Dealing with blood is by far one of my most favorite tasks at my internship in the Intensive Care Unit. Being entrusted to deliver such important and even potent packages is such an honor compared to the mundane and monotonous filing and office work I am normally put to do. Each time a patient is admitted, blood is drawn for a great number of purposes. As mentioned in my earlier entry of my trip to the blood bank, blood is drawn for future treatment use just in case the patient is dwindling in certain components of blood. These components are stored in the blood bank and come in different packages: packed red blood cells, platelets, autologous blood, leuko-poor packed cells, washed red cells, fresh frozen plasma, pooled, leuko-poor pooled, HLA matched, cryoprecipitate, and RH immuneglobulin.
Delivering a blood sample to the Blood Lab.
An ABG sample.
Another purpose blood is drawn for would be for tests. On one occasion, I was to go to the blood lab to deliver a patient’s blood sample to be tested for any sort of disease or sepsis (infection). The samples are placed in test tubes and placed in biohazard bags. For deliveries such as these, it is normally required to wear gloves for safety measures against the sample’s potency. In my case, it was not that serious.
An ABG sample.
Blood is also drawn for an ABG. ABG stands for arterial blood gas. An ABG is a blood test that measures the level of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood. The blood is withdrawn from a small artery and then analyzed by a special machine that records the amount of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the patient’s blood and helps determine how well the patient breathes. Occasionally I would be asked to deliver the ABG sample to the ABG lab. The package is placed in ice and it is imperative that it gets to the lab as soon as possible before the ice melts.
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