Leaderboard

Will sure do! This look so good because it is not a real-life case that I just worked on. (cough cough)

We had situations like you describe a few years back. Now checking the Blood Bank (and hospital) armbands are part of the "time-out" check-off before the patient is strapped to the table. The ID info on the bands are recorded so it is available at all times during the procedure. Scott

Does the O.R ever tell you that the Pt's armband is "inaccessible" because it is "under the patient and contained within the sterile field"? We use an armband system for our BB patients and we get told that occasionally when we need to transfuse in O.R. and they didn't get the armband number before they covered up the pt. The RN usually winds up crawling under the pt's table. What does your O.R do in that case? Especially since they are having to do a barcode read of that band? We use coolers for our O.R. deliveries (one pt per room) and I never want to even discuss the introduction of an O.R. refrigerator. Anything giving in the O.R. is documented in the anesthesiologist"s records, which are also part of the electronic record.

Thank you for answering in such an explanatory way, John and Scott. Nothing more needs to be added, in my opinion. Many folks just don't have an understanding of the education level required for our jobs as Medical Laboratory Scientists.

Agree with John's points, above. I am not sure I have ever heard of a person doing ANY non-waived Lab testing without having earned a degree specifically in medical lab science. Even with that, you would have to have passed a national board exam in the US. Possibly there have been people grandfathered under certain circumstances? Regardless, the thing about training is, I can train a high school student to perform the steps to start a test or do routine maintenance in a Lab. But they would not have the education required to understand what "it all means", which is essential in pretty much any healthcare profession--especially one so technical as Lab Science. You may, indeed, have earned credits in inorganic and organic chem, microbiology, etc, but if you look at a certified program for a MLS (or MLT for that matter) you will see that beyond basic biology and chemistry, there are a load of specific courses that must be completed as the professional part of such a degree. A general biology degree (or any other type of degree for that matter), whether AAS, BS, MS or PhD, does NOT qualify a person to perform most of the functions done by a Lab Tech. Scott

One possibility is state regulations on who can do what testing and the decision to train someone has been taken out of their hands. Now I'm going to get on my soap box and please don't take this too personally. There is a very big difference between training and teaching. Over the many years I have trained more people in blood bank than I care to remember. Every one of them had the basic knowledge and understanding of what was going on in the testing and knew at least one way of doing the testing. I was training them to do it our way, not teaching them the principles and background of the testing. It is simple enough to train some one to add A and B to tube C, spin for 15 seconds, shake the tube and see if it clumps but that is not teaching them anything about the testing or what to do if it doesn't work as expected. With out the basic knowledge behind the testing and processes you would find it nearly impossible to pass the BB test. I am curious, just exactly what have you been doing in the Blood Bank for the past few years? I know organizations that will allow only MT/CLS registered staff work in the Blood Bank and exclude even MLTs. My suggestion to you would be to find a program that fits your needs and complete at least the MLT level education. Another option would be to find a facility that still offers internships if there are any. They are set up to provide the training and education you are requesting from your current employer. I'm afraid this is probably not the response you were hoping for.

There is some truth in that, and especially from his perspective. However I have found that surgeons are not the best when it comes to understanding Transfusion Medicine.

I work in cardiac surgery unit.It is very simple for us.We have schedules with the patients every day and we know every case in particular.Every unit of blood is labeled with the pacient's ID,ABO/Rh group,crossmatch number,the name of lab worker who performed the crossmatch and also the date of the test. We have 3 OR's and every time they need units of blood they call in our unit(which is only 2 floor distance) and we transport the units to them.They perform Bedside ABO/D test before every transfusion!All the dates from the blood unit are transcripted in patient's chart manually (we do not have a computer scan for that). So far everything works great. I am from east Europe country.

This could be due to anti c IgM in nature. I have seen this many time especially in pregnant lady.