Real-Life Decision Making
You're a medical lab technologist. You work at a small independent
laboratory. When a patient arrives, you have to look over the form from their
doctor -- it tells you what tests you need to do. Then you must instruct the
patient how to provide the sample. This is very important, because the quality
of a sample can affect the accuracy of the test results. In other words, a
bad sample can lead to a false test result.
"Detail, precision and accuracy are important for medical lab technologists,"
says lab tech Lisa Gurney. "People's blood tells a story. You want to
make sure you're getting the true story."
After you conduct the test, the specimen will go to the lab. There, you
or one of the other techs will analyze it and report the results to the patient's
doctor.
It's Friday morning. A patient has entered the office and handed you
a form ordering a large series of laboratory tests. By the list of tests his
doctor ordered, there is obviously something quite wrong with this patient's
health -- but you'd never know it by looking at him.
"I exercise every day. I'm as strong as an ox," he tells you while
you look over his form. "Would you believe the doctor wanted to put me in
the hospital?"
Just as you begin to wonder why anyone would ever think this person was
ill, he doubles over, moaning and holding his stomach. After a few seconds,
the pain appears to stop and he stands up straight again. His face is pale.
You decide you had better get these tests out of the way as fast as you
can. You begin with your list of questions, and soon discover this patient
has ignored every one of his doctor's instructions. Although he should
have come with an empty stomach, the patient tells you he had a full breakfast
and several glasses of juice before arriving at your office this morning.
This puts you in a difficult spot. The patient's full stomach is going
to have an effect on the accuracy of the tests. In most cases,
you would send him home and tell him to return the next day with an empty
stomach. But you've seen how much pain this patient is in. And your lab
is closed on weekends, so he can't come back tomorrow. To top it all
off, the doctor wants the test results by the end of the day.
What do you do?