Author: Alex Friedman

I was assigned to work in Microbiology for a month because one of their regular staff was out on her maternity leave. We received all sorts of fun things there. Stinky urine, gooey sputum, and all sorts of body secretions. I've plated each one of them, no questions asked. That's until I came across this… Continue reading Just Add Water!

Nurses can be just as nasty. I was an overnight Phleb at my previous hospital. One night, I came down to the lab after my midnight draws so I could help out the tech since it was such a chaotic night. The phone rang and since the tech was super busy, I decided to answer.… Continue reading That Nasty Nurse

I had a paramedic draw blood for me one day. He came up to me after and said, “the gold tube clotted, so I threw it out.” I looked at him a little sideways and said “the clot tube clotted?” He didn’t catch it and actually repeated back, “Yeah. The clot tube clotted so I… Continue reading Clot Tube Clotted

You know that absorbent pad that comes inside biohazard specimen bags? We know they're meant to absorb spilled specimens in the bag. Guess this patient had a different idea. One day a patient dropped off his stool specimen for a fecal lactoferrin. Instead of finding a stool specimen inside the cup inside the biohazard bag,… Continue reading Just A Wipe Away

I've met a few germophobes in over 10 years of working in the laboratory. We have to say the lab, from a microbiological standpoint, is one of the dirtiest and biologically hazardous places in the hospital. But nothing a bit of universal precaution won't help. The worst germophobe I've ever met, is an ER doctor… Continue reading Doctor Germophobe

First, a little backstory. I live in a small town of 2000 people with a small 25-bed hospital. I live across the street from the hospital, literally 50 steps away. After 1730 on weekdays and on weekends, the lab is not staffed but each of us take turns being on-call. This story happened the weekend… Continue reading Wake Up Call

I was a fairly new phlebotomist at a rural hospital that got in patients from all over. One day I get a call down to Emergency for a blood draw. The patient was from a correctional facility who had started a fight and was there due to their fight protocol since blood was shed.  I… Continue reading Scared of Needles