Hello everyone..=)
This week is my 3rd week in the administrative section of the lab, as every month i will be rotated between the Microbiology and Administrative section with another student.
Although the admin department do not carry out diagnostic tests and experiments,
it is still a very important section of the lab as every sample that reaches the lab will be registered by the admin staff first before any tests can be done.
The admin department is responsible for ensuring the lab conform to the turnaround time for every specimen. They are also responsible for ensuring all urgent specimens are prioritized.
In the administrative department, i was introduced to all
aspects of the Laboratory Information System (LIS),
where registration of samples and tests that are ordered for each sample are done.
Apart from that LIS is also linked to HIS (Hospital Information System) and CMS(Central Management System), from which details and particulars of patients, tests previously ordered, as well as approved test results can be derived from.
Occasionally, we would receive calls from staffs ranging from nurses, doctors, patients themselves and even the dispatchers.
I was trained for the first week on how to attend to the wide range of queries the callers will make.
Doctors and nurses from other clinic branches under the hospital will at times
call to query on the availability and test codes of a particular test that
they are interested in doing.
Dispatchers may also call to ask if there are any samples to be dispatched
to a certain area in Singapore they are in charge of handling.
However most of the time the administrative department would receive calls from the different centres in the hospital (eg. Aesthetic centre,Women's Centre, Operating Theatre, different wards,etc) requesting for the time test results will be out in the system.
We would then have to dial the laboratory med tech in charge of the test
( eg. dial the Hematology section to query on Full Blood Count result; etc) and transfer back to the caller to provide them with necessary details and progress of the test they previously queried on.
Registration of specimens are the most common task in the admin department.
Peak hours for registration of samples is usually from 4.30pm-5.30pm as dispatchers will then arrive in the lab with bags containing specimens coming from different clinic and branches under the hospital all over Singapore.
Every specimen from a patient will come with a request form where tests ordered for the patient are indicated.
Different codes are assigned to different types of specimens ( eg. 01 for EDTA blood, 02 for PLAIN blood, 13 for FLUORIDE, 23 for URINE, etc).
Every lab test has its own 6-digit test code; and 6-digit profile codes on the other hand are assigned to different test packages (lab tests ordered in bulk).
Every admin personnel is given an ID and password to access the LIS.
Hences, specimen registration as well as ammendment of tests
and patient particulars can be traced back to the personnel
who made the changes to the data. This way the management is able to trace who is responsible for any changes and hence maintain a high level of security to the data in the LIS.
The admin section can be refered to as the central unit of the lab
as it is connected to all sections of the lab (Haematology, Immunology,etc ) as well as the rest of the hospital and its clinics.
They are responsible for communicating with patients, nurses,
doctors and laboratory medical technologists themselves.
Hence, they have a huge role in maintaing the overall workflow of the lab.
In all, i had a great experience in the administrative department =D
Good communication is key when working in the admin department. Even though the tasks assigned is different with that in Microbiology department, there are definitely more unexpected challenges in the administrative department.
I hope this gave you an idea how administrative work in the lab is like.
Feel free to comment me if you have any questions!
Siti Hawa Bte Azali
0704087F
TG02
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Hey Siti,
ReplyDeleteWhat is the function of the Central Management System?
Yvonee
0703189A
Hi Siti,
ReplyDeleteHow does the lab ensuring that it conform to the turnaround time?
Shameema
0700486D
Hi Shameema,
ReplyDeleteconforming to the turnaround time involves releasing all urgent results within 1 hour and all routine ones by maximum 1 day.
Hence from the beginning when the samples reaches the lab, urgent samples and routine samples are separated to ensure that the urgent samples are registered first.
This is so that the medical technologists can carry out the tests straight away and thus release results within the expected turnaround time.
Hope that answers you question!=)
hi siti!
ReplyDeleteur entry sound so cool!
i'm curious, u mean u're allowed to answer phone calls?
stella
0701059H
Hi Siti,
ReplyDeleteHope you are well =)
What happens if an inappropriate sample (wrong choice of sample; hemolysed specimen etc.) for a particular test was received ? Would your admin department reject them ?
Sorry i never been in admin before. Thanks =)
Ng Tze Yang Justin
0703747F
Hi Stella! =D
ReplyDeleteYeah we are allowed to. In fact its the most common task that we have to do apart from registering specimens.
However we dont only answer calls. At times we are the ones who need to call the different departments and clinics in case there are any clarifications we need to make (eg. specimens sent do not match with the test ordered,etc).
It can be pretty interesting but at the same time can be quite a challenge,especially when you are asked questions by the doctors..=0
Thanks for asking!
=D
Hi Justin!
ReplyDeleteYes i am, hope you are too..=)
Yes, it is quite often that specimens do not match with the test ordered (eg. PLAIN blood sent for a Full Blood Count test instead of EDTA),or maybe the specimens are hemolysed, or even insufficient.
We would then immediately call the respective clinic or department to inform them of the wrong specimen and request for the correct specimen to be sent.
For cases like hemolysis or insufficient specimens, usually the med techs will be the ones who will inform the administrative staff as they are the ones who will be carrying out the tests hence more likely to know if specimens are insufficient, clotted, etc.
The med techs will then write a rejection form indicating the reason why the specimen is rejected. The admin staff will then inform the clinics about the case.
The follow up measures determined by the nurses who attend to our calls will be documented so as to avoid future complications in case any miscommunication happens.
Thanks for the question!
=)
Hi Yvonne! =)
ReplyDeleteThe Central Management system (CMS)is basically a system in the LIS which stores details and particulars of outpatients from the different branches of the hospital as well as from private neighbourhood clinics which sent their specimens to the hospital lab for diagnostic tests.
It is a part of LIS, and basically whenever we register specimens from different clinics and branches out of the hospital, we would register them under the CMS.
It is different from the Hospital Information System (HIS) as the HIS only includes inpatients/ patients who visit the hospital for checkup,etc.
Thanks for the qn!
What about complain calls? I'm sure all admin department will get such calls once in awhile. Are you suppose to take such calls? or refer them to the appropriate personnel?
ReplyDeleteAlvin
Hi Alvin! =)
ReplyDeleteYes, we do receive complaint calls once in a while.
They types of complaints may range from results not delivered as scheduled to dispatching reports to the wrong clinic/branch. These calls are usually made by nurses from the respective clinics/hospital departments.
For attachment students like me, we are supposed to attend to all the calls and if there are queries we are not sure of, we'll immediately refer to any senior admin staff and transfer the call to him/her.
We'll then take note of the nature of the call and inform the senior staff about it first before transferring the call.
This do not only apply to complaint calls. At times queries from doctors and even outpatients themselves can be pretty complicated, so we let the more experienced personnel handle them.
Hope that clarifies..
Thanks for the qn!
=)