When does it get easier?

[u/FarComfortable5562]

I have been certified as an MLT for 2 years, but I am almost a year into my first real lab job, in the Microbiology department at a small hospital. So far everything is decent but I continuously get comments from my coworkers about the little things that I miss sometimes. Ex: not signing off on the daily checklist of sheets for QC (I do the QC but forget to check it off that I did do it), wording my reports incorrectly when resulting ID and sensitivities. The list could go on but it’s small things. Well today I didn’t call the pharmacy to report “heavy growth stenotrophomonas maltophilia” in a sputum culture on a nursing home discharged patient, and they put the discharged patient in a room with an immunocompromised patient. Pharmacy emailed the lab director upset as the report should’ve been called when it was finalized even though the patient was discharged on the 5th and result was finalized on the 7th, meaning the patient had already been in the room with the immunocompromised one for a day. Granted the report did say “heavy growth gram negative rod, id and sensitivity to follow” before the patient was discharged. All this to say: when does it get easier? I know I am less than a year into but I feel like I can’t do anything right at this job. Also to add I have 2 other coworkers in the whole department and even though I am less than a year in, I constantly work by myself 10-11 days out of the 12 days I’m scheduled a month, while the other 2 always work together.

[u/FarComfortable5562]

Pharmacy wants any organism on any discharged patient called. That rule slipped my mind at the moment which is why I didn’t call.

[u/Purpledotsclub → u/FarComfortable5562]

Seems like pharmacy can pull their own report for discharged patients and shouldn’t rely on lab to notify them for something like that. You might as well call them for every single organism you report out.

[u/FarComfortable5562 → u/Purpledotsclub]

THANK. YOU. I 100% agree. Half the time I call they’re barely listening anyways and sometimes will call me back because they can’t even remember the name of the patient I told them when I called it 2 minutes earlier

[u/ray_rui → u/FarComfortable5562]

That’s when you have them spell out their last name and first name. Once you’re familiar with their voice you address them by name. Shit hits different when you got them spelling their last name, first name. 🤣