I started helping out in the lab a bit last week - one day, I just went and asked if they needed any help. They said they absolutely needed help (and it was very obvious, judging by the line-up out the door of patients waiting to have tests done, and by the 5 lab techs on shift...). Because I have lab experience, I understood how to use most all of the equipment, and the lab tech only had to teach me a few specifics of the different (older...) equipment. Within 20 minutes, I was doing glucose, triglycerides, and cholesterol tests on over 50 blood plasma samples. Pretty neat stuff. They're all very simple procedures, and I felt very comfortable working in the lab. Although, take comfort in knowing that in Canada, you could NEVER just walk into a lab and handle human blood without extensive training...haha Only in Nicaragua.
I feel like I am a huge help in the lab - every extra set of hands increases the amount of testing they can do by that much more. I like this kind of work, because I can physically see the work that I am accomplishing. It's very satisfying to know that I can actually help in this way. I even was helping them figure out some of the specific operating instructions of certain equipment, because the instructions are only in English.
I've been spending the majority of the evening sorting things out here - uploading pictures and sorting through them. I've decided it's too big a job for right now, and it might be better suited for my 7 hour plane ride on Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment