It’s 8 p.m. on Sunday night and I’ve just taken over from my colleague who had a busy day and was very pleased to see me!
For the next 12 hours I shall be the on-call biomedical scientist for the department of Biochemistry at St. Peter’s Hospital, Ashford performing diagnostic blood tests on urgent samples taken from those patients who are in need of urgent medical attention. I expect to receive samples from the Accident and Emergency Department (A/E), from ITU, the Special Care Baby Unit, the Maternity Unit, the children’s’ wards and from everywhere else in the hospital.
The first thing to do is to make checks on the huge automated analysers that are interfaced to the pathology computer. I’m running the quality controls now, which must produce results within strict ranges before I can analyse any patients’ blood tests. I’ll be making absolutely sure that the analysers are producing accurate results and that everything is documented.
My bleep has just gone off telling me to phone A/E about some bloods are coming down the air-chute syste, they are from a 2 year old with a rash and possible meningitis. I make my way along the corridor to the Pathology Reception, where samples are received and prepared, to look for the samples, and make a mental note that some time tonight they are quite likely to decide to take some cerebrospinal fluid for analysis from this patient.
I start work on this tiny blood sample, carefully separating the serum from the blood cells, and before too long it is on the analyser and I can dash back to pick up the rest of the samples which are now arriving in quick succession.
The bleep has been going crazy and there’s lot to do – a road traffic accident patient has been brought into A/E. They don’t know his name so have given him a special emergency ID with a special red ID number. Results are needed fast and they have also been talking to the on-call transfusion specialist. We are working together swiftly handling these urgent samples, checking them carefully, giving them a unique computer ID, entering data onto the computer which will interface with the analysers in both our departments. And then finally we are away back to our laboratories.
Name: Simon Andrews
Works at: Biochemistry department, St Peters and Ashford Hospital
Career: Graduated with a BSc degree in biomedical science from the University of East London (accredited by the IBMS).
Biomedical Scientist's Typical Day in Biochemistry Laboratory
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