Customer service at medical laboratories

[ammonite]

What's the customer service like at medical laboratories if you have AIDs or HIV? Do the blood collectors treat you decently? I don't have HIV and I get treated like crap at these places so I was wondering if it's worse.

[pioneer_to_the_falls]

I don't have HIV either but I get treated fine. Maybe it's the specific place you're going to, ammonite?

[ammonite]

Well, most of the time I go to one of two local places, one of them has a sociopath working there. Seriously she is a sociopath! - I have sat in the waiting room before her shift starts and everyone will be fine and nice, then she just walks into the building and all the other staff change. I only go to that collection center if absolutly necessary, otherwise I go to another that is further away. I've had problems there too but at the moment there are a few really lovely people who are there regularly. Today however there were a couple of temps who were horrible.

[naughtylion]

What sort of medial labs are we talking about here? I'm imagining white tiled floors fluoro lights and two headed goats...

...and automatic sliding doors that go "ssssshhhhhh" and a little bit of steam comes out.

[ammonite]

lol perhaps at the actual lab but im just talking about the collection centers. the one i go to are all decorated exactly the same, no matter where i go in qld..... they are blue - blue carpet, chairs, walls, counters, lino, beds... sometimes for a change there is a teal feature wall. and they all have 3 of exactly the same painting prints of fruit and flowers. they also all have the same christmas decorations - giant foil things - they must have bought hundreds.

[katie0912]

Hi ammonite, i know which company you're talking about there :) I used to work for the other one, the red and blue one, and none of us ever were bothered by who had what. Besides, more people have more stuff than you'd imagine! Precautions are universal, so we wear gloves no matter who we're taking blood from -- and cos you don't know what we might have, either!
Some staff in that job simply aren't nice people, and/or are too burned to care about anyone. Try different branches and find somebody you click with, ask their name and when they are rostered on.
cheers,
k.

[bellsforher]

my local vampires....I mean blood collection peoples...are lovely. They like my fascinating rare syndrome. I suggest you all get a weird syndrome and then every doc, gp, pathologist, whatever, will treat you like a god.....or a science experiement...it depends....

[bgf northernnick]

Hi Guys,
Being Hiv poz for soo many years have had me fare of bad experiences at different pathology labs over the years...........Staff in the health services now are stretched to the max and not often the case that you will find anyone in path labs who are having a gr8 day:(
If any of you reading these posts get bad service then make a complaint! All staff usually have name tag so it's not hard to make sure the critisism hit's the desired culprits........
Unfortunately seems that we still have to be the educators even when recieving services............If you are having bloods done and they treat you like crap then tell them before you leave ' ..... A few times I have mentioned that I can appreciate that they are really busy and that for some people having needles stuck in their arms is quite a harrowing experience and we are not all like the oranges they practised on during training!:eek:
It's really easy to get home after a bad experience and let it go without address but this course of action will NOT make things better for anyone eh?
We are very lucky up here in the northern rivers to have a gr8 crew of people workin in out clinics and services and have found them over the years to have responded to and addressed issues when they have been raised objectively........Next time you go into a clinic ask the staff how their day is panning out and treat em like humans and maybe they will offer you the same luxury....food for thought?
Have a gr8 day all,
Nick

[ammonite]

thanks k.
Try different branches and find somebody you click with, ask their name and when they are rostered on.
at the further-away collection center now there are a few really nice ladies on a lot during the week, (and i'm a little in love with one of them LOL), hopefully they will all stay there for a while. i will ask next time about their roster. the only problem is i need a lift there and i keep having to go on Saturdays when there are usually temps.
Some staff in that job simply aren't nice people, and/or are too burned to care about anyone.but why does blood collecting attract so many sociopaths and people who are dead inside? or does it make you dead inside?
Hi ammonite, i know which company you're talking about there :) I used to work for the other one, the red and blue one, and none of us ever were bothered by who had what. Besides, more people have more stuff than you'd imagine!sometimes i wish they would send me to the competition but they don't do some of the tests i need.
Precautions are universal, so we wear gloves no matter who we're taking blood from -- and cos you don't know what we might have, either!not everyone at this place wears gloves on both hands, and once a woman did my slides without any gloves! is that weird?

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my local vampires....I mean blood collection peoples...are lovely. They like my fascinating rare syndrome. I suggest you all get a weird syndrome and then every doc, gp, pathologist, whatever, will treat you like a god.....or a science experiement...it depends....
well that shoots down my theory - that hostility increases with the weirdness of the tests (because god forbid, if it's something unusual they have to *gasp* look up how to do it in a book!!!!!!! :eek: )

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If any of you reading these posts get bad service then make a complaint! All staff usually have name tag so it's not hard to make sure the critisism hit's the desired culprits........
It's really easy to get home after a bad experience and let it go without address but this course of action will NOT make things better for anyone eh?
i did start making complaints a while ago at the urging of my doctor. i'm not sure it does anything other than mark me out as someone who complains though.
Next time you go into a clinic ask the staff how their day is panning out and treat em like humans and maybe they will offer you the same luxury....food for thought?
i'm always polite but i'm not that friendly with strangers. the thing is though some of these people, it really doesn't matter what you do.
If you are having bloods done and they treat you like crap then tell them before you leave
i've never had the guts to do this, i just walk out, get in my car and burst into tears like a moron.

[katie0912]

Hi ammonite,

I'm really sorry you are getting this crap response. From my experience some people in that job have lost their compassion and forget how horrible an experience it can be. I hate getting needles myself so always had that in common with the customers, lol :) The pay is not great and some people feel they have nowhere else to go in terms of work, but that is no excuse! Again, I'm sorry.

Re the gloves, if you have tricky veins they can be really hard to feel through the gloves and so some people might take them off just to be sure to get the vein. It's one of those things - the bosses says always wear them - most people do, a few don't.

I know what you mean about tricky tests - the routine ones we knew by heart but more complicated ones we often had to look up in the book. Again, that's no excuse though! I'm sorry they treated you like that.

Here are a couple of things that might help - ask your dr to send you to the competition wherever possible (they might be happy to or might not, some drs deal with just one or the other); ask the nice staff where they would recommend going on the days that you have to go; close your eyes and imagine it's me there smiling at you and stroking your arm and asking how your day's going and saying it's all okay. lol!

Again, I'm sorry. Like I said, I hate needles, and am afraid of the dentist too, and I know what a difference it makes to have somebody nice take care of you. It's not right that people in that job forget that! Just because a needle is nothing to them doesn't mean it's nothing to the person getting it.

Hugs,
katie.

[katie0912]

Forgot to say, the times that coworkers got complained about to the bosses, they weren't told the name of the complainant.
xo
k

[bgf northernnick]

Thanks for adding that info Katie0912:)
It is highly unlikely ammonite that they will ever know it's you who made a complaint..........
Nick