As a future med lab technologist, I expect to be working “behind the scenes” most of the time. This profession doesn’t have very much patient contact like most other careers in health care. Most of the time, the only patient contact we get is through collecting blood samples (phlebotomy), either in hospital wards or the outpatient area. I’ve always thought this is as much patient contact as we’re going to get, but recently in our Hematology lab we were exposed to another possible (and much more invasive) patient encounter: during a bone marrow aspirate / biopsy.
I can only imagine how painful this must be for the patient! Our first exposure to this procedure was through watching a “how to” video during a lab session. I have to admit I couldn’t stomach the entire video. It was a bit too gory for me, and I’m glad I wouldn’t be the one who has to perform it! Let me put it this way: it made phlebotomy seem like child’s play in comparison. I’m not going to put up any videos or photos here because they may offend some people. If anyone is not squeamish about this kind of stuff, you can find videos on YouTube…
Anyway, the reason med lab technologists have to be present during this procedure is to act as assistants to the doctor (e.g. haematologist or pathologist). We make blood smears from the bone marrow sample. Since bone marrow sampling is so invasive, this procedure is only done in cases where the doctor can’t make a diagnosis from other lab tests, so bone marrow exam is pretty much the last resort.
I’m not sure how likely it is for me to get the chance to observe this during my practicum… I hope I get the chance though. Four more months of school to go before I step foot into a real clinical lab!