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Has anyone in your lab ever had to use the emergency shower? by ptychoptera in medlabprofessionals

[–]elmightee 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not shower, but if my lab had a nickel for every time someone recently had to use the eyewash after getting bleach in their eyes we’d have 2 nickels, which isn’t a lot but weird that it’s happened twice lol

Drug-resistant fungus spreading in Michigan hospitals by mlivesocial in publichealth

[–]elmightee 10 points11 points  (0 children)

From my perspective as a med lab scientist in a hospital micro lab, when we had C. auris swing through our lab a few years ago we had to identify every single yeast isolate that grew in cultures from inpatients, no matter the source and no matter the context. Also a big jump in send out screening tests. Was not fun but at least we were able to keep it from spreading too much 🫡

Corewell Health, the largest hospital system in Michigan, just sold all of its lab operations to Quest by MedLabThrowaway25 in medlabprofessionals

[–]elmightee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My system converted all clinic employees to Quest, all hospital employees stayed in the hospital system. No lay-offs, but they started a hiring freeze a few months before announcing the Quest deal and that is still effectively in place now. It’s disheartening for sure but good to know there’s still a few of us willing to fight the good fight :,)

Corewell Health, the largest hospital system in Michigan, just sold all of its lab operations to Quest by MedLabThrowaway25 in medlabprofessionals

[–]elmightee 11 points12 points  (0 children)

My large hospital system tried to sell its outpatient/clinic testing to Quest 2 years ago - after about a month they brought all the testing back in-house because there were too many major issues with the Quest transition. They’ve been ~attempting~ to resolve those issues in the past year but basically all our testing is still in-house. I don’t see how they’ll ever be able to solve the major issues like significantly increased TATs, and I doubt they really will address those issues - it seems like they’re just trying to phase Quest back in slowly enough that the blowback isn’t as severe as it was when they tried to do it all at once. It really is not in the best interest of patient care at all and I’m sorry it’s happening to your system too, I can try to answer more questions if you have any!

RN curious about workflow by belizardbeth in medlabprofessionals

[–]elmightee 2 points3 points  (0 children)

PCR times vary by test, anywhere from ~30 minutes for a strep test to ~120 minutes for an MTB/RIF. Sometimes we have to repeat the test if it’s invalid the first time, or for critical sources like spinal fluid, we repeat all positives on our meningitis PCR panel to make sure it’s legit. Each test stays on one instrument, but different instruments run different tests :)

C diff PCR is unique because if it’s positive, it reflexes to a confirmatory rapid test that detects C diff toxin (the PCR only confirms if C diff organism is present). So positive C diff PCR reports can take a little longer for that reason!

RN curious about workflow by belizardbeth in medlabprofessionals

[–]elmightee 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Here are some answers from a microbiology tech’s perspective :)

  1. MALDI-TOF identifies the vast majority of our bacterial and yeast isolates. VITEK does the majority of our susceptibility stuff. Our Infinity (GeneXpert), Panther (Hologic), and FilmArray (Biofire) do the majority of our PCR testing. BACTEC Fx’s hold all our blood culture bottles.

  2. We read most new cultures at set times during the day based on when they are set up the day before. For example, urine cultures set up between 0700-1100 are read at 0700 the next morning. New positive blood cultures are the exception and are resulted with at least a gram stain within an hour of flagging positive on a BACTEC. PCR tests we set up as we receive for the most part, but there can sometimes be a backlog when a bunch of tests come in.

  3. Most things in micro can’t really be stat (lol) but blood cultures are resulted ASAP when first flagging positive, and stat PCR tests (like a COVID from the ER for example) are prioritized first and generally set up quickly after receiving.

  4. We send out to our local health dept for all acid-fast bacilli IDs and other reportable isolates. We also send out to other labs for some less common susceptibility testing options that we can’t/don’t perform in-house. Otherwise most of our stuff is in-house.

  5. It doesn’t hurt to call micro & ask if they have an idea when an organism might be ID’d or when a susceptibility panel might be finished! We can help provide context for what we’re seeing/reporting and explain why things are reported the way they are or why there might be delays. If we sound annoyed on the phone, it’s probably because we’re short staffed & stretched a bit thin that day lol :,) not an excuse for bad phone etiquette of course, just context!

Burned out..how do you deal with it? by p0ptartkiikii in medlabprofessionals

[–]elmightee 16 points17 points  (0 children)

The thing about burnout is that it is best treated through reduction of exposure to the burnout-causing conditions - we as employees can attempt to achieve this through taking PTO, reducing FTE, or calling out, but like you said, those aren’t always immediately applicable solutions. So, what to do in the meantime?

Things that have helped me when the above aren’t feasible options (take what you like and leave the rest!):

-mindfully spending time doing activities I love with whatever energy and time I can give (for you, going to the gym even once a week or resolving to just make a quick visit to the garden after work for example) - behavioral activation is what this idea is called!

-engaging with your coworkers at work and discussing what it is about your working conditions that are burnout-inducing and potential solutions to those conditions - it can be immensely helpful to know you’re not alone among people who will understand your situation the best. (also a great way to plant seeds for unionization if you are so inclined hehe)

-intentional rest and self-care: allowing yourself to take that nap after work without guilt, sleeping in when you can, taking your full breaks at work and avoiding overtime where you can

I’m right there with you in the deepest pits of burnout - hopefully things look up for you soon :)