How I Helped the Healthcare Team Speed Up Treatment to a Meningitis Patient When I Was a Lab Tech
Here’s an interesting puzzle I helped solve on a snowy night.
The night was “quiet,” a word we hate to say in healthcare because of superstitions. It had been snowing all day, and usually kept patients away. People who would come in for non-emergencies to the emergency department thought better of it and stayed home. Outpatient services would shut down early. I loved those nights because I got to chat with the staff, visit different areas of the hospital, and only worry about the scheduled maintenance on the analyzers.
The Patient & The Lab Tests
My pager went off at around 2 in the morning. There was a patient in the emergency room who needed blood collected for a complete blood count (CBC), basic metabolic panel (BMP), and blood cultures. The patient was a man in his 20s, presenting with a high fever, body aches, and complaining of stiff neck and light sensitivity. Those last two symptoms raised some red flags.
Knowing that he had those symptoms, I slapped on a mask and went to the department to do the blood collection. The CBC would tell the physician the levels of red and white blood cells and platelets. Since there was a high index of…
