Letters to the Editor
Readers respond
Readers respondMore education neededI am writing in response to the article in your magazine about throwing tube holders away after each use. This would be impossible for our hospital. I would need to carry two pouches over my shoulders, one to carry at least 15 clean holders and one for the used ones. We draw in the attached nursing home, mental health unit and correctional unit. None of these allows needle boxes on the walls. Our trays are already full, so we would need extra space. The needle boxes we could carry would not hold very many used holders. Those would be fine for outpatients, but not inpatients.No dried blood that may be inside the holder would touch anything else unless you are playing with it. The new needle does not touch the inside of the holder. If the holder is full of blood it would, of course, be discarded.We have not had any sticks by phlebotomists since they started making butterflies with guards. What you need is more education! They also need to make butterflies in one piece because they keep falling apart and exposing us. They have also been leaking lately, causing us to have to redraw.Nobody should get cut with a glass tube. They should be cleaned up with a spill kit and put into a plastic biocontainer. If this were done, it would be impossible to get cut. Again, you need more education, not more items for us to carry. Deborah Smith, BS, EMT Phlebotomist Wyoming County Community Hospital Wyoming, NYFind new employmentThere is another valid answer to the question, When should a phlebotomist ask for help with a difficult draw? posed in the January issue. That is when the patient says, I have bad veins, or I am a difficult bleed. These patients generally have had years, if not decades, of bruises and hematomas. They know of what they speak. A phlebotomist who ignores comments like those should find employment elsewhere. T.F. Kelley, Ph.D Norfolk Associates Inc. Norwood, MABlessed by special childrenI enjoyed your article about your nephew Ben very much. I think that you and your family will need Ben as much as he needs you. Nancy Riggins, BS, MT (ASCP) Specialist, Quality Assurance Providence Hospital Washington, D.C.
I was just looking at the January MLO andread your column about Ben. I saw his picture and had to read it, as my daughter, Lia, also has Down Syndrome. He is such a cutebaby. My daughter having DS has madeus all better people. We have gone from total devastation to absolute joy over her. She was diagnosed with leukemia at 20 months oldand suffered greatly, but she still made everyone smile. Our kids need all the positive PR they can get, as they are wonderful children, and most people just dont get it, unless they personally know a person with DS. My daughter has a favorite Jay Jay video with the lesson: Its not what you cant do, but what you can do, that counts. That is so true. You will be so amazed at all Ben will do. Nancy Tarbox, MT
Huron Regional Medical Center
Huron, SDCelia, thank you so much for your column about your nephew, Benjamin. The title grabbed me, and as I read, I was so thankful that I stopped turning pages and read it -that you wrote it and that with the 30th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision, the value of life is again professed publicly. May we learn and remember that all life is precious dare we say sacred? and that if only those who are perfect were selected to survive, the race would soon die out! Thank you again from the bottom of my heart! Ruth Christensen
Riverside, CACelia, I just read the editorial in the January MLO and want to thank you (on many levels!). As you are already aware, your family will be blessed with the life of this little guy. As for the hearing loss, just wanted to let you know I learned when my precious little daughter was six months old (shes now 18) that she had a profound hearing loss. Emilys deafness is a frustration and inconvenience at times, but has never stopped her from being a vibrant, interesting, funny, kind, wonderful human being. Its just part of what makes her Emily! Thanks again. Janet McKibben, MT(ASCP)
Hematology Supervisor
Pathologists Associated
Muncie, IN© 2003 Nelson Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.
