Lab Tech Chronicles

I work in a blood lab draw site. Amusing things (and some alarming) happen all the time. We're a small draw site located inside an Urgent Care facility. If you like these few, I'd be happy to spit out more.

By far one of my favourite over the phone questions. And yes, she actually asked me this. By the eight, was it terribly tempting to tell her we could take her blood over a new smart phone app.

She called to complain that they were getting billed because her son's ssn (tricare insurance) was incorrect. I read her what I had on file, she said it was okay. I told her to call the main lab, and have them correct it, as they must have put down a wrong number. She did, then called back some 3 minutes later screaming that the lab said it was our fault and that I had entered it wrong, even though what I had just read her was accurate.
She swore to never come back. So far she's kept that promise.

This one kind of annoyed me. Patients who come in for weekly/monthy/quarterly blood draws have 'standing orders'. We set them up in our computer so its automatic, and we don't have to enter everything in every time. We just enter in DOB and select the order.
This patient had 3 different standing orders. When she came in and presented me with one order, and I asked if she needed any of the others, she said no. Turns out, yes, she did, and her missing the one set back her medication schedule by a week. When the receptionist at the patient's physician's office called to ask why it wasn't done, I said I was only given the one order, and was told that it was the only one to be done.
"Why don't you guys call to confirm that that was all she needed? You can't always trust the patient!"
I have upwards to 40+ labs to do daily during my shift. usually about 10 of those are standing orders. It is not my job to keep track of which ones the patients are due for on any given day. I'm not going to call every doctor's office to make sure the patient has it right.
I get that the patient needs the tests done, but come on. Give her a calender or something and stop whining at me.

Sometimes our urgent care provider can be a bit racist. But when you're terribly slow in the office, small games and bets keep you entertained.

This one kind of annoyed me. Patients who come in for weekly/monthy/quarterly blood draws have 'standing orders'. We set them up in our computer so its automatic, and we don't have to enter everything in every time. We just enter in DOB and select the order.
This patient had 3 different standing orders. When she came in and presented me with one order, and I asked if she needed any of the others, she said no. Turns out, yes, she did, and her missing the one set back her medication schedule by a week. When the receptionist at the patient's physician's office called to ask why it wasn't done, I said I was only given the one order, and was told that it was the only one to be done.
"Why don't you guys call to confirm that that's all? You can't always trust the patient!"
I have upwards to 40+ labs to do daily during my shift. usually about 10 of those are standing orders. It is not my job to keep track of which ones the patients are due for on any given day. I'm not going to call every doctor's office to make sure the patient has it right.
I get that the patient needs the tests done, but come on. Give her a calender or something and stop whining at me.

No cats in the house, but here are Papa the Ewok and Braego the Raptor for tax!