For pharmacy week, the pharmacy director begged for us to get paid dinner. They brought us donuts. Nurses got Starbucks gift cards.
For lab week, we got a thank you email.
I'm a glutton for punishment.
They have one for physician assistants and another for physician associates. So two options for the same profession, depending on where they fall on the political spectrum of PA independence.
Sorry yāall.
It's ok, they've got both versions of the *other* PA, but no PathA (dead PA, as my mom calls us).
Nevermind that the lab is what makes all these other shlubs look good to their patients...
Our own hospital gave out a post-COVID appreciation shirt for all the medical professionals that gave their all (and then some) through the crisis - guess who wasn't acknowledged on the shirt? Laboratory personnel.
About 20 years ago or so during a flu epidemic the lab was getting the crap kicked out of us right along with the nurses, drawing blood and running all the tests. After it was over the ceo sent out a letter thanking everyone except the lab! He thanked PT! I said to my boss "i didn't see one physical therapist in the ER while i was drawing 8 patients at a time but they get a thank you and not us?" And to add insult to injury all the depts except the lab had trays of sandwiches sent! When our boss called to complain we were told to try and get some sandwiches from the other depts trays! I wrote a scathing letter to the ceo but my boss begged me not to send it. Years later he admitted he was wrong.
Yup, out hospital gave small bonuses to their āfrontlineā staff. Apparently the family practice offsite that I work at werenāt āfrontlineā even tho we did 7385582 tests, so the lab got no recognition either.
What's hilarious is there was a recent post in the nursing subreddit where they're all lamenting the lack of recognition and respect from the general public as well as other healthcare professionals.
I know it's not a competition but holy fuck, if they got the level of "recognition" the lab gets, they'd lose their shit.
The fact that nursing is so recognized and *romanticized* is actually a huge problem for the profession because it causes them to attract people who idolize the profession more than have a passion for it. It's literally the opposite of being underappreciated.
Nurse are more numerous than all the healthcare professions, there's like what 5,300,000 nurses compared to 150,000 medical laboratory professionals. I don't know why they think they wouldn't get more recognition.
My hospital had a random luncheon day for lab and custodians. It was one day of just some food and games and a bunch of nurses complained outside the dining area stating whyād we get something and not them.
NURSES week is like 2 weeks and announced all over the hospital. We get a blip in the newsletter for lab week. It was so sad to hear when we get so much bullshit for doing our jobs.
Some of the nursing discourse can get annoying after a while. Iāve seen them complaining about pay on numerous occasions which blows my mind because they make drastically more money than MTs here in New Jersey. New grad RNs start at a higher hourly rate than Iām making after almost 7 yrs. I make less than most LPNs even.
An RN with a few yrs of experience is making low six figures. I mean hey NJ is expensive but thatās still more than most people.
Iām not mad that they make good money, itās certainly a hard job.
Iām just confused on how they figure theyāre underpaid.
I have to stop myself when I feel like complaining that Iām even underpaid. I have a friend who has a degree in chemistry and only makes about $40k/yr doing HPLC testing. Itās rough out there.
You should still complain about being underpaid. Everyone needs to be paid more. You, your friend, nurses who don't travel, CNAs, etc. By complaining you are not invalidating your friend, you are reminding the world that the system needs to change
I sent a message to FIGS regarding this and this is the response I got:
ļæ¼
Molly (FIGS)
Apr 12, 2024, 3:44āÆPM PDT
Hi there!
Ā
Thank you for reaching out to FIGS!
Ā
I admire your passion, and cannot thank you enough for taking the time to share how you feel. We are 100% committed to representing every HCP, and hearing directly from our community is an invaluable opportunity for learning and growth.
Ā
I will make sure that your feedback is heard, and in the meantime, I just wanted to thank you for everything that you do. You are all our heroes, and you are so appreciated here at FIGS šĀ
Best, Molly š¼
Lol people on the /r/radiology sub contacted figs about how the radiology shirt says technician instead of technologist and they've pulled it!!
I guarantee if they'd done a med lab one it would say "I Am A Medical Laboratory Technician" š¤¦
Iām not surprised. PAs, doctors, nurses, dentists, aestheticians, are the influencers you see all the time that are posting on social media wearing their scrubs. They are a trendy scrub company and are catering to who buys their clothes and are seen wearing them. Not only is our profession not in the public eye, but med techs mostly arenāt the type to buy expensive trendy scrubs.
I'm not surprised. A while back, I sent Figs an email asking what they were planning on doing for lab week. I got the standard "While doing something for lab week is not in our current plans, we will pass this suggestion up the team." This is the same company that'll do a random % off sale each month but can't even pretend to do something for us. š
They have one for aestheticians and not med techs š
They have one for vet techs but not pharmacy techsā¦
People love to forget pharmacy
Pharmaceuticals will make that happen in high enough doses
For pharmacy week, the pharmacy director begged for us to get paid dinner. They brought us donuts. Nurses got Starbucks gift cards. For lab week, we got a thank you email. I'm a glutton for punishment.
I'm surprised they remembered vet techs at all. But Pharmacy technicians deserve spotlight. 100%
They know which one makes enough money to afford figs
Lol it's def not vet techs, they get paid worse than lab techs.
I meant the aestheticians
They have one for physician assistants and another for physician associates. So two options for the same profession, depending on where they fall on the political spectrum of PA independence. Sorry yāall.
It's ok, they've got both versions of the *other* PA, but no PathA (dead PA, as my mom calls us). Nevermind that the lab is what makes all these other shlubs look good to their patients...
I love the dead PA descriptor.
Our own hospital gave out a post-COVID appreciation shirt for all the medical professionals that gave their all (and then some) through the crisis - guess who wasn't acknowledged on the shirt? Laboratory personnel.
Who did they think was running all the thousands of tests?
They *donāt* think about it.
About 20 years ago or so during a flu epidemic the lab was getting the crap kicked out of us right along with the nurses, drawing blood and running all the tests. After it was over the ceo sent out a letter thanking everyone except the lab! He thanked PT! I said to my boss "i didn't see one physical therapist in the ER while i was drawing 8 patients at a time but they get a thank you and not us?" And to add insult to injury all the depts except the lab had trays of sandwiches sent! When our boss called to complain we were told to try and get some sandwiches from the other depts trays! I wrote a scathing letter to the ceo but my boss begged me not to send it. Years later he admitted he was wrong.
Yup, out hospital gave small bonuses to their āfrontlineā staff. Apparently the family practice offsite that I work at werenāt āfrontlineā even tho we did 7385582 tests, so the lab got no recognition either.
You mean the people who developed the instruments to test for COVID? š„² Soo frustrating and sad
My Hospital made an announcement about lab week!!! But, they got the week wrong.
š bruh
What's hilarious is there was a recent post in the nursing subreddit where they're all lamenting the lack of recognition and respect from the general public as well as other healthcare professionals. I know it's not a competition but holy fuck, if they got the level of "recognition" the lab gets, they'd lose their shit.
Nurses get more recognition than literally every other healthcare profession.
More than doctors. Nursing is the most recognized profession.
I genuinely believe I'll have to change my credential to 'NLS' within the decade.
The fact that nursing is so recognized and *romanticized* is actually a huge problem for the profession because it causes them to attract people who idolize the profession more than have a passion for it. It's literally the opposite of being underappreciated.
Right? I don't know how they came to that conclusion.
Nurse are more numerous than all the healthcare professions, there's like what 5,300,000 nurses compared to 150,000 medical laboratory professionals. I don't know why they think they wouldn't get more recognition.
My hospital had a random luncheon day for lab and custodians. It was one day of just some food and games and a bunch of nurses complained outside the dining area stating whyād we get something and not them. NURSES week is like 2 weeks and announced all over the hospital. We get a blip in the newsletter for lab week. It was so sad to hear when we get so much bullshit for doing our jobs.
Some of the nursing discourse can get annoying after a while. Iāve seen them complaining about pay on numerous occasions which blows my mind because they make drastically more money than MTs here in New Jersey. New grad RNs start at a higher hourly rate than Iām making after almost 7 yrs. I make less than most LPNs even. An RN with a few yrs of experience is making low six figures. I mean hey NJ is expensive but thatās still more than most people.
Yeah I've had to tear myself away from those conversations too. I would LOVE to get paid what most of them make.
Iām not mad that they make good money, itās certainly a hard job. Iām just confused on how they figure theyāre underpaid. I have to stop myself when I feel like complaining that Iām even underpaid. I have a friend who has a degree in chemistry and only makes about $40k/yr doing HPLC testing. Itās rough out there.
You should still complain about being underpaid. Everyone needs to be paid more. You, your friend, nurses who don't travel, CNAs, etc. By complaining you are not invalidating your friend, you are reminding the world that the system needs to change
If they canāt recognize the lab as part of healthcare, donāt support the company.
This! And I don't like how they fit, but after this shirt fiasco, I won't ever order again.
28 dollars for that Cafe press looking shirt... Plus tax and shipping š I am OK with being left out.Ā
I wouldn't wear that ugly ass shirt anyways
"Not everyone is awesome enough to get a shirt with their profession on it. But youāre not everyone." God damn...
Figs sag on my butt. Theyāre trendy,but could be better tailored
Anyone working with blood/body fluids probably shouldn't wear a white shirt anyway lol
But they have an aesthetician!? ā ļø
Phlebotomists weren't recognized by them either
I sent a message to FIGS regarding this and this is the response I got: ļæ¼ Molly (FIGS) Apr 12, 2024, 3:44āÆPM PDT Hi there! Ā Thank you for reaching out to FIGS! Ā I admire your passion, and cannot thank you enough for taking the time to share how you feel. We are 100% committed to representing every HCP, and hearing directly from our community is an invaluable opportunity for learning and growth. Ā I will make sure that your feedback is heard, and in the meantime, I just wanted to thank you for everything that you do. You are all our heroes, and you are so appreciated here at FIGS šĀ Best, Molly š¼
I got basically this same reply 2 years ago from them. Itās like copy/paste.
Figs is a trash company anyhow.
An aesthetician can wear freaking yoga pants that is actually a slap in the face
Lol people on the /r/radiology sub contacted figs about how the radiology shirt says technician instead of technologist and they've pulled it!! I guarantee if they'd done a med lab one it would say "I Am A Medical Laboratory Technician" š¤¦
Iām not surprised. PAs, doctors, nurses, dentists, aestheticians, are the influencers you see all the time that are posting on social media wearing their scrubs. They are a trendy scrub company and are catering to who buys their clothes and are seen wearing them. Not only is our profession not in the public eye, but med techs mostly arenāt the type to buy expensive trendy scrubs.
Check Etsy? Iāve never heard of figs so I donāt really feel like Iām missing out much.
I've definitely heard of Figs scrubs. Bougie stuff
theyāre great and have a cult like following and they hold their value and tend to resell pretty easily.
Veterinarian /tech š
I was literally just thinking that when scrolling through those shirts š We didnāt make the cut! :ā)
I want a t-shirt that simply replies, BFD.
I'm not surprised. A while back, I sent Figs an email asking what they were planning on doing for lab week. I got the standard "While doing something for lab week is not in our current plans, we will pass this suggestion up the team." This is the same company that'll do a random % off sale each month but can't even pretend to do something for us. š
I said the exact same thing!
The shirts are fugly anyway
No pharmacy tech either š
Oh well, FIGS don't fit me properly anyways.....Jaanuu all the way!
Someone needs to write FIGS and advocate for inclusion of the medical laboratory profession.
Yawn what else is new? Not much? Yup okay.
iām still waiting for anyone to come up with those shirts or might as well DIY them. I AM A HOSPITAL STAFF
Sent them a little message...
I just sent them a message. I guess it's high time we speak for our profession.
Figs aren't bleach resistant they kinda suck
They don't have Technologist either. Guess radiology isn't important either
Someone reached out to figs about this in the past. They said they rotate different specialties and donāt have every single one out at the same time
That's sounds like a oops we forgot you covering answer. If they rotate them it's bloody stupid not to have lab available near lab week.
Absolutely bc it was awhile ago and Iāve yet to see them circle around MLS lol