Went on a 3-day safari to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. AWESOME, had promised myself I'd do that since I was 7 and watching Animal Planet Documentaries. Such a good weekend and well worth it.
Drew blood today in the laboratory for the first time!! Happened to get a patient with really hydrated veins, nice and juicy with blood that it was pretty much popping out. But I did others that weren't as good and it was really cool to be involved with taking tests! I also learned how to perform the blood testing:
Malaria: pinprick, drop of blood for the rapid test...one solid line means negative
Widal Test: testing for salmonella. Take the blood sample, centrifuge it, put one drop of serum in two circles and then add typhoid antigen 'O' into one circle and antigen 'H' into the other. Stir and swirl for a minute to see if there is a reaction. Reaction means positive and would look really grainy versus just a smooth colour change. Rinse and reuse the test papers twice...dunno how sanitary that is??
Full Blood Picture: machine tells you all the number you need.
One of the things lacking in this lab is 1) GLOVES, the technicians only change gloves if they are dealing with pee or poop, I am pretty sure at least they change then, or if they get blood on their gloves. If not, they are good for three or four patients! Had to get used to that. It's because they don't always have disposable gloves around so they ration when they can. Also there was only on tourniquet for patients so the waiting room was packed and we could only do one test at a time, even if it was just a quick prick...one patient at a time.
Oh yeah....on the aside, Chelsey and I decided to figure out what blood type we are! I really like blood grouping, though everyone seems to be either O+ or A+ (makes sense) and getting B's are exciting because they are rare, and especially ABs which I only got once out of the MANY tests that I did. I am A+ and Chelsey is O-...hardly got negatives also. A couple other volunteers want to know their blood type too, so tomorrow we'll do theirs.
Drew blood today in the laboratory for the first time!! Happened to get a patient with really hydrated veins, nice and juicy with blood that it was pretty much popping out. But I did others that weren't as good and it was really cool to be involved with taking tests! I also learned how to perform the blood testing:
 |
| Malaria rapid test, negative result. |
Malaria: pinprick, drop of blood for the rapid test...one solid line means negative
Widal Test: testing for salmonella. Take the blood sample, centrifuge it, put one drop of serum in two circles and then add typhoid antigen 'O' into one circle and antigen 'H' into the other. Stir and swirl for a minute to see if there is a reaction. Reaction means positive and would look really grainy versus just a smooth colour change. Rinse and reuse the test papers twice...dunno how sanitary that is??
Full Blood Picture: machine tells you all the number you need.
 | |
| Lab to the left, out-patients in the centre and major theatre on the right. |
Oh yeah....on the aside, Chelsey and I decided to figure out what blood type we are! I really like blood grouping, though everyone seems to be either O+ or A+ (makes sense) and getting B's are exciting because they are rare, and especially ABs which I only got once out of the MANY tests that I did. I am A+ and Chelsey is O-...hardly got negatives also. A couple other volunteers want to know their blood type too, so tomorrow we'll do theirs.
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