All Good Things Come To An End

Even the work placements you really enjoy. I can't believe it's been three weeks to the day I landed. The bulk of my time here is over and I don't understand where the time has gone. It's been such an amazing experience and I have had the opportunity to work alongside some of the loveliest people I've come across; I'm grateful for that alone.

The biochemistry department was admittedly more tedious and routine than blood bank and although it was more interesting in terms of scientific knowledge, it was less exciting because it was a lot less hands on. I spent more of my time stapling results on to sample request forms than anything else. So naturally I wandered about the other departments for a while.

I visited serology where patient samples were being tested for hepatitis B/C, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and syphillis. Then I went to haematology but the machines were down so I didn't get a chance to do much, though I did learn how they pick up leukaemia and sickle cell disease.

Biochem mainly involved analysing the serum of blood samples to detect liver disease and/or renal failure. I was using an electrolyte machine that determined the concentration of sodium, potassium and chloride ions in the blood plasma of a patient and if values were out of the average range, it indicated that reabsorption of these ions at the nephron of the kidney was abnormal and so the patient was suffering from renal dysfunction.

Then we'd carry out a series of liver function tests to ascertain whether or not a patient had a fully functioning liver. So we used a fancy machine that uses spectrophotometry; the patient serum (that contains enzymes the person is producing) was added to a number of reagents to give a coloured product. The absorbance of this product is calculated and compared to critical values; high or low values corresponding to either the presence or absence of certain enzymes is indicative of the type of liver dysfunction ranging from cirrhosis to hepatitis to acute liver disease.

Some patient samples we tested for glucose to detect diabetes (which due to the impoverished state of the country, isn't nearly as common as it is back home) and we also tested cholesterol and triacylglycerol levels to determine if a patient was suffering from a lipoproteinaemia (this should be ringing a few bells for some of you). Honestly, it was just popping samples into machines that do all the work for you but it was interesting to see first-hand analysis of results to draw up a diagnosis and also to see physiology and biochemistry being applied to a real-life situation. It's kind of strange, applying what you've learnt on paper and connecting the dots to reach a conclusion.

But it was all worth experiencing. I was pretty unaware of how a hospital lab operates, and it's been eye-opening to see just how much molecular biology and biochemistry plays a crucial role in diagnosis and treatment of patients. Granted, there'll be a world of difference between this and a hospital lab in the UK but I'll have to experience that first before I give a valid opinion or comparison.

From what I've seen though, I couldn't work in a hospital lab all my life. If my future lies in the world of biochemistry, it'd almost certainly be in research. Until that path is determined, my hopes are still pinned on the dental field; I start in the dental department on Monday and although it's purely observational, if I do get the chance to extract some poor soul's tooth out, you guys will be the first to know.