{"620843":{"#nid":"620843","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Celebrate National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMedical Laboratory Professionals Week, April 21- 27, 2019, is an annual celebration of medical laboratory professionals who play a vital role in your health care at Stamps Health Services (SHS). They provide a full range of blood tests needed for diagnosis and preventative care through our in-house and reference labs. When asked about the lab staff SHS clinical lab manager Helen Ukoh said, \u0026ldquo;I appreciate my staff for taking pride and ownership in their work and for consistently producing quality work with excellent customer service.\u0026rdquo; To learn more about this unique role at SHS we spoke to clinical lab technician Evodie Epane to learn more about how her work impacts Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat sort of work do you in the Stamps Medical Lab?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor me, work starts at 7 am. I get in, and I turn on the analyzers. I also make sure the controls on the machines are stable, so they don\u0026rsquo;t interfere with the next patient\u0026rsquo;s data. If there are errors, I troubleshoot them to figure out what\u0026rsquo;s going on. Then I deliver the machines to the doctors. When the doctors order tests, I run the controls. Not all of our tests are done in-house, so sometimes we have to send them out. When we do, we must make sure that what we send out is correct to ensure we\u0026rsquo;re getting accurate results for our patients. The lab is also where sample collection for analysis, such as blood work, is done.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is the function of the Medical Lab as a whole?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe medical lab is essentially the backbone of the hospital because doctors rely on it for patient diagnoses. Before the lab tests are done, doctors can guess at a condition, but the medical lab confirms it.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat services do you offer? What\u0026rsquo;s the main reason a student would come to the lab?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA student would typically come to the lab for a check-up or physical, or if they\u0026rsquo;re just not feeling well. They\u0026rsquo;ll report their symptoms to the workers, and they order tests based on them, such as a strep test for a student with a sore throat. They then use the results to determine what medications the student needs from the pharmacy.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIs this unit also paired with the Radiology Lab?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EYes, the medical lab and radiology lab are basically like a big house with different rooms; they work hand-in-hand. Many tests are carried out in the medical lab and then further examination is done in radiology. For example, a student might get a red blood cell count done in the medical lab, then be referred to radiology for a chest X-ray. With the results from both of these departments together, we ensure that patients are getting the most accurate results possible.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat kind of tests does the lab offer?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMany, for many different purposes. Some that come to mind are tests for strep, mono, and flu A and B. We also do complete blood count tests, urine analysis, and tests of a patient\u0026rsquo;s sedimentation (which shows how fast red blood cells settle; if a patient is experiencing inflammation this takes longer).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhy is your work important for the Georgia Tech community? \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EStudents at school are really stressed out, and once you\u0026rsquo;re sick it just adds another load on top of that. We\u0026#39;re here to make sure they\u0026rsquo;re healthy so they can succeed at school. Seeing them succeed is our top priority.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThank you to Evodie and all the SHS lab technicians for their impactful work every day. Interested in learning more about the SHS lab, go to \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/health.gatech.edu\/services\/lab\u0022\u003Ehealth.gatech.edu\/ lab\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGet to know the professionals behind your in-house lab services at Stamps Health Services.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Get to know the professionals behind your in-house lab services at Stamps Health Services."}],"uid":"27649","created_gmt":"2019-04-24 12:55:28","changed_gmt":"2019-04-24 12:55:28","author":"Christine Kapurch","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-04-24T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-04-24T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"620840":{"id":"620840","type":"image","title":"Evodie Epane","body":null,"created":"1556110064","gmt_created":"2019-04-24 12:47:44","changed":"1556110064","gmt_changed":"2019-04-24 12:47:44","alt":"","file":{"fid":"236439","name":"LabWork_2018(16).jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/LabWork_2018%2816%29.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/LabWork_2018%2816%29.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2266182,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/LabWork_2018%2816%29.jpg?itok=NtH6EIao"}}},"media_ids":["620840"],"groups":[{"id":"111091","name":"Health Services"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"166906","name":"Stamps"},{"id":"398","name":"health"},{"id":"3373","name":"lab"},{"id":"10199","name":"Daily Digest"},{"id":"178819","name":"newsroom"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDelfina Booth\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMarketing intern\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}