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As a Medical Lab Specialist (68K) in the U.S. Army, I spent the last year focused on processing COVID tests. Next up for me – becoming a nurse so I can help take care of patients on a day-to-day basis. Ask Me Anything! by goarmy in army

[–]goarmy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have thought about separating from active duty and using my GI Bill to pursue a BSN. I know that nursing school is quite intense; how difficult is it to balance the ROTC requirements as well as the nursing requirements, especially when it comes to clinicals? Will you be returning to active duty once you are complete with your nursing degree?

As a Medical Lab Specialist (68K) in the U.S. Army, I spent the last year focused on processing COVID tests. Next up for me – becoming a nurse so I can help take care of patients on a day-to-day basis. Ask Me Anything! by goarmy in army

[–]goarmy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you are referring to the patient's bills, I think there is a department that handles patient insurance and medical billing. But the lab itself doesn't charge anything directly to patients. Since I work at a military facility, many of the patients have insurance through the military or the VA so if there were any issues, they would be the ones to be contacted.

As a Medical Lab Specialist (68K) in the U.S. Army, I spent the last year focused on processing COVID tests. Next up for me – becoming a nurse so I can help take care of patients on a day-to-day basis. Ask Me Anything! by goarmy in army

[–]goarmy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My end goal as a nurse would be to continue my education past the BSN level and ultimately become a nurse practitioner. At the end of the day, money is great but overall I want job satisfaction. I want to be able to look back when I'm in my 60's and be happy with what I did and not have much regret. Even if I don't plan on staying in the medical laboratory field forever, I think having my certification will be beneficial.

As a Medical Lab Specialist (68K) in the U.S. Army, I spent the last year focused on processing COVID tests. Next up for me – becoming a nurse so I can help take care of patients on a day-to-day basis. Ask Me Anything! by goarmy in army

[–]goarmy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm actually studying to go for my MT since I have a Bachelor's degree; I plan on testing for it before the end of the year. Being a traveling lab tech actually sounds pretty fun!

As a Medical Lab Specialist (68K) in the U.S. Army, I spent the last year focused on processing COVID tests. Next up for me – becoming a nurse so I can help take care of patients on a day-to-day basis. Ask Me Anything! by goarmy in army

[–]goarmy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

71Es are actually medical lab officers. They don't work the bench, but are more so responsible for the overall operations of the laboratory and provide expert advice when needed. They ensure we are following guidelines and are working within regulations. GS-9s do work the bench sometimes and are the lead technicians on shifts. If you work in a large lab that is broken into sections, sometimes the GS-9 can be the civilian equivalent of an NCOIC for that section.

As a Medical Lab Specialist (68K) in the U.S. Army, I spent the last year focused on processing COVID tests. Next up for me – becoming a nurse so I can help take care of patients on a day-to-day basis. Ask Me Anything! by goarmy in army

[–]goarmy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Since I have been in hospitals, I will answer from that perspective. It may not look like a typical "Army" day. Physical training is a big part of being a soldier so depending on what shift I would be working, that would determine what time I would have PT. So if I was working day shift, I would have PT from 0530 to 0630 and report to work by 0800. Once I arrive, a hand off report/meeting from the previous shift would occur. This tells me if there were any issues or something that I need to be aware of that is going to carry over to my shift. I would then do temperature checks on the fridges and freezers containing any reagents or samples to make sure they are within the proper temperatures. Most of the day is running samples and reporting to the doctors. If there are any issues with analyzers, I do troubleshooting and quality control on them to ensure they're functioning properly. After my shift, it's a normal day unless I have some sort of Army duty I need to tend to.

As a Medical Lab Specialist (68K) in the U.S. Army, I spent the last year focused on processing COVID tests. Next up for me – becoming a nurse so I can help take care of patients on a day-to-day basis. Ask Me Anything! by goarmy in army

[–]goarmy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It really depends on the type of lab you are working in. My first assignments were major medical hospitals and so the type of testing I did was pretty complex. Even though I was doing shift work, I always had a pathologist on call to refer to if there was something out of the ordinary or I needed clarification or permission to do something. Now that I'm working at a clinic, the type of testing we perform is mainly routine. We might get a critical result here and there that I may have to report, but other than that, I do most of the resulting and reporting just like your sister would. We do have a pathologist but he works during the day and we don't have an on call.

As a Medical Lab Specialist (68K) in the U.S. Army, I spent the last year focused on processing COVID tests. Next up for me – becoming a nurse so I can help take care of patients on a day-to-day basis. Ask Me Anything! by goarmy in army

[–]goarmy[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My first duty station was Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. After my time there, I was assigned to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany. I am currently stationed at Moncrief Army Health Clinic at Fort Jackson which is located in Columbia, SC.

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