Blood, Babies and Microbiology

I recently got to carry out a week of work experience in the Coombe Maternity Hospital Laboratories. So far this was my favorite placement.

Tuesday:

Every day we had to get the 151 bus at 8am from Foxborough to Cork Street. Luckily i was doing the work experience with two of my friends so we got the bus everyday together. The first thing we did when we got to the hospital was we got a briefing on safety in the labs and all that jazz before being warned that we must have a full stomach before our first lab placement. (You'll find out why) So our first Lab was the Histopathology lab, here the pathologists work alongside medical laboratory scientists in order to carry out a diagnosis of various diseases and conditions which are common amongst pregnant women and new born babies. We firstly spent time with the pathologist who was doing a dissection and analysis of various patient tissue samples and biopsies from the female reproductive system. It was very graphic but very very interesting and a great way to see the anatomy in greater detail.

Our second lab of the day was Microbiology which was one of my favorite labs. Here we analyse various body fluid samples to diagnose diseases caused by Micro-Organisms, and in particular urinary tract infections which are very common amongst pregnant women. The work was really really interesting and we got to do some hands on work too. They also look at the diagnosis of STD's and STI's such as Chlamydia.

Wednesday:

For the first half of the day we spent time in the Haematology Lab. This lab deals with blood samples in order to ensure that the pregnant woman and new born's full blood count is within average. They also ensure that there is nothing unusual showing up in the cells such as blasts which may indicate Leukemia or other conditions. This lab was my second favorite lab. We also go to do some hands on work and even prepared slides to be analysed under the microscope

For the second half of the day we spent time in the Biochemistry Lab. Here they analyse hormones and other proteins through body fluid samples. The samples go through various machines to calculate how much of various proteins are in the sample and this can be used to diagnose immune deficiencies, diseases and other viruses attacking the immune system.

Thursday: For the first half of the day we were in Transfusion Medicine, this is a sub-lab of the Haematology lab, here they prepare blood transfusion packs for expectant mothers as women can lose a lot of blood during labor. They also identify the patients blood groups. This is particularly important when a woman is pregnant as if she is Rhesus + and the baby is Rhesus Negative and the mother suffers from any accident, there is a high risk of spill cells from the mother to the child which can cause a termination of pregnancy.

For the second half of the day we were in Cytology which is the study of human cells. Here we worked alongside Cytologists and Medical Laboratory Scientists to analyse smear tests in order to determine whether a woman is in risk of cervical cancer. I found this really really interesting as i have interest in oncology and they taught us how to recognize cancer amongst the cells, as well as how we can determine what stage it's at.

Overall: Overall i found this placement to be really really valuable. It was my favorite one of them all and now i am seriously considering Biomedical Science as a future career if i don't get the points for medicine, in particular i would like to focus in Microbiology and Haematology.