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evilwarning

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    Medical Technologist

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  1. I am up for recertification in July 2018. I have nearly all my credits completed. The only thing I'm missing is one credit in Blood Bank. Does anyone know where I could get a free PACE credit for BB without having to purchase a subscription?? Thanks!!
  2. Hello y'all. I was wondering if anyone had some tips for differentiating reactive lymphs from monocytes because sometimes it's really hard to tell the difference!! I just got a job at a hospital and honestly I have been off the bench for over a year. The analyzer we have will flag for atypical lymphs. I swear that when I look under the scope, all I see are normal lymphs and monocytes. After my training is complete, I'm going to be training a lot of new staff members and students that come through the lab and I want to make sure I'm at the top of my game.
  3. We do body fluids on the disposable hemocytometers. Then if our WBC count is greater than 10, we are required to do a cytospin and report out a differential. To make the cytospin we use one drop with albumin with several drops of specimen. Does anyone have any tips on how to make the best cytospin slides? My main complaint is that some of the slides I'm looking at have cells that are so compressed that I can't tell whether they are lymphs or segs. What about when the body fluid is so bloody?? How do I make a slide that isn't just over-crowded with RBC's? Any tips are greatly appreciated.
  4. We do body fluids on the disposable hemocytometers. Then if our WBC count is greater than 10, we are required to do a cytospin and report out a differential. To make the cytospin we use one drop with albumin with several drops of specimen. Does anyone have any tips on how to make the best cytospin slides? My main complaint is that some of the slides I'm looking at have cells that are so compressed that I can't tell whether they are lymphs or segs. What about when the body fluid is so bloody?? How do I make a slide that isn't just over-crowded with RBC's? Any tips are greatly appreciated.
  5. Oh no this is different from collecting the cord blood. The fetal screen test is a screening test to see whether the mom needs additional RhoGam. A positive result reflexes to the Kleihauer–Betke test to determine exactly how much she needs by calculating fetal cell to mom cell ratio.
  6. I am curious to know why in several hospital SOP's it is written that a lavender AND a red top must be collected for a fetal screen test on a Rh neg mom that just gave birth to a RH neg baby. I never use the red top for anything. I just end filing it away at the end of the shift. Does anyone know why we bother to draw it anymore? Thanks.
  7. Lol. Just tube method. Echo only does screens. I live in west Texas.
  8. I just started working as a generalist at a hospital. My first stop is blood bank and I'm already nervous. The SOP is old and difficult to.follow. I have very little experience with antibody panels. When does one do a cold panel? How about a pre-warm? Ppl at work say no one knows how to properly use these techniques. What if I have a cold auto?? How do I work that up? How about working up a warm auto? I'm so lost! Please help!!
  9. Perhaps it also depends on what kind of specimen tube you are using. When I did my clinicals, the blood bank there would use the long pink tops with EDTA. In my four weeks there, I saw rouleaux 10 times. However this was a city of 200,000 people. When I got my first job at a different hospital, the blood bank there was still using red tops. Out of the whole year, I saw only two patients with rouleaux. But this is a city of only 99,000 people.
  10. Ugh it doesn't matter anyway. I do think that our department is losing money, definitely not making any profit because we are calibrating every day. However, the other department does confirmation for drug panels using LC/MS, and I believe that is where they make the bulk of their money. So their profit is probably enough to offset our losses. I doubt any of the higher ups are going to catch on to the money loss. My supervisor is just so frustrating though, he always thinks he is right. Just the other day, he told the lead tech in our department that I was not to verify/finalize results in the LIS because he didn't trust me. I haven't made any mistakes but just because I asked one simple question about the LIS, he thinks I need more training. Like 1 year plus experience as a med tech doesn't give me any certainty that I know to review results and deem them "reportable." I'm greatly offended by that.
  11. Hi y'all. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a hematology/hemostasis book. My hunny wants to sit for the ASCP certification exam but he hasn't had a hematology class in like 5+ years. He is in dire need of brushing up on the subject. When I went through my academic program, the book I used was a compilation of notes written by my professor which were freaking terrible. I already have the BOC book. I would gladly appreciate any recommendations y'all have! Thanks!
  12. According to my supervisor, it is to determine the volume of blood in the bag. That number we type into the system prints out on a transfusion tag. Then when a nurse transfuses the unit, he/she can right down how many cc's are being transfused. Oh. Hmmm. Sorry I don't want to sound dumb. However, I don't think the donor units say how much blood is in each bag or even what the weight is. Is that something you have to call the blood donor center for? Well a lot of the stuff done at this hospital seems like an awful waste of time or doesn't make sense at all. The blood bank still uses red tops for crying out loud!!
  13. I was curious as to how other facilities documented the weight of their stock donor units. At my former hospital, whenever we received a shipment of units, we would scan the information in the computer and then weigh them on a scale. We would then subtract 50 grams from the weigh observed on the scale. I assume this is to account for the weight of the bag and the segments. Is this what everyone else does?
  14. On the Beckman AU480 chemistry analyzer. Most of our manufacturer's recommend calibration every 30 days. Some every 15 days. However, our supervisor does not agree with the recommendations. He won't even agree with weekly calibration. He thinks daily calibration and QC is the only thing that will be accepted by CLIA and CAP. (Which I have no idea where he is getting that from.) However he comes from a background in LC/MS, and I believe LC/MS is set up is different from the way we run things in clinical chemistry. I think the only way he will listen is if he reads material out there that discusses calibrations and how often it needs to be done in the realm of clinical chemistry.
  15. I work in a laboratory that does drug screening for drugs of abuse for clients that are either going through rehab or pain management. Our lab supervisor has made it a rule that we are suppose to calibrate and QC every single assay we do. Not only is that such a pain in the rear having to load all those multipoint cals but isn't there such a thing as over-calibration? But he has it set in his mind that we cannot release patient results unless we calibrate and QC every day. Is there any material out there that discusses this topic?
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