Job Responsibilities
I was responsible for triaging the blood products from the daily
mobiles, centrifuging the bloods, pressing off the plasmas,
centrifuging second spins for platelets, labeling of numerous
blood products within specific time constraints, scanning all
labeled bar-coded products into a computer tracking system,
converting and quarantining products and segmenting blood
lines. In addition, someone is assigned daily to do lab
maintenance which entails cleaning all environmentsl work
surfaces, blood presses, cleaning bio-bins, emptying trash,
sweeping the floors, etc. There are also assigned days for
performing quality controls on certain blood products. I can
give no time frames for these responsibilities because these are
continuous, repetitive tasks that are ongoing 24/7. The list of
tasks is not all inclusive by any means. The component lab is
an environment that requires lab assistants to be responsible
and accountable for everything they do. If too many mistakes
are made, no matter if its the fault of one or many, people can
find themselves suspended or terminated. The milieu is very
stressful, emotionally and physically draining. Once a person
takes a job working in this kind of lab environment, you put
yourself in a box because what you learn in processing blood
isn't in high demand outside of this milieu.
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Job Requirements
Education for working as a lab assistant never has required a
degree and whatever one needs to know for the job is taught by
the trainers on staff.
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Lifestyle
The lab position is 24/7, three shifts around the clock. Lab assistants can
wear ratty clothes because lab coats are required to be worn in the lab and paid
for by the Red Cross. There are occasions when blood or plasma bags break and
will splatter on a person's clothing - generally your clothes end up in the
trash. The Red Cross will send out your blood-spattered clothing with the lab
coat cleaning company but its questionable whether one will see their clothes
again.
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Compensation
The Red Cross is trying to get rid of the the nurses and blood
services unions. The pay at present is excellent only because
both the nurses and blood services have unions. Should the day
come when there is no union support, the pay will plummet.
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Advice to Jobseekers
I simply don't know about the future of this organization. It is
an unhappy place from top to bottom. There have been too many
job cuts, terminations and consolidations. Like the old saying
goes "too many chiefs and not enough indians."
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