The Least Satisfied

Hospital cultures are certainly geared toward nursing.  It would be laughable for a hospital to have a laboratory skills day, a laboratory educator, a laboratory risk manager, or a laboratory scheduling coordinator.  We are used to change and very used to doing more with less.  And I suspect nurses have no idea how complex laboratory work is.

I told an inspector once, "If you ask a nurse why a blood pressure is accurate, you'll get 'Because I did it!'  But if you ask a lab tech why a glucose is accurate, you'll not only get an answer -- you'll an answer that can be verified."  We are just trained to think differently, I've come to believe.

Perhaps, this difference means we are more likely to use technology to solve our labor crisis.  We'll have to.  Nursing can't do our job any more than we can do theirs.

I just heard that there are a number of hospitals across the country already downsizing on nurses. The last time I've heard, there were like 3 or 4 nurses taking care of some between 16 to 20 patients. Well.... they can have their pay then, I will keep what I got without griping! LOL! Cutting hours and increasing workloads..... attrition is on the rise!

Nurses may be the "least satisfied" group of health care workers (in spite of their making significantly higher salaries with 1-2 years of school than most of us in the lab with bachelor's/4-year degrees do).  However, I suspect laboratory professionals may be the "least understood."

In our Chemistry department, someone recently taped a Lab Week pin from 1992 on one of our shelves at eye level.  The original pin reads "Our Mission: Your Good Health." This colleague of mine placed a Post-It note over the last three words reading "We try to apply logic where logic does not exist."

I could not resist adding my own (at least) two cents worth on a second note: "...with those outside of the laboratory who do not understand (or care about) our 'logic' - and therefore believe it doesn't exist."

I can probably guess what the "hated" shift most likely is... LOL

I personally do not hate it all that much because I work either 7 or 8 consecutive 10-hour night shifts, then have 6 or 7 days OFF - unlike the measly weekends (or what amounts to one day off, as you night-shift veterans have explained to me before) the traditional five-8-hour-shifts/week employees get.

I have learned the hard way not to solely judge one's prospective job satisfaction by the position's pay rate.  Therefore, I am trying to focus on how much I enjoy my new permanent position and the very kind and helpful true teammates with whom I work in this lab rather than on my pay rate, which is over $3/hour less than the $20/hour I earned as a traveling technologist.  

I have accepted a major pay cut considering that permanent employment does not involve any of the tax-free housing/food/utilities/transportation perks included in travelers' compensation.  Financially, this is extremely difficult for me since I am repaying divorce/child custody attorney-related loans, a car loan, and a large credit card balance including medical bills from a broken nose AND replacing the transmission in my Honda Accord (both of which occurred last year).  

However, I choose to feel grateful for what I DO finally have - not being required to choose between my job satisfaction (working in a truly teamwork-oriented atmosphere with a great lab director and awesome, knowledgeable technical specialists) and what is best for my 1st grade daughter (which I suspected may not include working in Indiana or Texas while she lives outside of Winston Salem, NC with her daddy - even if they are only 3-month assignments).

Medical Technology ( the right description of the program or course or degree should have been "Clinical Laboratory Sciences or Medical Laboratory Sciences or Research Laboratory Sciences") should have been just an Associate degree. Aside from the volume of work in itself, what made me feel underpaid is the level of enormous education and/or information we've got to get our degrees and we are not fully making use of it as we are not directly involve with patient care. Our first 2-years should've just been liberal arts courses, basic science courses ranging from inorganic/organic chemistries, biostatistics, physics, human physiology/histology/biochemistry/anatomy/laws and professional ethics, etc. And in your 3rd year you just have to specialize in one or more area in your own choosing of the lab and have your registry done on the same year with those particular specialty (ies). The more you have the registries on different areas, the more bankable you will become and more pay. I was so mad of myself the other day when I talked to an LPN- he said, he just graduated from an 18mo- LPN program and he already got paid $28 travelling plus perks and I've been a technologist for 19 years and when I called  those travelling agencies, you are lucky if you get $25 as a base pay. So I just laugh at them. I might get a $30 plus few cents here at work but you have to work at the most hated shift of all- if you guys know what I mean. I love my job but my pecuniary worth is lowly appreciated compared to other healthcare workers education-wise. Oh well, I feel better when I gripe and dream on!

Lack of satisfaction may come from working years in the same position, being passed over for any glimpse of a promotion or shot at a position outside of the lab - for what?  the same lousy hours and pay.  I have worked in the lab for over a decade and where am I?  Working the same lousy hours I was when I started and only a menial minimum 3% COLA each year.

This is why many bench techs completely leave the field for other job ventures.  Better pay.  Better hours.  Better chance for advancement.  Better work environments.  Less stresses.  There are as many reasons for leaving as there are people that have left the lab field.

  That is a very interesting prospect. I linked the hospital as indicated in the article. I couldn't find the article or podcast that specified the strategy. However, the educational and informative podcasts were interesting.

  I do have a couple of feasible tips that will boost some confidence and wisdom as a lab tech.

1. take a couple days, schedule and attend your next

   registry conference or leadership organization

   symposium. (get those P.A.C.E. credits)

   ASCLS,ASCP,NCA,CLMA,AACC etc..

2. join one of the hospital committees that are of  

   interest to you Public Health, Quality Management  

   Nutrition, Compliance (those exciting ones)

  Basically, you are becoming involved, representing laboratory technologists, practicing skill sets, and making vital relationships, contributions and presenting. If you seek these career enhancing modalities than your manager will surely be apt to support you, your opinion, and the credibility acquired you bring to the laboratory as a whole, generally speaking.

Megan:  I hear you!  I think people can be made to care, but it takes work.

I've observed that if management asks employees what they really think and feel, they usually don't like all the answers.  They may ignore them, pick and choose what to address, put up a bulletin board or start a newsletter, add another management position to deal with it, or just fire a few people.  Consider the response to your last employee satisfaction survey, for example.  Did management "care," or was there a token response intended to shut a few people up?  Did management respond at all?

As a wise person once told me (OK, it's my wife):  if you ask people what they think, you'd better be prepared to act on it.  This needs to be a top-down commitment more than one driven by force of numbers.

What I'm suggesting is that no one should settle for a token response.  The stakes are too high, for one thing.  To make management "care," we need to persistently demand action in a positive, engaged manner.  (Griping doesn't work!)  It is reasonable for any adult to expect to work in an environment where concerns are heard and addressed, and if not to be actively involved in fixing the problem.

I wish it were as easy as that sounds!

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! THAT'S A VERY GOOD ONE MEGAN!  As divided as we are in our own turf.....good luck!  Does anybody still know this famous maxim, "united we........., divided we......?"

Even if med techs were asked about their feelings, do you really think anyone would care?