1st Day on the floor! PCOT

Today was a looong day! I woke up at 0300, and left to pick my friend up at 0400. The nice thing about getting there early was we got to leave early.

When I first got to the lab, the phlebotomist supervisor talked with me and gave me my schedule.
It was:

Follow the phelbotomist- 5-6am
In central processing-6-7:30am
Break 7:30-8
Automated-8-9
Pathology 8-9
Histology-9-10
Lunch 11-12
POCT- 12-130
Blood Bank-1:30-2

My favorites were the pathology, histology, and POCT.

In pathology I got to see how they will dissect the body parts/organs to do the biopsies. One of the ladies took me to the morgue and we got to check on the bodies. We did a body count. I would be freaked out to do this myself. She then showed me where they do autopsies. After that we went into the back room and saw the organs that have been donated. There were so many! It was very interesting.

In histology, they showed me how they take a piece of the organ and place it in a wax block. They then shave it down, so the doctor can look at it. It was awesome seeing this done.

In POCT, I was shown how to use the machines. The blood glucose machine (I have used this one before), the hemoglobin machine and pregnancy test machine. I practiced using the blood glucose machine and the hemoglobin machine. Both my results were in normal range.

Today was fun...but tiring! I don't think I am used to working 40hrs on my feet. I am exhausted. Going to catch up on sleep. = )