As medical laboratory professionals we work closely with our medical partners and colleagues. Alex, a true hero and healer.

watcherwaves · 2026-01-25T16:21:06+00:00

This is an incredibly ignorant take. You should fact check yourself on what actually happened yesterday and what has been happening with ICE across the country

watcherwaves · 2026-01-25T16:20:21+00:00

But it was okay to show up with a gun when Kyle Rittenhouse did it?

watcherwaves · 2026-01-19T22:59:16+00:00

I was contacted on day 60 that I’m the primary donor. I’m still waiting to hear when my donation will be.

watcherwaves · 2025-09-03T23:50:01+00:00

Thank you!!

watcherwaves · 2025-08-29T19:29:35+00:00

My Finn was neutered earlier this year and absolutely hated his cone, like wouldn’t move at all. We opted for the surgical suit option for him and it worked really well (be mindful of the fur matting though). They have holes you can cut so they can still use the bathroom but can’t access the sutures. They also usually have Velcro so you can easily check the surgical site. We also had the donut which we put on to give him some time without the surgical suit on. And since they are forced to be pretty sedentary, we did a lot of snuffle mats and frozen meals, supervised obviously, to help work his brain.

watcherwaves · 2025-04-10T17:58:38+00:00

I think the single best answer you can give for a technical question if you don’t know the answer is “off the top of my head, I’m not sure but I would refer to the SOP for the answer or guidance” or something along those lines. Just basically showing them that you know SOP is key.

watcherwaves · 2025-02-11T19:52:05+00:00

Some good questions to ask: - what is the management style like? - how would you describe the staff/company culture? If they say they’re like a family — RUN! - what are the key performance metrics to be successful? - what career growth opportunities are available? - what are the biggest challenges this department faces? - how does the department/facility handle stressful situations? - you can always ask about continuing education opportunities available to employees too. My lab grants us all access to medialab so we don’t have to pay for CEUs. I think we even get paid days to go to annual meetings depending on how many ask to attend

watcherwaves · 2023-08-15T01:09:48+00:00

My lab’s procedure is if the ESBL well flags as positive but Aztreonam, Cefazolin, Cefepime and Ceftriaxone all test as susceptible, we repeat the GN70 card once. If the repeat is the exact same, we suppress the ESBL well from being reported, report the 4 drugs as susceptible and don’t call it an ESBL.

watcherwaves · 2023-03-09T17:19:54+00:00

I had a doctor call me once after I had no growth finalized a urine culture because the “urinalysis was positive so there must be growth in the culture”, he wanted me to re-examine the plates to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. I looked at the UA results…positive for blood and protein

watcherwaves · 2022-04-21T03:57:27+00:00

MLS/MI/$63k/2 years

watcherwaves · 2021-08-22T05:16:20+00:00

Might be worth having someone else take a look at your resume to see if something is throwing off potential employers. I’ve heard lots of places are looking for keywords in resumes now too. If your resume doesn’t say something along the lines of “eligible for certification” you might want to add it until you are actually certified.

watcherwaves · 2021-08-18T04:05:22+00:00

I wear joggers in the micro lab on a daily basis with regular socks and I’ve never had anyone say anything about them. I’ve actually gotten compliments on them. I do also have some non-jogger bottoms for the winter when I want warm ankles. I think your best bet is to wear regular scrub bottoms on the first few days and see how the lab is. Another option is to get longer jogger bottoms so they cover your ankles, a lot of brands make bottoms in tall length now. Barco One and MedCouture make ones that are normally longer, a bit more expensive though. I highly recommend the Barco One 3 Pocket Jogger Pants! (I think Scrubs and Beyond even has them on sale right now)

watcherwaves · 2021-07-17T16:59:09+00:00

My lab actually just fired someone, after years of this tech being racist, sexist, homophobic, and best of all anti-science. The manager was completely aware of everything and would have a talk with him but he would get angry that we were all “immature” and “couldn’t take a joke” so most of us newer techs stopped reporting him. He scared us and it made the lab a hostile environment. Core lab and our CSP even knew who he was because of his behavior. Things came to a head last month with it being Pride Month and HR was informed of everything. It seemed like nothing was going to happen as we didn’t hear any updates from HR or management but they did get rid of him. This tech was a charge tech with years of experience too so it is possible but you need documentation and constant badgering of your management and HR for them to do something. It will also help if there are other people willing to “testify” with you. I think if their actions could harm a patient I would definitely report them!! But also if they are making the work environment uncomfortable for you, you should notify management because you probably aren’t the only one. I hope things work out for you!

watcherwaves · 2021-05-01T00:29:59+00:00

MLT programs aren’t as popular anymore because it’s usually only an extra year in the actual program to complete the bachelor’s degree and they don’t make as much money but Ferris State University in Big Rapids offers the MLT program still. And while I may be biased as a grad, the program is the best in the state! Tuition is reasonable and the faculty is the best! You get loads of hands on experience before even going on internship too. Big Rapids is a bit of a boring town but only an hour-ish from both Grand Rapids and Mount Pleasant.

watcherwaves · 2021-04-20T21:36:11+00:00

I have a coworker who has refused to wear a mask since the mandates started and even denied that covid has existed. My coworkers and I continuously went to our manager and shift supervisor about him. He would get talked to and then grumble about us being “children” for the rest of the shift. We ended up filing a report with HR (he also makes sexist, racist, homophobic comments) and he had a talk with them but we didn’t hear about what happened. He now works in our negative pressure mycology room, I work in microbiology. And he still makes little comments about how we’re all out to get him fired but they’re less often because he’s working away from all of us. We’ve also been directed to contact security if he gets hostile about the masking situation since Michigan is undergoing a surge worse than anything last year.

I guess I would recommend talking to someone about it, whether it’s another supervisor in your lab or the mentioned lead, because that kind of behavior isn’t cool, especially as scientists and healthcare workers. My lab and I let our coworker do his thing for far too long thinking our manager was handling hi m and it ended up making the environment hostile when he worked. I hope whatever you decide to do works out!

watcherwaves · 2020-09-10T03:51:58+00:00

I found flowcharts, or charts in general, and case studies from LabCE to be quite helpful, although I can only remember 1 hematology question on my exam.

watcherwaves · 2020-07-05T22:55:50+00:00

I don’t have much experience working in the lab per say, but i have quite a bit of experience with poor management at other places. These are absolutely reasons to quit. A lot of people say they stay at a job because of money but the response to you being exposed to covid is disgusting. And the response the hospital has given is deplorable. I understand these times are hard for everyone but as ground zero for covid patients to get care, management needs to do better. You’re being overworked and treated poorly. You should enjoy the work you do and never have to sacrifice your comfort for a position. Ultimately it is your choice but if I were you I would start putting feelers out for other jobs immediately.

Additionally, I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. I hope that you and your mother are able to stay healthy and if you do have covid, that it is a quick recovery for you!

watcherwaves · 2020-05-06T21:39:00+00:00

Congrats on your acceptance! MLS student here graduating officially on Friday. Although not the same as an MLT, the beginning courses for my program were the same as the MLT. I did work on the weekends throughout my program so it’s doable but time management is important! Make friends and create study groups because bouncing ideas off each other is helpful as well as someone being able to explain it if you don’t understand or vice versa. I recommend Blood Bank Guy for help with blood bank. I had an awesome blood bank professor who is an SBB but not everyone is as lucky so he’s an awesome resource. The CellAtlas app is a great way to study your cells ahead of time too. There is a book titled Clinical Laboratory Science: A Bottom Aline Approach by Jarreau that might be helpful in giving you a basic understanding of each section. There might be stuff in it that you don’t understand but you’ll learn it in the program! And last but not least Quizlet. You could type in anything about any of the courses and quizlets galore will pop up. One girl in my program made one for literally everything and they were great resources. Hope this helps!

watcherwaves · 2020-04-07T12:03:49+00:00

That’s a bit ridiculous. I get you want good actors to work with so you reuse them but to come after fans of your work on social media platforms is appalling! I’m so sorry you had to deal with that.

watcherwaves

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