I went into the lab this morning for my monthly blood draw for my nephrologist. I have been going to this lab for the past 10 years, and usually it is very quick once you get into the clinic. Sometimes the walk-in line gets pretty long, but I have been making appointments beforehand so the wait is minimal.
After I sat down in the chair, the phlebotomist seemed puzzled at the paperwork. She then went to a computer terminal, and spent the next five minutes looking up codes. Since my nephrologist was using a different medical records system, the lab order only had text description instead of a common numeric code. The text probably did not match the clinic’s list of test and causing confusion. Another staff member finally came over and helped her find the right vial to use. It went smoothly after that. There were six vials to fill this time. Typically the blood draw is between five and eight vials.
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IIRC, I think the test was BK Virus Serum, and the word “serum” confused the phlebotomist. Even though the lab was part of St. Joseph hospital, they use Quest to analyst the blood samples. Quest shows a BK Virus DNA, Quantitative, Real-Time PCR, Plasma test, but no serum test. I think they just ended up using their existing BK Virus test instead.
Life with chronic diseases 