What it was like as a lab technician

Jul 2, 2022 3:32 PM

AmyRevives

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113014

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1712

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36

I haven't really made too many comics about what it was like being a medical lab tech during the last two years, but this is a pretty accurate depiction! Lets just say when samples come in XXL shopping bags you know that it's going to be a long shift :'D Also, fun fact, in Dutch we refer to a test sample as a 'monster'!

Cat tax! Mr. Chonk is very good at blending in with the carpet, look at those cute toe beans!

If you would like to see more of my comics you can find them on my Instagram (I don't post them here as much as I do there): https://www.instagram.com/amyrevives

Now you got Chonks of samples at home! Be glad! I hear his belly has the best samples. You just have to rub it.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

if you ever were a lab tech in a hospital, a big THANK YOU! as a CT tech we usually have to wait on your results if we can give contrast

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

I've received samples in fast food cups and a work glove. Whatever the field guy had on hand at the time, I've gotten it.

3 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

I also work at a lab in NL (Marketing tho). This was pretty much how it was with all the covid samples we received. Insane amounts.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Mijn vorige functie waren de monsters zover te zoeken dat ik eruit ben gegooid ?

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

As a former lab tech, shit can be fun, but fuck being treated like shit.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I second this! We really are the invisible crew keeping hospitals running :'D but man is the pay rubbish and management too

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Thanks for looking at my pee and stuff

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

You're very welcome!

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Once received pathology slides in a empty almond tin.

3 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

I once recieved a pathology sample. I did not work in Pathology. I quote the porter "I have overies in a bowl here"

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Never a dull moment in a lab :'D

3 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Urine in an apple juice container, stool in a mayo jar, the creativity is endless.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

I vaguely thought you were still a lab tech, did you become a full time artist?

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Oh no I'm still a lab tech, it's just that covid calmed down so I'm no longer swamped in work!

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

As a respiratory therapist, thank you for processing the blood work quickly :')

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Favorite thing is when people ship samples and they don't label coolers with what temp it needs to be kept at...

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I too would be scared by a bag of monsters.

3 years ago | Likes 73 Dislikes 0

If you put it that way it sure does sound more menacing!

3 years ago | Likes 17 Dislikes 0

Ik hoop dat het geen urinemonsters waren...

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Had a patient drop off a stool sample...in a rubber maid container and ask if they could have the container back. We have the container back

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

But they were upset because we didn't wash the container out

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

My goodness, never a dull moment at the lab!

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I've been wanting to get into lab work since finishing University but I can't seem to get anywhere. How did you do it?

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Well they were absolutely desperate for people so I just snuck in that way, covid was my way in ✨ my medical degree did help though

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

As a water lag guy, we'd get samples in drink bottles, open buckets, minuscule medicine bottles...just, no.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

A XXL bag of samples that need testing and organizing. Oh baby that sounds like fun. I might be weird…

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

It's when they're leaky then the fun stops :'D full PPE and risking your life for min wag is a bit meh

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Agree on the min wage. Then again I work in a store and I had to clean up a pallet of beer that tipped over once. Also not fun.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I heard that someone donated vials of blood to a Goodwill once. He had been fired from the lab, and was retaliating.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I stopped being a lab tech when the local grocery store payed its workers better then what I'd been payed for 5 years.

3 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 1

Hahaha yeah... I'm probably gonna job hunt again soon too! They actually decided to pay me less but promoted me to have more responsibility!

3 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

I thought shit like this only happened in America and not places that actually have workers' rights.

3 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Let's just say hospitals are for profit wherever you go, so as a patient I'm all good, as an employee ehhh earth worm status :'D

3 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Apply for jobs in the private business sector that manufactures your equipment like roche, Siemens, Abbott, etc. they hire med techs.

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Classic

3 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

Damn your art is getting better every time I see it on here. I’m proud of you (I’m sure that doesn’t mean much but I am).

3 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Thank you!! And it means a lot to me ;D I've been trying my best!

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Bags? What in the fresh hell???

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

This was exactly my reaction!

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

This has been haunting me. Was everything okay in there? Some things should not be transported in bags.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Yah we survived, the labs I worked at were just wildly unprepared for the workload- but the more samples we processed the more the CEO made

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

But the lab techs, including me, never saw a penny of the millions made :'D I always thought hard work would be rewarded, apparently not!

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

But it is! Who is rewarded isn't specified though. Glad you made it through that with at least some of your sanity intact.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

No lab automation? All that is need is a rattle to sort them into racks and then a robot?

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Nope, we do it all by hand... I think cheap labour is less expensive than a nice sorting machine :'D

3 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_Ary4IfK1k but seriously alot can be done without expensive machinery..

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

All you need is a vibrating sieve, beelining the flask into a fixed position. Then a collab robot like UR + some cam could handle them

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F72M04Wni20 work smart not hard.. and stay safe

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I mean we still need to label, look for signs of leakage, make sure the sample is viable etc etc.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Labelling can be done with a label printer (okay those are expensive), leaking check can be done with conductivity sensor or by visual

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Would you prefer if the samples came in buckets?

3 years ago | Likes 244 Dislikes 0

You'd be surprised at what patients will give you as a container and think nothing of it.

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

3 years ago | Likes 22 Dislikes 0

We used ice buckets all the time in my lab, but relatively few samples per bucket, thankfully.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

The soldier might

3 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

I would feel very calm and reassured, ready to face anything with my bucket.

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Work in a hospital lab, 24 hour urine collections do indeed come in buckets. Sometimes multiple....

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

M…my… my sample.. comes in.. ok no.. I’m gonna stop myself there.

3 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

I might know of someone who could help. @elbowdeepinahorse

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

There's more

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Noo...

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

No, Never. The buckets were only for the most important samples to be tested. 2/10 They were packed right. And nobody should have used them!

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Probably :'D those shopping bags give me heart palpitations now!

3 years ago | Likes 109 Dislikes 0

“But I only needed a few drops of blood!” “Eh, keep the change”

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Loads shopping bags of boxes of test tubes into bucket. There you go. -- Management

3 years ago | Likes 30 Dislikes 1

It would be funny if it wasn't so true! Management wanted us dead I swear

3 years ago | Likes 24 Dislikes 0

We appear to have a difference of opinion. It's funny because it's true. I worked in the microwave lab. Sometimes samples came in buckets.

3 years ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 0

Speaking of things that don't belong in bags

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

The Canadians are quaking!

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

*Management starts installing a forklift bay, for samples.*

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

We actually have two forklifts :'D stuff does come in by the pallet!

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

DAT ZIJN ZE AAAHHHHH

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Waar een Albert Heijn tas al niet goed voor is XD boodschappen, verhuizen, labmonsters........

3 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0