LANDSTUHL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, Germany -- I'm a good stick. I have small veins. My veins roll. I hate needles!
For anyone who has ever worked in a clinical laboratory, we hear these words from patients every day but most patients are not aware of what goes on behind the scenes once their blood has been drawn.
We are Spc. Jose Claudio and Jarrett Pierce, Medical Laboratory Technicians (MLTs) from the Baumholder Army Health Clinic. As MLTs, we manage and oversee Laboratory operations, administration, safety protocols, phlebotomy procedures (drawing blood samples) and shipping blood samples to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center for analysis. We serve a community of over 4,000 U.S. Army Soldiers and their Families.
Have you ever wondered why your care team sends you to the Lab? Think of your doctors, nurses and medical technicians as detectives for your health and well-being. They are looking for clues to determine what is going on, if anything, with your health. These clues come in the form of blood, urine, and stool samples, among others. MLTs perform testing and provide the results to your care team, giving them a much clearer picture of your overall health.
In fact, over 70 percent of clinical diagnoses are made based on the medical analysis that MLTs provide. At the Baumholder Army Health Clinic Laboratory, we serve our community by collecting, interpreting and testing these samples. Whether we are testing iron levels for the Women, Infants, and Children program, screening for pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, or maintaining the Army's readiness for deployment by assisting with Soldier Readiness Processing and Periodic Health Assessments, we are here to serve the healthcare needs of our community's Soldiers and their families.
"Care" is the motto of the Baumholder Army Health Clinic and that is exactly what we strive to do every day. To demonstrate this, the laboratory team just successfully passed our biennial College of American Pathologists inspection. CAP is the leader in laboratory quality assurance and promotes high-quality and cost-effective medical care. CAP inspects and accredits medical laboratories every two years, and laboratories must demonstrate their high standards to ensure their patients are receiving the best quality of care. The bottom line is that the CAP inspection ensures laboratories are performing at the highest levels for their patients. In our most recent inspection, we not only performed to CAP standards, but we also demonstrated how we, as MLTs, think on our feet regarding the best way to help your care team request specific testing. Additionally, CAP commended us on our specimen and patient processing approach.
The Baumholder Army Health Clinic Laboratory might be small, but we proudly serve our military community and their families, meeting the same requirements as every Laboratory inspected by CAP. Quality of Care is the standard by which we practice our craft. The next time your care teams sends you to our lab, know that we are a "good stick" and even if your veins are small or if they roll, we've got your six.
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