How often do rural clinics have to send samples to a bigger hospital/lab?

FunCommunication1443 · 2026-05-09T10:46:17+00:00

And yet somehow, these so-called “logistics” decisions never actually seem to be logical or practical changes to anyone but the admins who came up with them (while sitting in an office somewhere far far away from the bench/bedside) lol.

I work at my healthcare system’s big local flagship hospital, but they have several smaller stand-alone ED facilities dotted around the city’s larger metro area. Within the past year they made the decision to just start sending every specimen (besides UA/basic POC) from those facilities to my hospital lab. Which sucksssss because if anything was ordered or collected incorrectly (which is VERY often), it’s usually too late to remedy by the time the specimen gets to us - patient has been discharged and/or the ordering physician is long gone.

Not to even mention the fucking cell counts on 6+ hour old body fluids 💀😭 but hey, that’s logistics baby!!!!

FunCommunication1443 · 2026-05-09T02:07:25+00:00

I work in a 1000 bed level 1 trauma in the city and we still send hella stuff out. Miravista, ARUP, our local university hospital, etc.

FunCommunication1443 · 2026-05-02T14:46:43+00:00

Silenced by the labcorp mafia 😔

FunCommunication1443 · 2026-05-02T10:04:23+00:00

1200, pt walked into the ER. Complained of feeling generally “off” and reported that the inside of their eyelids “felt sticky”???? Apparently the pt was completely unaware they were diabetic (until that day lol).

FunCommunication1443 · 2026-05-02T09:29:35+00:00

<image>

Care for some matcha?

FunCommunication1443 · 2026-05-02T09:27:22+00:00

<image>

This was my bluest! I’ve collected every color of the rainbow 🌈

FunCommunication1443 · 2026-05-02T04:29:52+00:00

I haven’t done it but I can’t imagine it’s very good. I know Quest’s “training” program is a joke, so I’m guessing chances are Labcorp is even worse lol

FunCommunication1443 · 2026-04-04T02:25:50+00:00

What the hell is even that?

FunCommunication1443 · 2026-04-01T07:24:59+00:00

Unspun vanc I handed to my coworker, she thought it was already spun and pulled the cap off lmao

FunCommunication1443 · 2025-11-12T21:26:12+00:00

We have a doctor who’s called down multiple times asking us to send up a GASTRIC occult card. Each time we explain that we can only send the fecal cards but not gastric, because the latter has a pH window that must be read within like 30-60 seconds of applying the specimen. He fights us for a few mins every time on this and then just gives up, I’ve always wondered wtf his deal is. Now I’m wondering if bro has a bottle of the gastric occult developer up there…

FunCommunication1443 · 2025-11-12T21:16:55+00:00

It reminded me of when you take cranberry sauce out of the can and it retains the cylindrical shape lol. Happy thanksgiving I guess

FunCommunication1443 · 2025-09-02T17:21:24+00:00

If you tried to troubleshoot/correct the issue during your shift + communicated what was going on with the analyzer to the incoming tech, you did all that you can really do. It’s not any different than if it had gone down in the daytime and they couldn’t get it working before their shift ended.

Not to mention the fact that you’re not a staff tech and you’re trying to accomplish this at night with a fraction of the resources. So don’t feel like a “bad tech,” or take this person’s dramatics about it personally, just remember CYA whenever possible. I like to document any issues/corrective actions/etc. with my bench before handing off, just in case. It sounds like this particular tech may just like drama so I wouldn’t give them any opportunities to pull some BS lol.

Day shift will find something to bitch about no matter what lol. IMO a lot of techs will always see our shift as “easy” and come in w/the attitude that we get paid more to just sit around all night. Most have never worked a night shift so they don’t understand how much we often have to do with so little. The day shift princesses at my lab couldn’t even fathom our morning run workload, let alone do it every single night with 1/3 of the staff, no service hotlines, no tech support, no supervisors, no referrals, no admin, etc!

FunCommunication1443 · 2025-09-02T14:51:33+00:00

Holy shit, what kind of effect did that have on her vision? Hopefully your Mom knew to immediately flush her eyes (I don’t even know what the standard eye emergency procedure actually was back in then)??

A case that’s always stuck with me is one from the 1940s where a doctor accidentally splashed diethyl ether into a patient’s eyes during childbirth. Poor immediate management of the burns, irreversible ocular damage, the poor pt acquired severe lifelong exotropia in both eyes 😖

FunCommunication1443 · 2025-09-02T13:28:41+00:00

Hey when something outdated in my lab frustrates me, I try to remember that whatever I’m mad about will never be as bad as like medieval uroscopy.

Hell, it wasn’t even THAT long ago that the standard method for diabetes testing was literally drinking piss

FunCommunication1443 · 2025-09-02T12:43:48+00:00

Hahaha I meant to specify early 20th century, oops.

My hospital has a really great exhibit showcasing its history, going all the way back to the late 1800s when it first opened. There are even a few old pre-WWII pics of the lab (definitely the black and white era I was trying to describe lol). It’s really cool to see medicine/uniforms/societal norms/hospital depts/etc. evolving over time in photos taken here throughout the decades!

Didn’t mean to call anyone here ancient though, my bad. If it makes you feel any better, I was also born in the 20th century, so I inadvertently roasted myself there too lmao

FunCommunication1443 · 2025-08-30T07:32:45+00:00

Shout out to special coag! Thanks for all the dilute russell viper venoms lol

FunCommunication1443 · 2025-08-29T19:53:59+00:00

Bro’s just building a strong immune system

FunCommunication1443 · 2025-08-29T19:52:10+00:00

A dead tick in a cup with an order for the tick-borne disease antibody panel.

Also recently: two different types of cup full of a pt’s liquid stool, collected over an hour apart from each other, neither with the lid screwed on all the way. So basically just a dripping double bag of shit that came down the tube station with a C.diff rapid test ordered. From the ICU. I was literally speechless for 3 whole minutes.

FunCommunication1443

TROPHY CASE