First week @ Work (Medical Lab)

Last week was my first week working at my new job in a clinical pathology lab. Pretty much the first entire day was taken up by orientation, reading company policy documents & doing online safety training modules. From there on, it was right into the lab "shadowing" one of their current star employees who is leaving in 2 weeks.

The shifts I was working were 2-10:30ish, with a ten minute paid break twice a day and a half hour "lunch" break in the middle. For the first 3 in-lab days everything was scattered all over the place, trying to jump from one machine to the next, getting little pieces of information scattered about in my head about various equipment, procedures and software, with barely a chance to even try it out before moving on to the next thing.

I am not used to doing shift work, or working in any sort of extremely structured environment. It was a struggle for me being on my feet moving around so much (when I'm used to mostly desk jobs), and also just trying to stay alert for that long. I learned that it is important to grab a snack and rehydrate during those short breaks to keep my blood sugar up. I'm not diabetic or anything, but spending all that time on my feet and not having a chance to get a bite to eat here and there I started feeling really foggy very quickly.

On Friday, my last day in the lab this week, my trainer had me start out the shift just focusing on "heme" which means running the CBC's, "retic's", and making blood smear slides of samples where indicated. I did that for several hours, then after my lunch break started adding in running some urines now and then, doing some triage drug tox tests and cardiac tests, and vitamin D levels, and archiving samples. By the end of the night I was feeling a lot more confident, and was able to move through some of the shut down procedures without any supervision, and actually feel like I was being more of a help than a hindrance.

Working from 2pm through 10:30 or so, in an indoor environment with all those bright lights, and all the physical activity completely threw my sleep schedule off. I would get home around 11, be awake for a few more hours, maybe fall asleep at 1 or 2, then get up around noon the next day and prepare to go to work again. I didn't get much of anything done outside of work, so my task list has been building up.

Now I've got Saturday, Sunday and Monday off, and when I go back on Tuesday I'll be starting at 6am. I let myself sleep in today, but tomorrow I need to start getting up early in preparation. I made a couple of appointments for my Monday off, with my doctor, and to get my job-provided Hep B vaccination series started. I need to check and make sure I haven't already had that.

I think this job will be great preparation for an eventual career in nursing, what with all the running around and multi-tasking. It has been challenging so far but I think thing will move more smoothly with time.

I need to make sure and get some scrubs ordered this weekend. I had a pen in the pocket of my lab coat and it leaked all over my shirt last night.

Interview #2, pathology lab

Today's interview was checking out my practical skills. Pipetting, organization, following verbal directions, etc. I breezed through most of that alright. I did make one small mistake, spreading the bacteria around the first quadrant with the swab rather than the loop (I swear we did this regularly in micro class, maybe for lack of supplies)... and the woman who was checking my skills said she probably just forgot to say it. She told me I had done great at the end. I kept expecting there to be a trick in there somewhere, like a mis-match in labels or something that I was supposed to catch. But there wasn't anything like that. They had me talk to the lab manager afterward. He was already the main guy that I had spoken with during a phone interview for the same position last summer. He told me that the only reason they didn't ask me for a second interview then was because I was still out of state at the time. I really think I am going to get this one. He did say that my "salary requirements" (from my application) were higher than they usually pay new hires, but that maybe he could compromise some since I have an M.S. and most new hires do not. He said they usually pay new hires $15 per hour. From what I have heard, that is about the same as day-shift monitor techs make, so if he's going to come a little higher then there's no reason to complete the cardiac arrhythmia training right now. I do think that phlebotomists make more, which is a little disconcerting since the position I'm applying for *requires* a bachelors degree in science, while a phlebotomist might have only one semester at community college. Community college teaching would have been much better pay, but didn't work out this time. I hope hope hope I can get this job.

When I got home from the interview, which lasted about 2 hours (!), I had lunch, helped my dad with some home repair type stuff for a couple of hours, and then watched some online t.v. and took a nap. Since I've been up again I've been fairly antsy and industrious, getting all sorts of chores done. I think it is nervous energy.

Job Interview = HOPE!

While I was upstairs doing some home repair type stuff this morning, a woman called from the pathology lab I just applied to a few days ago and left a message on my phone about scheduling an interview. I called back and we're going to meet tomorrow morning at nine. It is lab assistant type work, probably less pay than I made right out of college, but at this point sounds like an excellent opportunity. And hopefully would work as "medical experience" for my nursing school application. I won't be working with patients directly, I don't think, but it is a medical lab. So.... crossing my fingers and my toes, and ironing my interview pants (hope they still fit after my recent weight loss), and GOSH wouldn't it be nice to start the new year with a new job?!