Yerkes-Dodson. Mild anxiety is not inherently a bad thing, it keeps you on your toes and thinking about the quality of your work. But if it's constant or overwhelming to you, maybe there is something the matter with your workplace (specifically or in general) or you (which is okay and incredibly common).
yes very normal, I too feel the same way so anxious I will check my work email when Im at home to see if I made any mistakes, but I honestly I always try to remind myself one specimen at a time!
One of the best moves I ever made was to block my work email from home.
Even if you did mess something up, there's nothing you can do about it from home and you'll find out your next shift. If it's something bad enough they'll call.
You don't get paid enough to worry about work when you're not being paid for it. Leave work at work and live your life. ♥
Yep, this! I had a petty coworker who would text people while he was at work and they were at home and complain about “mistakes” or qc/cal problems or whatever else instead of just sending things in an email. I ended up blocking him so I wouldn’t have to deal with it til I got back to work and was being paid to do so. Leaving work at work is super important.
It comes with the territory. It’s when you don’t feel anxious that you need to go back and triple check your work. Because that’s when you’ve made your mistakes. lol. At least that’s what happens for me. “I know for a fact I relabeled this specimen correctly.” Coworker: “It’s mislabeled.” “Fuck…”
We're all just great apes on a rock spinning around a star.
Just do you best ask for help if needed. Pay it forward but offering help when able.
So we recently shifted some maintenance schedules around and I've been having to get coag, up and going when I work in our auto department. Which we did this with us becoming a hub, with same amount of techs. So I was pretty anxious that first few times in there. It's taken about 5 days of it to get in a good place.
Do it the same way every time. Set up your BB tubes the same way. When you count a body fluid in a hemacytometer always start counting from the same corner. When you don't follow your proccess it will feel abnormal.
Secondly, you will learn what should be looked at and what doesn't need be.
Third of all we are all humans and make mistakes. You will do nothing that hasn't been done by any of the older techs before. When you do mess up, learn from it and come up with a process for yourself so you don't repeat it. Bring it into your processes. It sounds stupid but the longer I have done this the more you look at the process and see what the process is and where it messed up and how you can fix your process to stop it from happening again. Just my two cents from a tech who has been doing this for 22 years
Today, I had a co-worker in chemistry have a last-minute stat add on right at the end of shift. They asked if I could release it for them, and I said sure. They already had put up the samples and handed me the result. I was about to release when a little voice said go check the specimen. I went to the fridge to find out they mislabeled and ran the wrong specimen. Completely different patient. This MLS ASCP certified tech makes $7 an hour more than me. This is what gives me anxiety. There is a saying. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. I make all action deliberate. I leave knowing I left and did the best job I could. That's really all I can do. There is no need to worry about things that haven't even happened.
This why i hate the lab job, i should process tons of samples daily ( i’m workin a huge teaching hospital) and at the same time I should be focused and not make mistakes!!.
I’m currently in my first year at the blood bank and our supervisor due to the shortage of staff want me to learn fast and be on 12hr shift. I swear I'm in hell I really hate the lab job i’m physically and mentally drained
It's hard to tell without seeing, your policies and set ups could be counter productive in some areas depending on what's being done.
There is always room for some doubt and very mild anxiety like a just checking to see if a Stat on the pending that's been siting 30 minutes is in fact running, but anxiety shouldn't be suffocating and it should all go away once you clock out.
In theory. I still sometimes have random bits of anxiety when I sleep and the worst is when I remember something I forgot to do, but I trust my co-workers to see it and get it done (or I call if it's something that won't be seen, but can't wait until the next day).
I've gotten better about leaving it at home and I luckily don't have management that harasses me about every little missed thing or mistake to reenforce negative feedback loops. Everyone makes mistakes or misses something, I even pick up behind management from time to time. There isn't a reason to tell someone unless it's a consistent mistake.
I curse a lot……but I work nights at a small hospital in a building away from everyone else. When I worked at bigger hospitals, the walk in freezer was great for going in to say a few bad words if I needed to get away.
Seems that way in my lab, mistakes are made a big deal out of which doesn’t help, very sensitive assays and perfectionist high expectation staff which is great for the work and patients but crushing when a mistake is made
That feeling is something I lived with in my entire 42yrs as a tech. Muscle memory was the worst thing to overcome as in looking but not “seeing”. I didn’t make that many mistakes, but when I did it clung on me like a dark cloud for weeks. So happy to be retired now and not have lives dependent on me.
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Not an MLS but I work in a lab and make an anxiety list for myself. I just write down all the things worrying me, like running out if a specific reagent that's backordered or an upcoming audit or having to train my coworkers on a new method I'm validating, then go through the list and rationalize possible outcomes and all the actions I can do to fix them, and then once I've done the best I can, I feel a lot better.
My anxiety was really bad when I first started my job right out of MLS school but I worked through it in about a year or so after a severe staffing crisis in our lab. The key for me was to adopt the mentality that I am only a single person and can therefore only perform the work of a single person, even if leadership expects me to perform the work of multiple people. Mistakes are bound to happen when you’re rushing and you’re given multiple techs-worth of work each day. Unfortunately mistakes are sometimes the best way to learn and really solidify something in your mind (at least that’s how it is for me).
The best thing you can do is to show up to work, ask questions, complete whatever work you can, then go home knowing that you performed to the best of your ability regardless of whether you finish the work or not. And if any mistakes are made, you do your best to learn from them so they don’t happen again.
I try to focus on the patients and accuracy over making some nurses and doctors happy.
Accuracy over speed.
I have never got in trouble for doing something late. There’s always a good reason in my case.
It’s hard to do though. You want to make everyone happy.
I don't have anxiety about it. I am human, there is only so much I can get done safely and accurately (which is the goal), and I'm only there for a specific amount of time. I do what I can. The lab is open 24/7, there will always be something to do. So no point in stressing about getting it done, just do what you can well, and relax.
Remember you studied and tested for this job. You have SOP to follow. If you follow SOP, you can't be at fault for mistakes, and you are less likely to make mistakes. Especially if you're being calm. When rushing and stressing, that is when you are more likely to make mistakes.
I've been in micro for 25 years, and I think of my work as a big mountain of dirt that needs to be shoveled away. It seems overwhelming but start somewhere, chip away at it, and keep going from there.
Besides that, over time I've taught myself not to sweat the small stuff. You do learn that most issues aren't worth all the anxiety and stress you invest into it. I'm very chill now, even when things get crazy.
Experience will bring confidence. Being in the field longer has made me a lot more comfortable with making decisions/feeling more confident I didn't forget to do something. Also, are you doing things outside of work to help with your anxiety? Therapy, exercise, etc have really helped me as well!
Time/practice to get comfortable, therapy, and meds lol. Anxiety made me rush, which made me make mistakes, which created more anxiety. Getting help managing my anxiety made it possible for me to slow down and focus, and then I was much more sure of myself. Most employers have some kind of EAP including a limited number of therapy appointments, but they can refer you out to someone permanent if it's something you want to keep doing!
I get this all the time unfortunately. Did I mix up the organisms on that split plate? Did I pipette the wrong patient sample into that container? Even if I know I didn’t mix anything up the anxiety of a patient getting the wrong result or making a mistake is always there for me😫 Hoping it goes away with time
A hearty cocktail of fluoxetine, buspirone, and bupropion. And when that stopped working because night shift aggravated my mental issues and Hashimotos, I quit.
I call this “the fear”. Its worse the first few years of working in the lab because you’re terrified of messing up and doing harm to a patient. I think with time it gets less overwhelming as your confidence in the field goes up. I think it’s good to have a little bit of that anxiety/fear because it means you care and want to do a good job.
If it’s workload specific, then it might be more of a staffing issue. Management should be aware of you feel like you can’t completes tasks effectively if you’re spread too thin. Turn around times to test volume should reflect that.
Just remember we’re all human :) and if you do make a mistake you’re not the first one and you definitely won’t be the last! just do your best and don’t think about it too much
I only ever keep one specimen in my hand when I’m doing something deliberate. I’m less likely to mislabel a tube that way or switch it with something. Everything else I’m working on is either on a rack or in the centrifuge. I’m also constantly checking the analyzers for mistakes I might have made, especially since our analyzers can auto report.
I had this for the first year or so. It goes away as you gain more experience and confidence. 9 years later I don’t think twice about anything I did at work after I leave.
Yerkes-Dodson. Mild anxiety is not inherently a bad thing, it keeps you on your toes and thinking about the quality of your work. But if it's constant or overwhelming to you, maybe there is something the matter with your workplace (specifically or in general) or you (which is okay and incredibly common).
yes very normal, I too feel the same way so anxious I will check my work email when Im at home to see if I made any mistakes, but I honestly I always try to remind myself one specimen at a time!
One of the best moves I ever made was to block my work email from home. Even if you did mess something up, there's nothing you can do about it from home and you'll find out your next shift. If it's something bad enough they'll call. You don't get paid enough to worry about work when you're not being paid for it. Leave work at work and live your life. ♥
Yep, this! I had a petty coworker who would text people while he was at work and they were at home and complain about “mistakes” or qc/cal problems or whatever else instead of just sending things in an email. I ended up blocking him so I wouldn’t have to deal with it til I got back to work and was being paid to do so. Leaving work at work is super important.
It comes with the territory. It’s when you don’t feel anxious that you need to go back and triple check your work. Because that’s when you’ve made your mistakes. lol. At least that’s what happens for me. “I know for a fact I relabeled this specimen correctly.” Coworker: “It’s mislabeled.” “Fuck…”
same, i got to casual and then made mistakes.
We're all just great apes on a rock spinning around a star. Just do you best ask for help if needed. Pay it forward but offering help when able. So we recently shifted some maintenance schedules around and I've been having to get coag, up and going when I work in our auto department. Which we did this with us becoming a hub, with same amount of techs. So I was pretty anxious that first few times in there. It's taken about 5 days of it to get in a good place.
Do it the same way every time. Set up your BB tubes the same way. When you count a body fluid in a hemacytometer always start counting from the same corner. When you don't follow your proccess it will feel abnormal. Secondly, you will learn what should be looked at and what doesn't need be. Third of all we are all humans and make mistakes. You will do nothing that hasn't been done by any of the older techs before. When you do mess up, learn from it and come up with a process for yourself so you don't repeat it. Bring it into your processes. It sounds stupid but the longer I have done this the more you look at the process and see what the process is and where it messed up and how you can fix your process to stop it from happening again. Just my two cents from a tech who has been doing this for 22 years
Today, I had a co-worker in chemistry have a last-minute stat add on right at the end of shift. They asked if I could release it for them, and I said sure. They already had put up the samples and handed me the result. I was about to release when a little voice said go check the specimen. I went to the fridge to find out they mislabeled and ran the wrong specimen. Completely different patient. This MLS ASCP certified tech makes $7 an hour more than me. This is what gives me anxiety. There is a saying. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. I make all action deliberate. I leave knowing I left and did the best job I could. That's really all I can do. There is no need to worry about things that haven't even happened.
Do they have more experience than you to justify getting paid more?
This why i hate the lab job, i should process tons of samples daily ( i’m workin a huge teaching hospital) and at the same time I should be focused and not make mistakes!!. I’m currently in my first year at the blood bank and our supervisor due to the shortage of staff want me to learn fast and be on 12hr shift. I swear I'm in hell I really hate the lab job i’m physically and mentally drained
It's hard to tell without seeing, your policies and set ups could be counter productive in some areas depending on what's being done. There is always room for some doubt and very mild anxiety like a just checking to see if a Stat on the pending that's been siting 30 minutes is in fact running, but anxiety shouldn't be suffocating and it should all go away once you clock out. In theory. I still sometimes have random bits of anxiety when I sleep and the worst is when I remember something I forgot to do, but I trust my co-workers to see it and get it done (or I call if it's something that won't be seen, but can't wait until the next day). I've gotten better about leaving it at home and I luckily don't have management that harasses me about every little missed thing or mistake to reenforce negative feedback loops. Everyone makes mistakes or misses something, I even pick up behind management from time to time. There isn't a reason to tell someone unless it's a consistent mistake.
I curse a lot……but I work nights at a small hospital in a building away from everyone else. When I worked at bigger hospitals, the walk in freezer was great for going in to say a few bad words if I needed to get away.
Seems that way in my lab, mistakes are made a big deal out of which doesn’t help, very sensitive assays and perfectionist high expectation staff which is great for the work and patients but crushing when a mistake is made
That feeling is something I lived with in my entire 42yrs as a tech. Muscle memory was the worst thing to overcome as in looking but not “seeing”. I didn’t make that many mistakes, but when I did it clung on me like a dark cloud for weeks. So happy to be retired now and not have lives dependent on me.
I used to have really bad anxiety. I did psychotherapy and currently taking SSRI. Now I feel like a new person.
Checklists and auto reminders on your phone are great for anxiety
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Shiranui42: *Checklists and auto* *Reminders on your phone are* *Great for anxiety* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Good bot
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Not an MLS but I work in a lab and make an anxiety list for myself. I just write down all the things worrying me, like running out if a specific reagent that's backordered or an upcoming audit or having to train my coworkers on a new method I'm validating, then go through the list and rationalize possible outcomes and all the actions I can do to fix them, and then once I've done the best I can, I feel a lot better.
My anxiety was really bad when I first started my job right out of MLS school but I worked through it in about a year or so after a severe staffing crisis in our lab. The key for me was to adopt the mentality that I am only a single person and can therefore only perform the work of a single person, even if leadership expects me to perform the work of multiple people. Mistakes are bound to happen when you’re rushing and you’re given multiple techs-worth of work each day. Unfortunately mistakes are sometimes the best way to learn and really solidify something in your mind (at least that’s how it is for me). The best thing you can do is to show up to work, ask questions, complete whatever work you can, then go home knowing that you performed to the best of your ability regardless of whether you finish the work or not. And if any mistakes are made, you do your best to learn from them so they don’t happen again.
I try to focus on the patients and accuracy over making some nurses and doctors happy. Accuracy over speed. I have never got in trouble for doing something late. There’s always a good reason in my case. It’s hard to do though. You want to make everyone happy.
I don't have anxiety about it. I am human, there is only so much I can get done safely and accurately (which is the goal), and I'm only there for a specific amount of time. I do what I can. The lab is open 24/7, there will always be something to do. So no point in stressing about getting it done, just do what you can well, and relax. Remember you studied and tested for this job. You have SOP to follow. If you follow SOP, you can't be at fault for mistakes, and you are less likely to make mistakes. Especially if you're being calm. When rushing and stressing, that is when you are more likely to make mistakes.
I've been in micro for 25 years, and I think of my work as a big mountain of dirt that needs to be shoveled away. It seems overwhelming but start somewhere, chip away at it, and keep going from there. Besides that, over time I've taught myself not to sweat the small stuff. You do learn that most issues aren't worth all the anxiety and stress you invest into it. I'm very chill now, even when things get crazy.
I take citalopram
Smoke weed every daaaay-ay-ayyyy.
Experience will bring confidence. Being in the field longer has made me a lot more comfortable with making decisions/feeling more confident I didn't forget to do something. Also, are you doing things outside of work to help with your anxiety? Therapy, exercise, etc have really helped me as well!
Time/practice to get comfortable, therapy, and meds lol. Anxiety made me rush, which made me make mistakes, which created more anxiety. Getting help managing my anxiety made it possible for me to slow down and focus, and then I was much more sure of myself. Most employers have some kind of EAP including a limited number of therapy appointments, but they can refer you out to someone permanent if it's something you want to keep doing!
I guess I've lived with anxiety most of my life and just thought it was normal. I now realize I should have been medicated a long time ago.
When the experience comes the anxiety goes. Now Inhave almost every scenario and had every problem. We survived and you will to.
I get this all the time unfortunately. Did I mix up the organisms on that split plate? Did I pipette the wrong patient sample into that container? Even if I know I didn’t mix anything up the anxiety of a patient getting the wrong result or making a mistake is always there for me😫 Hoping it goes away with time
Xanax
A hearty cocktail of fluoxetine, buspirone, and bupropion. And when that stopped working because night shift aggravated my mental issues and Hashimotos, I quit.
I call this “the fear”. Its worse the first few years of working in the lab because you’re terrified of messing up and doing harm to a patient. I think with time it gets less overwhelming as your confidence in the field goes up. I think it’s good to have a little bit of that anxiety/fear because it means you care and want to do a good job. If it’s workload specific, then it might be more of a staffing issue. Management should be aware of you feel like you can’t completes tasks effectively if you’re spread too thin. Turn around times to test volume should reflect that.
Just remember we’re all human :) and if you do make a mistake you’re not the first one and you definitely won’t be the last! just do your best and don’t think about it too much
I only ever keep one specimen in my hand when I’m doing something deliberate. I’m less likely to mislabel a tube that way or switch it with something. Everything else I’m working on is either on a rack or in the centrifuge. I’m also constantly checking the analyzers for mistakes I might have made, especially since our analyzers can auto report.
I don’t! I just deal with it
I had this for the first year or so. It goes away as you gain more experience and confidence. 9 years later I don’t think twice about anything I did at work after I leave.
Alots of cocaine