Lab Departments & Blood Tests Flashcards
What is the function of the hospital laboratory?
The primary function of the hospital laboratory is conducting tests that provide crucial information for detecting, diagnosing, treating and monitoring disease.
What’s the most common specimen used? What are some others that are used?
The most commonly used specimen is blood.
Samples of urine, saliva, sputum, feces, semen and other bodily fluids and tissues can also be tested.
List the lab staff and what they do:
- Laboratory Director / Pathologist - A Medical Doctor and / or PhD scientist.
- Medical Technologist - performs routine and quality control tests, supervises, teaches and delegates.
- Medical Laboratory Technician - performs routine tests in all areas of the clinical lab under the supervision of the medical technologist.
- Phlebotomy Technician - draws blood for laboratory tests using venipuncture or skin puncture.
- Laboratory Clerk - clerical staff who maintain records and reports.
List the different lab departments:
- Accessioning
- Anatomical Pathology
- Biochemistry
- Hematology
- Microbiology
- Transfusion Medicine
Why must requisitions be completed accurately?
- They are often the only form of communication used to request a test.
- They are part of the identification process that ensures the correct test is performed on the correct patient.
List the 10 General Steps for Transcribing Lab Orders
- Scan the order and the previous order prn.
- Fax the order to Pharmacy if there are medications.
- Transcribe the lab order to the Kardex. check and double check
- Symbolize the PO with K
- Complete the requisition as required check and double check
- Symbolize the PO with RMO
- Send requisition to laboratory
- Sign off orders
- Stuff chart with black addressographed forms prn
- Flag the chart for the RN
What does a CBC consist of?
A complete blood count comprises a number of tests including Hgb, Hct, WBC, RBC, Diff and Platelets.
What is a Diff? What types of WBC’s does it report?
A differential reports the various types of WBC’s (or leukocytes) found in the blood specimen. Some of these types are lymphocytes (lymphs), monocytes (monos), neutrophils (neutros), eosinophils (eos) and basophils (basos).
What is an ESR? What’s it used for?
Also called a sed rate, an erythrocyte sedimentation rate determines the rate at which RBC’s settle out of the liquid portion of the blood. The test is used to determine the progress of inflammatory disease.
What is a Hct test?
A hematocrit is a measurement of the volume percentage of red blood cells in whole blood.
What is a Hgb test?
Hemoglobin is the oxygen-carrying pigment of blood that gives it its red colour. This test may determine the need for additional blood, or it may aid in diagnosing types of anemia.
What is a Platelet test?
Platelet count is a test to measure how many platelets there are in the blood. Platelets help the blood clot. This could be used to diagnose bleeding disorders or bone marrow disease.
What is a RBC test?
The measurement of red blood cells per cubic millimeter of blood.
What is a Retics test?
A reticulocyte count (immature red blood cells) can determine bone marrow activity and is used in the diagnosis of anemia.
What is a WBC test?
White blood cell test is used to measure the number of WBC’s (leukocytes) in a blood sample. WBC’s fight disease-causing organisms and the test is used in the diagnosis of infection.
