Friday, February 4, 2011

Spending time in the lab

Everyday we are seeing around 100 pts (it is around 200 when we are open to longwe), and a lot of them require some sort of laboratory testing.  Our lab provides us with basic information like blood counts, malaria smears, and chemistries which help the doctors make decisions regarding their diagnosis and which medicines to give.  Our lab is vital to what we do everyday and our workers do a great job, most of them just learning as they work.

When we no longer had anyone to do a TSH test, I got to go to Michigan to Worldwide Lab Improvements to learn how to do it.  Ed Bos and all those at WWL were great teachers, but the real test was if I could replicate what I learned and teach our workers here.  So we have had 2 training sessions to teach Sandra, Esther, Endy and Stan how to do the test.  They are quick learners, but their teacher is still trying to figure things out.  The first attempt didn't quite work, but our second attempt did and we should now be able to perform a TSH test.

In these past few weeks, I have learned more about the lab that I ever knew regarding the machines we have and how they work, but I have also enjoyed just getting to know our great workers.  It has been a lot of fun and I look forward to continuing to work together with them as we serve here at Kudjip.