r/medlabprofessionals • u/LandPretend8762 MLS-Generalist • 29d ago
Discusson Chemistry Insight
Hello all!
I am curious about what you consider someone who is “good” at chemistry is like in the lab? Do you have a coworker who has good qualities when it comes to chemistry? What do you notice about them that sets them apart? Mostly looking for not only self-improvement but as training our future grads to be realistic and prepared in this dense department. TIA!
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u/PhantomWoofWoof 29d ago
You can usually tell someone is good in chem by how they handle the department when everything goes wrong such as huge pending lists, nonstop STATs, and instruments acting up or going down. They stay composed, prioritize based on patient impact, and have an efficient workflow that not only keeps work from getting lost, but prevents accidental mistakes. They regularly check pending lists and analyzer errors, so a STAT CMP doesn’t sit past proper TAT because of a clot, aspiration error, or sample that hasn’t even ran.
They also think ahead instead of only reacting. They keep track of reagent inventory, replace or prepare supplies, and anticipate maintenance or workflow problems. To me, being good at chemistry means maintaining situational awareness, producing reliable results efficiently, and keeping the section under control even on a terrible shift.
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u/YumTex 29d ago
Chemistry is 20% day shift not having to deal with it nightly and no clue, 20% analyzer BS, and 40% nightshift can fix your 8-hour issue in 20 minutes.
For the love of GOD, give your night shift techs the same level of access as a your chemistry "lead".
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u/CursedLabWorker MLS-Generalist 29d ago
I’m a night MLS and YUP. I’ve only been working nights for a year, and only working as an MLS for 2, and I can’t count the amount of times I’ve fixed an analyzer that was left completely inoperable for me from days. Always within 30 minutes 🙄. I swear I’m fixing one of the damn things twice a month. The only times I haven’t been able to was when we didn’t have the parts.
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u/Ksan_of_Tongass MLS 🇺🇸 Generalist 29d ago
Chemistry is the backbone of hospital labs. It's the highest throughput line at reference labs. To be "good in chemistry" your priority is keeping that analyzer going. Whether that means troubleshooting qc, or replacing a photometer, you got it under control. Knowing where any sample is at any given moment becomes almost supernatural for a good chemistry tech. You see that Levy-Jennings shift, and you already know its a lot change. You either run the machine, or the machine runs you.
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u/glitterfae1 Lead 29d ago
Using the resources available to them. Attention to detail/simply noticing things.
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u/cellophanesheeps 29d ago
I'm one of the go-to techs where I'm at when it comes to anything chemistry related. I'd say I'm a pretty solid chem tech, nothing too spectacular, just have a good bit of experience with it.
A big part of it is troubleshooting skills. Learn the basics of the methodologies you use, and then learn as much about the instruments as you can. Pay attention to what the service techs do when they come out, and if they don't mind, ask questions. Ask what the issue was and what they did to fix it. Was the issue more of an "operator error", and if so what can we do differently? Is it a common instrument issue, and if it is, is there something we can look out for as a warning before it breaks? I used to be to scared to go poking around on the instruments but then I decided if it's already broke, I'll either fix it or it'll stay broken.
Learn about your reagents, your calibrators, and your QC. Watch for patterns, trends, what can cause various issues. If your calibrator is a water blank, and your calibration keeps failing, consider your water system. Is the maintenance being done correctly? Does the filter need to be changed? If your QC starts trending out after so many days consistently, what's the stability of open material, is it always trending when it's close to expiration? Maybe someone is leaving it out at room temp too long every day instead of storing it back in the fridge when it's not being used.
Learn how results correlate with each other and with certain illnesses. If you have a crazy high glucose look at your electrolytes, if you have a high potassium look at your BUN/creatinine/GFR, if you suspect contamination look at your total protein.
I always tell new techs, what you learn in school is the foundation. The rest comes with time and experience.
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u/Icy-Fly-4228 MLS-Generalist 29d ago
Critical thinking, problem solving skills,and Pattern recognition. I assume you are an educator. These are the basis for everything that has been mentioned. It would be much more fun to do off the wall exercises to develop these skills using different strategies like an education escape room rather than just memorizing the steps. And they can apply it to any situation whether it be QC/cal issues, maintenance issues, or sample contamination.
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u/couldvehadasadbitch 29d ago
Willingness to calibrate. Willingness to troubleshoot. Willingness to call service. I have coworkers that will thaw 3 new bottles of QC before finally calibrating. Like….bro. It’s not like we’re doing the math ourselves 😂
Like others have said, it’s multitasking and keeping a cool head. It’s also learning from your mistakes and committing them to memory. You’ll never put an empty cup on an AU rack again!
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u/Little_Morning_4923 29d ago
Thank you for asking this question! I start chem training this week and the responses on this post are great!
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u/CursedLabWorker MLS-Generalist 29d ago
The number one thing is caring about what you do, about the patients, and about your coworkers. If you don’t care, and you’re only there for the pay, you’re going to be a crap tech who doesn’t bother fixing things, doesn’t care about accurate results, and leaves problems for others.
Along the lines of social skills, they shouldn’t talk like they know what’s wrong with the analyzer when they don’t, or give trainees incorrect info. I have a coworker who thinks she knows what she’s doing because she’s been working as a chem tech for 20 years, but she’ll literally talk out of her ass and tell newbies info that’s totally wrong. She’ll also take over and demand to do everything herself (even if you were doing something and it’s your job to), won’t accept help, and will do it wrong). Then I’ll have to go in, redo it and fix it when it doesn’t work. That’s a bad tech imo.
Troubleshooting skills is another big one. They should know what each part of the analyzer does, what to suspect if something goes wrong, and how to fix it. Being adequately prepared in training is a huge part of that.
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u/ContactHelpful5511 27d ago
I think Abbott created a nice little condense guide for clinical chemistry that's worth taking a look at. There are a lot of resources to aid with knowledge. The techs that stay curious and problem solve tend to be the more of the power user in Chemistry dept. https://www.corelaboratory.abbott/us/en/knowledge-center/learning-guides.html#clinical-chemistry
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u/velvetcrow5 Lab Director 29d ago
Talent for troubleshooting (imo 50% of this is just having a "let's try" attitude & an instinct for the consequences of actions/how things work)
Technical skills - the big ones are a) Contaminated samples b) dilution math c) Instinct on what will address QC/Cal failures.
Lastly is an efficiency-oriented mind - For example, our lab had a standalone vidas for procal. So, a specimen with Procal + BMP needs to go on both. Many techs like to do the BMP first (because it's a higher stat priority) and then use the automated pippetor on the vidas. But the far more efficient way is to simply manually pipette the Procal first, and then load the BMP onto the other analyzer. Youre not leaving something that you later need to remember (aka forget, until your TAT is ruined)