At OneWorld, we exceed expectations.
For many patients seeing a OneWorld provider, their visit ends with lab work. The type of lab work depends on the reason for their visit. Most often, patients need blood draws. The lab also processes urine and stool samples, swabs for STIs, Covid-19 tests and more. For the Lab Team, compassionate patient
care and close attention to accuracy are key to delivering accurate and timely diagnoses. “[We] really are behind the scenes, but we are the patient’s last stop. So often we get all the questions that the patients think of after they see the providers,” said Lab Manager Joseph Luna.
And of course, along with the technical skills, they learn to simultaneously provide good patient care. “I think the number one trait that I can really see in my staff is resilience and knowing how to multitask,” said Lab Manager Joseph Luna, MPH, MLS (ASCP)CM. “When you go and draw somebody, you’re looking at the veins, you’re making sure you’re keeping an eye on your patient. Sometimes we have patients that pass out, so knowing those reactions and those cues… you really have to know how to work on those tough situations and know when to call for help.” For a patient experiencing a blood draw, that “poke” is the most visible part of the lab team’s work. For the Lab Team, the poke is one of many steps in phlebotomy that require close attention. Anyone who has had blood drawn may have noticed a rainbow of test tube colors. There’s a reason for the spectrum: the color codes indicate test type. Luna said his team is taught to look at each lab ordered because they need to collect different types of samples based on the complexity and methodology of the test. “My team has to know that a [Complete Blood Count] goes with the purple top, or a [Comprehensive Metabolic Panel] goes with the ‘tiger’ top,” Luna said. “All of those have different components within the test tube, so very different anticoagulants, some tubes will yield serum and another will yield plasma. When my team sees these labs, there’s a test code [ associated with the required color tube and volume]. Everything could be as low as 0.1 mL to sometimes 2 mL. So, it’s knowing how many test tubes are going to be needed, the color of the test tubes and then making
sure we process everything correctly.” The importance of correct processing can’t be understated. Patients and providers rely on accurate lab results for disease treatment and diagnosis, and even routine labs can leave patients feeling vulnerable as their samples are taken and processed. For patients who are having lab work done as part of immigration screenings, Gonzalez knows that this moment is of great importance. No matter what brings a patient to the OneWorld Lab, the team is ready to support them along their health care journey. Along
with confidence, empathy is key. “I love that even though I’m doing
phlebotomy every day, it’s different every day,” Gonzalez said. “We work with all kinds of patients and different languages. I love that patients feel comfortable coming here. Some might even say it just feels very homey. For me, when I work with patients that speak my native language, Spanish, it’s
like I’m taking care of my grandma, my grandpa, my dad, my mom. And I love that.”
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