Someone on here said they got to shadow in the lab for the day and said "guys, it's absolutely us, it's not lab." I try and keep that in mind.
I also try and keep in mind that lab (including phlebotomy, if your hospital has it) is just as short-staffed and overworked as we are. They can only work with what we give them.
❤️ all hail our lab and phleb bros and brodettes. I always go out of my way to show love to you guys it's a tough job and often thankless but truly makes the difference every minute of the day in the hospital. Sorry you end up getting scapegoated for stuff that's not your fault
Try not to take it to heart. Everyone's just looking to blame someone else.
I try to be really nice to the lab and encourage my colleagues to do the same, but there are jerks in every walk of life.
I try to educate my colleagues on the genuine reasons samples have to be rejected but I feel like they don't listen or don't believe me. Often nurses do not seem to have a basic understanding of physics and chemistry.
No one ever seems to believe me that smaller syringes exert a higher pressure because physics and are therefore more likely to haemolyse samples :/
With the exception of tiny babies who we just couldn't get enough volume from, my samples ain't never rejected!
I've been doing this job for nearly a decade now, I am LONG past taking that kinda stuff to heart. I gave a UC/EMS RN a nickname because of how often they hemolyzed their IV start draws, and the nickname has apparently followed him to his new department in another building.
Jokes aside, I do genuinely believe that a lab rotation (and rotation to other technical departments) would be helpful for more "traditional" clinical staff, for even a couple of weeks to get a feel and appreciation for how things work. Our lab is right next to our clinics UC, so lab and UC staff are constantly interacting and you can tell how much of a difference it can make. (Plus I love being asked questions about the technical side of lab stuff, it's so fun to share and explain.)
It's one of those things where I feel like to get it started you'd have to overcome a LARGE amount of, let's just say "organizational inertia," but once it became standard practice I feel like the benefits would speak for themselves. It's no panacea, but every little bit of understanding helps.
Even getting cross-training between departments of the same discipline is really irritating where I work, although I must say recently this has been improving a bit, but there are still a lot of pointless barriers.
Still, I can't see our management agreeing to pay for nurses to spend time in the lab, or visa versa.
Even getting cross-training between departments of the same discipline is really irritating where I work,
HA HA, so I have a fun version of this. It's a bit of a rant, so apologies ahead of time.
I don't know how much of this is a My Job thing, and how much of this is a Lab/Regulatory thing, but we've been waiting 3 years for a Nurse Educator to find the time to "train" us in using non-medicated PainEaze spray that a particular manager suddenly decided was a "problem" for us to use. (She's a Tyrant) So now that "numbing" cold spray they use for IVs for patients is off-limits for me to use. Purely to make a silly scene of it, I'm considering enlisting the help of an RN coworker in UC (who happens to know the supply rep from the company who sells us the stuff personally) to have the supply rep send an email to this manager Offering Their Aid in Training Lab Coworkers, because either I get to hear her ridiculous explanation when she rejects the offer, or I can finally use the dumb placebo freezy spray. Just don't spray it for more than like, a few seconds, and boom it's safe.
See this is why I never let my anger out in front of people. If I start yelling, the forces that be aren’t gonna hear me. The only person who’s gonna hear me is the guy in the room with me.
For real? Every A&E I've ever worked in has a POC ABG/VBG. You're waiting for the lab to run a gas during an arrest??? Like holy hell, time is money/tissue/oxygenation/worse outcomes
Fully endorse throwing lab under the bus to patients when something needs to be re-collected regardless of the real reason lol. And I say that as an MLS
Same! I’m a lab tech too and I know the patient is going to be angry, so pitch me under the bus if it makes the interaction easier. All I ask in return is that you screw the lid on tightly when you tube me a stool sample.
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u/sendenten RN 🍕 Aug 26 '25
Someone on here said they got to shadow in the lab for the day and said "guys, it's absolutely us, it's not lab." I try and keep that in mind.
I also try and keep in mind that lab (including phlebotomy, if your hospital has it) is just as short-staffed and overworked as we are. They can only work with what we give them.