Comments on: LabCorp Texas – It Must Be in the Training Manual

By: Where's Mr. LabCorp?

Where's Mr. LabCorp? — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:58:35 +0000

Well, I guess I need to join the ranks here also. I work at a ’satellite’ lab of LabCorp here in Middle Tennessee just south of Nashville and I am having a less than pleasant experience at my job. I have been there 3.5 months and never been late or miss a day. Always work overtime if asked (I am part-time). Always go home early if asked. (One day we work too much overtime and it has GOT to stop and the next day they tell us we HAVE to stay ‘whether we like it or not’.HA! We ALL know the labs are going to be processed NO MATTER WHAT so why do they play this game??? The ‘team leader’ is a ‘glorified gopher’ and very belittling in front of an employee’s peers. Nothing is private. If you screw up, EVERYone knows about it. On the contrary, when there is an ‘announcement’ such as overtime or a new policy, etc, only the ONE side of the cubicle hears it and that’s the side the team leader is on…the other side can (and does) stay out of the loop. Later…when you didn’t hear what the others heard, you suffer the wrath. Very unprofessional team leader. Between the music and gossip about their home-life, a new employee struggles to learn their job. The TL can talk all day but the employees are not ‘allowed’ to talk while they work. This TL rolls their eyes and shakes their head at you when you have a question while telling you later that ‘there is no such thing as a stupid question.’ They will tell you that you will still learn one or two years in on the job but will shake their head at you if you don’t know it ALL within a few months. It is ‘hinted’ to you that ‘You don’t want to go up front to talk with the Manager of the Lab as if you were putting your life in your hands. What is this Manager going to do to me? Electrocute me in their chair? I work because I CHOOSE to…not because I HAVE to! There is a huge difference there. In fact, my husband begs me to quit. He has come close to calling there to let them know what they put me through. I have been told I am not ‘learning’ as I should. Yet I have been told I am the FASTEST at what I do. I have been told that a young girl that started has ‘caught on’ much faster than I and when I mentioned I am not 25 anymore, I was accused of trying to bring ‘age’ into it. I am accused of ‘not learning’ when in fact many things weren’t even explained or taught to me. The TL ‘ASSumes’ the employees learn EVERYthing the first couple weeks. If indeed laboratory work were that easy, EVERYone would have a job there! I’m tired of it but not before I make it known what goes on. And I don’t mean to the TL. I mean Mr. LabCorp himself. I think the Managers need to get more involved rather than dumping it off on some ‘team leader’ that isn’t any smarter than I am, they just ACT like they are’.

By: JACKIE

JACKIE — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:18:34 +0000

I agree, if you have to process a specimen for up to a half hour, then the lab needs to stop patient draws earlier than the posted close time. Also, I have never, ever heard such rudeness toward a patient and I have worked in healthcare for almost 20 years now. That is a shame. David, I have been in billing for many years, and no, we don’t get out on time either, but I don’t mind.

By: Erin

Erin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:31:24 +0000

Ok, so let me get this straight, the Lab Corp employees expect to WALK OUT THE DOOR at at the exact time they close? Then if they want to be out the door at 5:00 then they should say they don’t accept patients after 4:30 or 4:00 or whatever. Every place I have ever worked you close at what ever time and then yes, you have shut down procedures that you have to do and yes, prep for the next day. So yeah, if we closed at 9:00 and I was the closing manager it may very well be 10:30 or even 11:00 before I got out of there. If I expected to be OUT THE DOOR by closing time that was just completely impossible. Sounds like Lab Corp needs to clarify their closing time-as in, we don’t accept patients within 45 minutes of closing time due to processing. Would that not make more sense? As a patient, yes, I assume that if they are open until 5:00 that they should be able to see me within a reasonable amount of time before that-if I am out the door a few minutes after closing time I think that is totally appropriate. The processing time or their closing routine or whatever they have to do after 5:00 is really their responsibility anyway.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Fri, 29 May 2009 19:27:21 +0000

Wow. Sounds like a bunch of little school kids.

I hear Burger King may be hiring.

By: David

David — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:08:33 +0000

You chose this proffession. Perhaps you should have asked about this at the interview. Have you approached your boss about this? Why do you blame the patient? They don’t care about your personal problems. What about their needs? They are paying your salary. You know, some places actually close a half hour after the posted close time so this is not an issue. Now, why wouldn’t LCA do this??? Let me think… Oh that’s right- then they might have to pay someone for a half-hour that is not working like a dog. Silly me. There is another side to this, beside your selfish point of view. I’ve been a tech for twenty five years. The problem you complain about goes with the job. Get used to it if you ever want to become a proffessional. If not, go back to trade school…medical billing is the latest, isn’t it? I’ll bet they get out on time.

By: Frustrated

Frustrated — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:22:58 +0000

First of all you think that drawing blood is just that we draw your blood and then you are finished. WRONG!!! We draw your blood and YOU are finished we on the other hand have to wait 15 mintues for your blood to clot, spin it down for another 10 minutes to seperate the cells, then pray that none of your stuff is frozen as that takes even more time. So if you came in at 4:55pm we are now looking at the time being 5:20pm, and this is as long as everything went easy drawing your blood, we didn’t have to call about any of your tests, your blood clotted in 15 minutes and spun down properly after 10 minutes. So when I once was able to leave at 5pm to go home and be with my family, pick up my kids from daycare, cook dinner, whatever I had to do at 5pm, I am now leaving work about 5:30pm. Now if you got off work at 5 you would want to leave at 5 right??? Tell me what time do you get off of work and what time do you get to leave work? I’m sorry but being with my family means a whole lot more to me than drawing your blood. And if you really must have it draw that bad then there must be something very wrong with you and you probably need to proceed to the nearest emergency room where they are open 24 hours. I have found that there is nothing in life so serious that it couldn’t possibly wait until the next day. But if it is that much of an emergency I would go to the hospital where they have the ability to throughly take care of you problem whatever it may be. So I really hope that you now look at this differently and respect the fact that it’s not simply a blood test and it takes time to properly care for and ready your specimen for testing. I would much rather go have my blood taken where they have the proper amount of time to insure that my tests will be performed correctly than where they are just trying to get finished so they can go home. Because I really don’t know anyone who wants to stay at work when they could normally go home. But if you really feel the need to come in at 4:55 could you please let me know where you work at so that I can come in at the last minute and let you know how if feels. This is why we have labs open on saturdays…for those who can’t make it there during the week!!! Please think about that next time that you need bloodwork done. We are more than happy to service you and do the best possible job to insure that your tests are done correctly and sent to your physician. And try to remember that we all have a family and lives just like you do and it doesn’t revolve around you or our jobs. Thank you )

By: Fred

Fred — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:11:17 +0000

One thing I noticed missing from the comments is the posted service time of the office. If you are open until 5 and don’t have a statement otherwise, you need to service your customers until 5.

Has no one every locked up a store, closed a restaurant, tucked a child in for bed? There is always necessary maintenance time.

The Fred Flinstone – jump of the dino as the whistle blows conveyor-belt attitude is one of the major problems with the healthcare industry.

By: Finished with Lab-"Corpse"

Finished with Lab-"Corpse" — Thu, 21 May 2009 02:36:19 +0000

How about in Sun City, Arizona?

By: @ jim

@ jim — Mon, 18 May 2009 01:36:50 +0000

have you ever been to the sites in So Cal??? just wondering how those sites are. I currently have United Health Care and have to start going to labcorp. SCARY!!!!! im hoping these sites are ok.

By: JIM

JIM — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:46:25 +0000

I guess i wasnt quite finished ranting.I have been to over 300 labcorp patient service centers in the country for business reasons.I must say they were not all bad.The ones i had to deal with in seattle/kirkland washington area were all excellant.They were top notch to say the least.I visited about 6 of them in this region.I have visited almost every location in Florida which amounts to about 150 locations and i would have to say all of them were horrible except for one in pensacola and one in naples.And believe it or not they were both on a ninth ave or 9th st.Must be a good number.I have had good experiences with a few in colorado,houston,new york and conneticutt.but for the most part experiences with labcorp havnt been wonderful.or even satisfactory.I worked for a hospital a few years back that had very poor customer satisfaction reports.They hired a big wig from texas to come in and revamp the system.All it consisted of was a few monthly meetings by management and a few reminder signs around the hospital.After one year that hospital was ranked in the top ten list in the country for customer satisfaction.Thats what labcorp needs is a corporate leader with a brain.THey could turn that company around in 1 year.