That's easy.  I would have attended Brewmaster school after college.  As a brewmaster, I'd be making at least double what my B.S M.T. degree got me, would have many foreign travel opportunities, would be fought over (if I was good), and there's a lot to be said for being able to drink good beer at work.

I'm intersted in the number of employees and positions in your lab.  Please list number of:  phlebotomists (lab assistants), office staff, supervisors, managers, lead techs, bench techs.  Also please note how many beds your facility as if it's a hospital.  If you know about how tests you run annually, that would help me out ...

LinearRegression: ''By the way, we haven't received a raise of any kind in 15 years.'' Great that you love your job but very honestly you are doing yourself a disservice by staying in a job that offers no reward for such a long time. Your employer is taking advantage of you. I personally can't imagine it. LR  I agree.  That's ...

An appropriate number of FTEs.

LinearRegression: Along the same lines, one hospital was cited for having metal plates attached with screws on the bottom of many doors, i.e. ''kick boards'' to protect the door from kick marks and from being damaged by kicking them to open. They are often installed on doors in public places. Joint Commission stated the kick protectors should ...

That is a CQI project of ours.  We currently keep track of where all the hemolyzed samples come from and who drew them.  We are not yet to the data compilation stage, but I can tell you that more hemolyzed samples come from ED draws through IV sites.

Nick Speigler: I couldn't agree more with you regarding the piling on of work.  Not that I am adverse to my job, however, the stretching of my description to suit their needs and others as well is getting a bit old.  We are currently doing a few things out of the scope of our job description, because it has been 'delegated' to us by a ...

Since our non-profit 150 bed medical center was purchased by a for-profit organization, things have changed for the worse in our lab, and I do mean worse!  Our lab was once a powerhouse and great place to work.  We now are forced to operate with about one-third of the FTEs we had 5 years ago.  Everyone is bailing ...

Cathy Listermann:I'm so sorry that you are bitter about our profession.  Might I suggest that you look for another one?  This, and many other lab managers works well over 40 hours per week without overtime and works with the staff, not against the staff. I'm on call 24/7 without extra compensation.  If we want to survive as a ...

Yeah Nick, crosstraining and LEAN are just a way for employers to get more for less.  No tech should be worried about job security since the profession needs 15K newbies per year while the schools only turn out 5K.  What I worry about is being treated  and worked like a mule.  It's not my job come up with ideas to ...