Ever wonder who handles that sample you give at the doctor's office?

Megan Board, a medical lab technologist at Ohio State, uses a lot of instruments to look for information in samples collected from patients: blood type, abnormal cells or chemicals in someone’s urine.

Like so many people, a big chunk of her job duties goes beyond the tasks she must complete day-to-day. She also ensures that she follows standards for quality work, maintains the various equipment she works with and helps troubleshoot when she or a co-worker runs into difficulty at the Rapid Response Lab at Ohio State University Hospital East.

Board, who received an employee excellence award in part for her success meeting guidelines for high-quality work, describes in her own words the importance of a hospital’s policies and standards:

“A lab tech provides accurate test results for clinical diagnosis to a patient’s medical care team. If you have ever had your blood drawn or fluid collected, then someone like me analyzed your specimen."

“I think it’s important to do the right thing the right way every time because we need to give out accurate results."

“If you’re always following the policies and procedures and giving the best results, the physicians can choose the best treatment options for their patients; that’s our end goal.”

“I do my best to take my work seriously because I know that the results are important to our patients, doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and anyone who is on a patient care team – they are looking for those values. So I always put work first when I come in to work.”

A co-worker illustrated Board’s commitment to upholding high standards in her award nomination: “Megan will go to any length to make sure that every patient sample she encounters is properly handled in order to allow the direct caregivers to make the best possible choices for every single patient’s care.”

Hospitals are measured in numerous ways on their quality and safety. You can connect to Medicare’s hospital comparison tool through our page outlining some things medical centers are rated on.