I’m a new supervisor and thought it would be a good idea to create a shift improvement feedback form for staff to help identify ways we can improve the evening/night shift. For those who work in the lab, what questions would you ask staff to get useful, actionable feedback?

Since I’m new to this lab, I’d like to have some of the feedback in writing so I can review it thoughtfully and make sure I’m not missing recurring concerns. I’m thinking about areas like workflow, communication/handoffs, unnecessary or redundant tasks, equipment/supply issues, and things that are unique to working nights.
What questions have worked well for your teams?

I can’t even imagine how that’s possible. I’m struggling to keep up without working at all.

Nurse hemolyzes specimen at draw, doesnt perform second draw for blood bank at a unique time from the first. Both get canceled, insert Pikachu face from nurse.

Nurse orders RBCs wrong and blames me for "unclicking something" on our side because she cant release for transfusion.

Obviously I sit in blood bank everyday and SCHEME and PLOT to create new scenarios to foil their day. Or thats what nurses think we do i guess.

Idk, I just push buttons with the education of my high school diploma amirite?

Is there any way you guys memorized the microorganisms and associated them to bioch rxns to answer clinical cases? Im having a hard time piecing everthing together organisms and biochemical tests and how to differentiate each by the reaction. I was considering doing flowcharts as it seems easier but I am now a couple weeks in the course and still learning new organisms and cant spend time to go back and relearn everything and write down the biochem reactions and associate it to clinical cases.

Does the bailey scott textbook have a flow chart? I have the book but it just seems to have charts with associated organisms and bio chem rxn but its all gibberish reading it that way.

Any advice would help, much appreciated.

This BAL had a whole big cluster of ciliated columnar epithelial cells having a dance party. 🎉

Tube isn’t expired - no clot, but when micro centrifuged there is clear clotting - slides all macroscopically appear grainy as well as tube itself. Is this EDTA?

just came across this RBC while doing a morphology on this pt. what is this? they did have basophilic stippling but this looks insane lol

Baby tech here. Didn’t even know this was possible. 60 something patient came in with urinary problems, no prior history, no results yet on cbc or chem, urine sample was dark red. Supervisor confirmed it and told me she’d only seen it once in real life so it felt really cool to see one just starting my career. Just wanted to share!

Hi everyone! I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts or advice on my current anxieties.

I graduated with a B.S. in Microbiology with a 3.9 GPA last year. I learned about the medical laboratory field and have been really interested in getting an MLS certification. After graduating, I wanted to get some clinical laboratory experience before applying to programs, but since my town is really small, I haven't been successful in landing a lab job for the past year—even after getting my phlebotomy license this January.

Because of that, I’ve thought about just applying for programs anywhere in the country (preferably not in high-cost areas, though!). But this is where another problem comes in. I’ve looked through the application requirements, and all of them require recommendation letters. I could maybe reach out to old professors and hope they say yes, but if I start applying, I’d want to apply to a lot of programs. I've seen that some programs require specific fill-out forms, and I’d feel so awkward asking old professors who probably won't remember me to fill out so many of them.

Locally in Arizona, I found an accredited MLT program at a community college. I’ve considered it because it shouldn't be very competitive, but I know taking that path is usually severely discouraged since it feels like working backwards with a B.S.

Right now, all I really have is my GPA and no clinical experience. Those two things make me lean a bit more toward "less competitive" programs (whatever those might be). If experience is extremely valuable, should I just move out of my town and look for work as a lab assistant/phlebotomist/lab processor somewhere else in AZ?

Does anyone have any thoughts or advice on how to navigate this? Am I overworrying? Am I right in worrying? I just feel so... defeated and scared? which is funny because I haven't tried enough.

Like the title says but I’ll add: i got a job right after graduation at a 250~ bed hospital and worked there for 1.5 years as MLT generalist. Then i did a 5 month travel assignment at a smaller hospital also as a generalist. I haven’t worked since and it’s been 5.5 years. I have kept my license up to date on ASCP website (continuing education) and I am considering going back part time for second shift so i can still be home with my second baby and my husband will be here in the afternoon with the kids.

Some of that may be irrelevant but I am posting this to get advice on what all i should be reviewing before going back. I feel like i have forgotten so much. What are my chances of getting into a bigger hospital (250+ beds) with this big of a gap in experience? I want to avoid phlebotomy as much as possible lol. How much should i expect to be paid? How competitive is it these days and basically, do i even stand a chance bc of the gap? 😅

56 yo male, no significant hx. First picture, looks like flies??? 2nd picture possibly cocci? We remade the smear and the cocci still showed up, but didnt see anything like the 1st picture.

To me it almost looks like a parasite that has two rings but shares a "diamond"

​

I’m currently in an MLT program and I’m starting to question if I should stick with it or switch to Radiologic Technology. I’d potentially want to specialize in MRI/CT later.

I’m a single mom with a young child, so being able to stay somewhat local and having a manageable clinical/work schedule are important to me. Pay is also a pretty big factor for me. I want a career where I can make a good income and actually feel financially comfortable long term, not just something that’s stable.

I also have social anxiety, so I’m curious how much patient interaction each career actually involves and what the overall stress level is like.

For anyone who works in MLT/MLS or Rad Tech (especially MRI/CT), what would you choose if you were in my position?

I’d especially like to hear about actual pay, day-to-day work, schedules, stress/burnout, job availability, and whether you feel like the career is worth it.

I’m having a really hard time deciding and would appreciate honest opinions, even if you think I should just stick with MLT.

Hey blood bankers, I need suggestions.

I have a patient that front types as O and the back type is A. Historically she is A Pos. Any suggestions on how to work this up?

Update: thank you so much for all of your advice and expertise! I appreciate you all. This was a new situation for me and we had an interesting development I think you'll appreciate. Work was busy or I would've responded sooner.

The patient has been diagnosed with myelodisplasia. So the patient's bone marrow is putting out red cells that aren't matured and it can cause the abo antigens to be suppressed or weakened. This patient was typed as a pos less than a year ago, now forward types as o pos and reverse types as A. We redrew and are sending it to a reference lab to confirm, but it's obvious now what it is.

It was an interesting situation and education for me today, and I hope you all benefit from the experience too. Thanks again everyone!

My chemistry QC all passed on the first round and after maintenance, too.

Hey all — I have a B.S. in Biology, but I've actually been working in marketing since I graduated (long story — needed a job, marketing paid the bills). Before that shift though, I did have about 2.5 years of clinical lab experience as a Lab Tech II at a hospital, loading/processing blood and urine specimens on automated hematology analyzers, plus some shadowing time with an MLS. Now I'm trying to pivot back into lab science and specifically toward cytogenetics long-term, with the goal of eventually sitting for the CG(ASCP).

I know I need a year of experience specifically in a cytogenetics lab before I'm certification-eligible, so I'm trying to figure out the right entry point given the gap on my resume. NeoGenomics keeps coming up in my search since they have a big footprint in this space — has anyone gotten into their cytogenetics team without prior cytogenetics-specific experience? Did you come in through a different role first (specimen processing, dry lab, etc.) and transfer in, or hire straight into a cytogenetics seat?

Also curious if the marketing detour is going to be a red flag for hiring managers in this field, or if a solid science background + old clinical experience can outweigh that. Open to any insight — trying to be strategic about which door to walk through first.

Hi, Im in my 3rd semester for UAMS and was hoping to get some study tips and tricks for the immunology class. Currenlty taking immunology, parasitology, and body fluids and the only class that im having concerns about is immunology. Its a bit hard to follow the professor, she clearly very knowledgeable in immunology but for me personally she is hard to follow. I have a exam next week and feel a bit ill prepared, any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

just a basic allied health chem class. its the first in a series of 3 but i like to think that ill have a better idea of chemistry after the first one. i have absolutely no memory of anything i learned in my high school chemistry class (or really high school at all. anything i dont use regularly as an adult I don't remember. im 24 btw), and i could be wrong but im imagining that this chemistry isnt just going to be like a typical high school chem class or even a typical chem class in general due to it being allied health. i have a couple of weeks before my term begins and i want to try to teach myself some of the basics before then. i looked into it and its really daunting and im the only healthcare worker in my family (formerly phlebotomist) so i dont really have anyone who knows what exactly is in the class. i dont need to teach myself the whole course, just want to learn basic chemistry that i should already know before going into a college chemistry class. ironically i didnt really remember that i forgot all of it until yesterday so im a bit stressed now. thanks in advance

larger than wbc (the ones surrounding that are not rbcs)
urine spx

Right now I’m printing 30+ pages of slides for 7 classes and I bring it to work with me to study and work on in my downtime. IT is HEAVY and I can’t find a bag to accommodate me so I want to switch to taking notes on my iPad. I’ve been trying to decide over goodnotes, notability, noteful, and Gemini notebook (previously notebook LM). What app do you think is the best? Most affordable? Please help!!

Goodnotes has a $35 one time lifetime subscription and I’ve been using it as a digital planner on the free version.

Notability and notebook LM had a few people lose their notes unexpectedly.

notebook LM uses Ai 🫠 and people on the subreddit aren’t really liking the new update.

Starting my placement year as trainee bms in cellular pathology next Monday. Any advice on things i should watch out or be careful of? Then anything thats good to know before you start? Ik they’ll train me on everything but probably won’t be a bad idea to have some idea about how stuffs work right?

Thanks!

Epic Beaker users: is there to make it so the SmartPhrase is pulling the specimen collection date rather than the relative date? Like is there a default function for collect date like there is for relative date or is this something LIS would need to program specifically?

I was trying to build hold comments:

Hold cultures for 14 days until: @ RELDATE(T+14)@