. They cannot become that way from sitting around, even though specimens don't sit around in the lab when tests are ordered. On that note, clots occur from not inverting the tubes once they are drawn. Also not us, generally the phlebotomist is drawing the specimen, but the only clotted tubes we get are from nurses and CNAs. We don't want to give you the bad news either.
We need to be recognized as essential medical professionals as well as nurses. We know plenty that nurses don't, and vice versa. It's just hard to listen to people on their pedestals with no respect or understanding about the profession they bash.
I wouldn't even call this a rant, because it is only addressing the misconceptions that I hear repeatedly.
Honestly, I don't care about "lab" as long as they do their job.
I've never given a single thought to how much education "lab" has or who has it.
It's not that important to me. I don't spend my shifts sitting around thinking, "I wonder if the lab tech has a bachelors? Is he an MT? Is he an MLT? Does he like BLTs?"
I only get pissed when I get a crappy phleb and half my patients have to be redrawn. I also get pissed when I get a 7.1 K and a note that the sample was hemolyzed, and a concerned phone call that the K has jumped with the question do I want it redrawn. Well, duh. I don't want to give insulin and bicarb and dextrose to someone with a normal K and risk dropping them to a critical level.
This is why RNs get paid the "big" bucks. We have to interpret and react to information, not just report it.
And many facilities call phlebotomist lab techs because it sounds more 'technical' and inspires trust (per my facility's lab director, as we do the same exact thing). Not sure about your facility as I can't answer for everyone
Thats interesting. Personally, I find the word "phlebotomist" to sound more 'technical' than "lab tech". Possibly because it seems that everybody and their mother in a hospital is now termed a tech of one sort or another. But nobody asked for my vote when naming job titles, I suppose!
Something that I have seen repeated a few times in this thread is the concept of a lab tech being less education/knowing less than an RN, as evidenced by the lab tech only knowing that the K+ is 7, vs. the nurse knowing how to respond to that value and help the patient.
That only means that the nurse knows more about nursing care. Which, well....duh.
But one should also realize that the lab tech knows how to calibrate the machine and properly test a blood specimen to deduce the K+ level, and probably some other stuff in that process that I don't even really know how to mention. And the nurse basically knows "send blood, wait for number to appear in chart".
I guess my point is that obviously the nurse knows more about nursing care. That doesnt mean they know more about every subject ever. And thats not a bad thing.​ No one can be an expert in everything. Different professions have different expertise and thats what makes the team approach such a great way to care for patients.
Something that I have seen repeated a few times in this thread is the concept of a lab tech being less education/knowing less than an RN, as evidenced by the lab tech only knowing that the K+ is 7, vs. the nurse knowing how to respond to that value and help the patient.
That only means that the nurse knows more about nursing care. Which, well....duh.
But one should also realize that the lab tech knows how to calibrate the machine and properly test a blood specimen to deduce the K+ level, and probably some other stuff in that process that I don't even really know how to mention. And the nurse basically knows "send blood, wait for number to appear in chart".
I guess my point is that obviously the nurse knows more about nursing care. That doesnt mean they know more about every subject ever. And thats not a bad thing.​ No one can be an expert in everything. Different professions have different expertise and thats what makes the team approach such a great way to care for patients.
That's kind of what I meant. I was replying snark for snark, too, though.
I don't care how much education PTs and RTs and STs have, either, as long as they know what they're doing.
Your experiences seem to come from a few bad apples. I appreciate everything you do. So just know that while there are witchy nurses, there are many more on your side. We are team.
I guess I just don't get why anyone feels the need to one up anyone else at any time ever. This thread is making me stop and really think about why I'm even considering my return to nursing. Health care is stressful for a crap-ton of reasons----all outside the control of those actually providing the care. Without any one person (no matter the level of education) on the team doing their job well we all suffer...patient at the top of that list.
I appreciate people for their effort doing the job at hand not for the "level of education" they've aquired. As a side note, if I HAD to pick a favorite team member that affects the day to day the most (in MY world)....it'd be janitorial.
I can understand your frustration. Perception is reality. I would recommend that when you hear of complaints to talk to the person directly. If you need to go to the person above you in the chain of command and have them deal with it. Healthcare is teamwork so you need to strengthen your team by correcting an issue that causes friction. If you have identified a problem like,"but the only clotted tubes are from nurses and CNA's" then I hope that you are doing something about it for the patients sake. I would like to see a stronger educational model for lab drawing/transporting for all healthcare workers that draw blood. For instance can you tell me what the definition of "On Ice" is? What the correct order of the draw is? Which draw site(aline/central line/peripheral) is best for each lab? Is there a major difference in values if we draw from an aline and then dialysis port? I am doing research on lab draw procedures and am finding that standard blood collection techniques are lacking industry wide and they don't always follow the manufactures guidelines. I am looking for a good source for information and/or a good staff educational program for blood drawing procedures with rationale if possible.
I was a Medical Technologist (MT (ASCP)), with a bachelor's degree, for 26 years before becoming a nurse. Like nursing, laboratory medicine has become more complex. We have more technology to assist us with the actual testing, but interpreting and trouble shooting lab tests have become more involved. Med Techs (who are not simply phlebotomists), still depend on their knowledge, training, and experience to report accurate and meaningful results to the patients' caregivers. They do not just report numbers spit out by a machine. They have to know if those numbers make sense, know if instrumentation is moving out of calibration, and still do a lot of manual work such as white cell differentials, cell counts on body fluids, identification of bacteria and other organisms. Virtually all of blood banking is still manual and relies on the technologists' knowledge and ability to differentiate a potentially clinical dangerous incompatibility from something that is insignificant and relatively harmless. It is the med techs who look at a slide under the microscope to see if those abnormal white cells are due to infection, mono, or leukemia. It's definitely more complex than pushing buttons and reporting numbers. Med Techs are also required to make those annoying phone calls reporting abnormal results, even if they are meaningless. Believe me, they don't like making those calls just as much as nurses dislike receiving them. Medical technologists (and technicians, phlebotomists) are an integral part of the health care team and should be recognized as such. They are often forgotten, as they often never see patients and caregivers face to face, and are often relegated to the basement or other undesirable locations of the hospital.
That being said, there is no need for competition for who is more important or who is "better". Both jobs are vital to patient care. I wish both nurses and lab staff had a better understanding of what each others job entails. Nurses calling every 5 minutes for lab results doesn't mean they have nothing better to do; it means they might have to withhold a med or treatment based on what the lab values are. The lab calling to ask which tests are a priority might need to happen because the patient was a tough stick and the sample is QNS for all tests, but some still can be done. Everyone is just trying to do his or her job.
It is extremely frustrating as a lab tech to hear nurses talk about the lab like we just press buttons. In fact it is appalling, especially when we go through many of the same, and many more, college courses.
They even go so far as to refer to our profession as one where you don't have to think. Wow. I couldn't imagine someone not thinking when they are identifying antibodies your patient has, then trying to type the corresponding antigen negative blood so your patient doesn't have a transfusion reaction. Or when we are performing a differential that lets the doctor know the patient has CLL.
Not to mention that we have to look at previous labs and document why there has been a significant change. Or worse yet, figure out that the results are not consistent, and the nurse or CNA has mislabeled specimens.
We bust our butts, and when we are not actively testing specimens, we are calibrating, running QC, and doing maintenance on the machines.
All while getting paid much less for being just as essential and having just as much education.
Also, we do not cause your specimens to be hemolyzed. We are not shaking them up, I assure you. They cannot become that way from sitting around, even though specimens don't sit around in the lab when tests are ordered. On that note, clots occur from not inverting the tubes once they are drawn. Also not us, generally the phlebotomist is drawing the specimen, but the only clotted tubes we get are from nurses and CNAs. We don't want to give you the bad news either.
We need to be recognized as essential medical professionals as well as nurses. We know plenty that nurses don't, and vice versa. It's just hard to listen to people on their pedestals with no respect or understanding about the profession they bash.
I wouldn't even call this a rant, because it is only addressing the misconceptions that I hear repeatedly.
sounds like you have an issue being disrespected where you work.
I will say where I work, the lab is respected. Although, labs get missed, forgot to get run, and often times when we call, they somehow say "oh that lab is running" (three hours later....). I have lab techs who work in the ER and then back in lab, so I know this to be true. Poop happens. People need to take responsibility when mistakes happen. Oh well, we are fallible. I do recognize that being a lab tech takes education, as I'm sure most of us realize. Sorry you're facing some difficulty at your workplace.
And we get labs that are hemolyzed all of the time, and over time we have realized that one tech has higher rates -whether that is related to operation of equipment or something else, I do not know.
Inform those that bug you. Let them know how you feel.. it may not change anything, but you'll feel better.
Jensmom7, BSN, RN
1,907 Posts
Methinks he has skedaddled since he didn't stir up the firestorm he thought he would, so it's a moot point.