lab samples

Re: lab samples

Rachel Jayne — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:36:26 GMT

At my first practice, we used to section off part of the op board as "nurse tasks", so dentals/xrays/some minor ops would be put there too.

We used to put bloods on there too, with tick columns headed "Taken", "Run" & "On Computer/Sent" So everyone knew they were there & their progress.

Re: lab samples

Nick Shackleton — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 20:44:53 GMT

At the end of the day in an ideal world all samples should be run as soon as taken, where I locum I usually hand bloods to an auxiliary to run whilst I'm still dealing with the patient or run them as soon as I've put patient back in kennel.

The prob is sometimes vets take samples in consults, there are other more important jobs that nurses need to be doing 1st especially in twilight hours when there are less members of staff about.

It's all about prioritising your work load.

I liked Sal's idea of a box for forms to go in on the door. Where I've worked before we had a book and patients' details filled out, tests required, VS in charge and boxes that are ticked and initialled once tests have been run

Re: lab samples

Steph Phillips — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 20:39:03 GMT

[quote user="Chippet"] Unfortunetly we have 1 vet who takes samples in her consult room on her own and then just leaves said samples lying around....and shes a boss, so i need to be careful how we sort the problem out[/quote]

Oh dear! thats not good .. I reckon the vet should make sure the sample is handed to a nurse.. leaving them lying around is just asking for problems to arise imo..

[quote user="Nick BATFINK Shackleton Dip AVN(surg)VN MBVNA"]

[quote user="*Steph *"]

umm run them as soon as the sample is taken?? surely the blood sample (pressuming it's blood) would go "off" if left for too long?? so run them asap.

Whoever our vet hands the sample to - THAT person is responsible for running the test or sending them off to the lab - wether it be blood / tissue / or swab samples etc ...

[/quote]

The only time you have to worry is when running Glucose samples and arterial samples. with regards to glucose samples the sample should be spun down immediately to prevent the glucose from being metabolised. and arterial samples need to be collected in specific syringes and run ASAP!

[/quote]

Cheers for that Nick ,, I only said 'run asap' because that way imo it avoids the whole "who's running this test" & "where is that sample" scenarios!

Re: lab samples

Vicky RVN — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 20:22:00 GMT

[quote user="Chippet"] urine samples which get handed to the receptionists [/quote]

We had a prob with this too...then asked recep staff to hand urine to a nurse/tell them they've put it there so that we knew it was there.

Hope you find a way that works for your place

Re: lab samples

Chippet — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 19:49:59 GMT

Phew, there are a lot of replies on here, thanks everyone.

A few of you have mentioned that the nurse who helps with the sample runs it and YES this happens about 90% of the time. Unfortunetly we have 1 vet who takes samples in her consult room on her own and then just leaves said samples lying around....and shes a boss, so i need to be careful how we sort the problem out.

Those are the main problem, along with urine samples which get handed to the receptionists by the clients who have just obtained them.

And yes, it would be easy for the 'vet to ask' - and if you work in a practice where all the vets communicate perfectly all the time, i'm very jealous. (sorry i'm being sarky now, but as Sal said, ideal world it is not)

Thanks for the advice though. Will pop it down for the consult nurses to check as this seems most practical.

Re: lab samples

Busy bee — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 19:33:42 GMT

Do you have a whiteboard in theatre where the ops/procedures for the day are written on? If so, could you section a bit of the board for list of bloods to be run that day too, then ticked off when they have been run - that way everyone can see them?

Re: lab samples

Sal the 1st — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 19:28:20 GMT

I think its fair to point out that yes in an ideal world there would be a lab nurse and in an ideal world yes every sample would be run asap and in an ideal world yes everybody would all pull together - Just how many of us live in that ideal world?

Re: lab samples

Nick Shackleton — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 19:12:50 GMT

[quote user="*Steph *"]

umm run them as soon as the sample is taken?? surely the blood sample (pressuming it's blood) would go "off" if left for too long?? so run them asap.

Whoever our vet hands the sample to - THAT person is responsible for running the test or sending them off to the lab - wether it be blood / tissue / or swab samples etc ...

[/quote]

Re: lab samples

Steph Phillips — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 18:53:36 GMT

umm run them as soon as the sample is taken?? surely the blood sample (pressuming it's blood) would go "off" if left for too long?? so run them asap.

Whoever our vet hands the sample to - THAT person is responsible for running the test or sending them off to the lab - wether it be blood / tissue / or swab samples etc ...

Re: lab samples

Laura Samuel — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 14:50:45 GMT

We have the nurse clinic nurse perform bloods in the morning, we also use a lab book to note eveything down.

We also have a white board outside the room lab room, on this we write down the name of the patient, the test being run and the person told/informed that the test needs running.

Re: lab samples

Vicky RVN — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 07:42:29 GMT

I would def think it would make sense to have a rota for lab, as for wards, theatre, reception. In my experience rotas always help to make sure things get done.

Or how about the nurse involved in the taking of the sample? Could they not go and run it straight away?

Re: lab samples

christinam — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 23:39:02 GMT

Can the vet not ask!!

You say no 'lab' nurse, but I'll presume you have ward/ and or theatre nurses? Can the vet not go up to one of the nurses and ask if a sample can be run?!!

Can she (he) not say , well no, I'm buzy, but xxx has a quieter ward/ area, so I'll ask her??!!

Sorry as I know I am being very sarky here, but getting very sick of the attititude of 'it's not my job' / 'not my fault' / 'didn't know' !!! Is it not all about working together?!!

Re: lab samples

Sal the 1st — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 23:27:45 GMT

ps we also used to put the time the sample was taken on the pink slip (internal request form) and the time was automatically recorded on the lab result when the sample was processed - the aim was to run a sample definitely within 90 mins but within the hour if possible (we had 2 nurses and 3 vets and yes vets were equally responsible for running samples if they werent busy - everybody mucked in)

Re: lab samples

Sal the 1st — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 23:03:28 GMT

we used to have a lab book - as has already been mentioned but we also had a carrier fixed to the lab door and a request form was put in there with each sample so anybody walking past the lab would see at a glance that there was stuff needing to be run - and as everybody had to pass the lab door on the way to the staff room there were no excuses that people hadnt noticed.

was similar to this

http://www.viking-direct.co.uk/a/sku/business%2FWall-Mounted-Transparent-A4-Brochure-Holder/pr=Q2D&id=W230/

Re: lab samples

Chippet — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 22:58:24 GMT

Maybe should have said that we don't have *that* many nurses to have specific lab or reception nurses. Although it is something i want to look into more when a nurse comes back of maternity and job shares wwith another part-timer, so pushing us up to 5.

Re: lab samples

Sian Brew — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 22:53:49 GMT

The animals name and tests requested are written in a book. The nurse on lab ticks them off when they have been run. All results are put in the relevent vets tray for lab reports...

Re: lab samples

Tracy Windler RVN — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 22:52:15 GMT

How about a nurse that is responsible for them to be run, we used to have the lab next to reception, so it was the 2nd reception nurse's duty to make sure they were done. That way, whatever day it is, there should always be someone who knows they should be doing it. Use the tray idea too, to help them out?