The Power of Positive Thinking

Do you want to come and work for me?

Hello, Rhonda, %0d%0aAs your experience demonstrates, everyone who comes in contact with the patient plays an important part in their care.  Please try to keep your sense of satisfaction, even on the days that you can get blood from an "oil well".

Five years ago when I attended MT school in a Winston Salem, NC hospital, our class of 6 students was split up into two teams.  Between July 2003 and November 2003, three of us would stick Monday-Friday mornings from 7A to 8A one week; the other three would stick the next week.  That was cool because the group who did not stick on a particular week didn't have to show up until classes began at 8:30 AM.

What ended up NOT being so cool (for at least me) was that our program director assumed "we would most likely not have to stick" in our future jobs - and the 100 successful sticks we were required to complete only included adult patients (no infants or children).  Consider yourself lucky if you are getting that valuable experience in your program.  

I believe this NC hospital (a Level 1 trauma center) required MTs in their lab to stick "just for old times' sake."  The Blood Bank, Chemistry and Hematology departments of the lab sent a technologist to stick once a week.  A different one in each department got a turn so that no one stuck every day except for one sweet older lady who worked in AFB/Mycology/Parasitology who volunteered to do that so no one else who worked in Micro ever had to stick.  Blood Bank specimens and blood cultures were NEVER collected by lab personnel there - only phlebotomists or nurses - which also put me at a disadvantage when I got to a smaller hospital two years later, where the former phlebotomist/"mail-order" MLT/lab manager looked at me like I was freaking crazy when I attempted to explain this crap to her.

That was NOT enough ongoing phlebotomy experience for me to remain confident and comfortable in my ability to obtain blood from the "hard stick" patients.  In my generalist position at the next hospital where I worked, I got to collect from outpatients a little more than once a week...then I worked 2nd shift in Microbiology at Duke Medical Center (where MTs are WAY too busy to leave the lab and stick - and phlebotomists collect ALL the blood).

I dealt with some depression and anxiety issues associated with leaving my ex-husband four years ago (and his father making a threatening phone call to me shortly afterward, but enough about that) - which led to some severe anxiety about my ability to stick once I got to the hospital where I worked after six months at Duke (the one with the "mail-order" MLT manager who most of my colleagues did not like).  

Anyway, the only hospital I've worked in since then that required lab technologists to stick was one I traveled to in West Virginia for three months early last year (which is still in the Dark Ages, only staffing the lab with one phlebotomist on night shift, and expecting the techs to stick in the ER during morning run while that one phlebotomist joins her colleagues at 5 AM to stick on the floors).

My favorite work places since graduating as a MT were Duke, the first hospital in Lafayette, IN to which I traveled through an agency, and my current employer - all of which do not require me to stick AT ALL! :) :) :)