December 13, 2024
Irina Bacanu is a medical laboratory technologist at London Health Sciences Centre. Working in the Core Labs of the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine department at University Hospital provides her with the opportunity to directly impact patient care, and in particular patient safety, on a daily basis.
From ensuring the lab areas are clean, to double checking patient information, verifying the results and working with technology, Bacanu and her colleagues safeguard patient safety in many ways.
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PaLM) is a joint venture of London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) and St. Joseph's Health Care London. We are committed to providing a comprehensive range of routine and specialized testing and clinical consultation for patient care within Southwestern Ontario and beyond.
What does a Medical Laboratory Technologist do?
Medical Laboratory Technologists process patient samples and review the results. They ensure the results that clinicians receive for ordered tests are accurate, timely and make sense with the patient picture. Once clinicians have the results, they can make the proper diagnosis and appropriate treatment plan for the patient.
“I want to make sure that what I verify, what I upload to the patient chart, makes sense for the patient, so that the best outcome can be achieved,” says Bacanu.
While not a patient facing role, Bacanu is proud to be able to help patients get the diagnosis and corresponding treatment they need. “I’m also able to mentor all the new staff and students coming through. I love being able to engage with them so that when one day I leave, I know that our patients are in good hands,” explains Bacanu.
Technology and care
Bacanu studied biology and biotechnology in her undergrad before receiving her medical laboratory science advanced diploma, and it’s the technology aspect of her role that she really likes. The Core Labs use a lot of machines to help process the samples they receive. For example, after identifying which tests are needed based on a tube’s label, the instrumentation works to guide the tube onto the correct machine for processing of the specific test(s).
“Part of our job is to make sure that when those test tubes come to the lab, they have the correct coloured tops, ensuring the results that we give make sense to the clinician,” Bacanu says. The technology and machines present in the lab enable the technologists to run a large number of tests and help a lot of patients simultaneously.
“The instrumentation we use has a lot of checks and balances as well. It scans the bar code to make sure it's for the correct patient, scans to make sure every tube has the minimum volumes required for the tests ordered and checks for sample integrity,” explains Bacanu. “For example, if there's a clot in the sample we will not get good or potentially any results.”
The checks done by the machines and the quality control done by Bacanu and her colleagues ensures results are accurate and timely, helping make sure patients get the care they need.
What does Patient Safety mean to you?
“Patient safety to me comes from putting myself in the patient's shoes. If I was a patient, I'd want to make sure that when I walk through our doors the people taking care of me are compassionate, and they're making decisions based on test results that are accurate and timely,” explains Bacanu.
Bacanu takes great pride in the role she plays in patient safety, even though many patients may not know the role she and her colleagues play in their care.
“I think patients don't always realize that we're the very first ones that see their results,” says Bacanu. "If something doesn't make sense or is not quite right, we alert the floors and let them know that what we saw before isn't matching what we're seeing now and try to determine if the new results make sense with the patient picture.”