Qualifying Tests: Lab Work

Lab Work is a test where blood sample(s) are withdrawn for analysis.  Many different things may be tested for during this work-up, depending on the stage of the process.  At this qualifying stage, only a few vials of blood will be drawn, which means the collection portion will only take a minute or two to complete.  Most blood collections for lab work are done the same way, regardless of the analysis or amount of blood needed.


Since lab technicians like to draw blood from a large vein, this will usually be at the inner curve of an elbow, but if they have trouble with that vein, it could also be on your forearm or hand.  If you have a porta-cath and your technician is certified to access it, they may draw their samples from it.  A review of porta-caths can be found in the Transplant Basics page.



More often than not, out-patient Lab Work is done by a non-port-certified technician, and the procedure is as follows: a rubber tourniquet is placed around your upper arm, a needle is inserted in the vein, and then empty vials are inserted into the other end of the needle for the final step – blood collection.  Here is my PAG, along with a blank, for this stage of Lab Work:

Lab Work – Teri	Type	Rating	Duration
Tourniquet	Pressure	3	1-2 min.
Insert Needle to vein	Sharp Sting	2	1-5 sec.
Collect Blood	None	0	1-2 min.

  

Lab Work –	Type	Rating	Duration
Tourniquet
Insert Needle to vein
Collect Blood

Of course your PAG may be different from mine.  For the Type column, you may either choose to use the descriptors shown in mine, or select others that seem more appropriate to you.  In the PAG page there is a section that includes a starter list of descriptors that might be useful.  You may choose one or more from this list, or enter your own descriptor.  The important thing here is to choose something that’s a good match to the discomfort you may experience so that it means something for future tests which may have the same or similar line item components.



If you decide to keep your own records, for a transplant or any other medical procedure, I’d like to suggest that you pencil in your gut-responses for these indices before the test, and then modify them afterwards (if needed) to more accurately reflect the actual result.  Once you do this test and complete the PAG on it, you'll always know exactly what to expect for any additional Lab Work.