Edited by Kerri Penno

Congratulations to Michelle Bhear, MLT(ASCP), staff technologist, RT Temps Inc., Media, PA, nominated by her colleague, Ginger Baker, MT(AAB), a generalist with RT Temps, to shine in this issue's In the Spotlight column.

In her nomination, Baker wrote, "I have had the pleasure and privilege of working with Michelle at various assignments for 5 years. Her commitment to patient care and professionalism is exceptional. So often as temporary employees we hear how we must be substandard. The truth is, some of us enjoy and welcome the challenge of learning new things and meeting new people in new places. Michelle is one of those adventurous people with a warm smile and outgoing nature. She is exceptional, or as one client told us, 'not normal.' I like to think that our profession is full of such abnormal people but that my friend and coworker is just a little more ahead of the curve."

What is most important in a laboratory team relationship?
Realizing that our primary duty is customer service. Every person that works in the lab is a customer service person first, from the person that takes the information from the patient and enters the lab orders to the person that calls a critical result to the doctor. We have a unique challenge, we serve everyone in the hospital. We owe it to the patient waiting to go home, the nurse waiting for a lab result to adjust medication and to the doctor waiting to take his patient into surgery to produce accurate and timely lab results, to make sure our instrumentation is running correctly and to make sure the specimens we test are acceptable. Anyone can get a lab result out of a machine, but only lab professionals know when those results are true and accurate and beneficial to the nurse, doctor and patient.

What are the most challenging and rewarding aspects of your job?
Educating our peers about the importance of quality lab specimens. Due to the shortages in the lab field we are having to rely more and more on others, not involved in the lab, to perform phlebotomy. Trying to get a nurse to understand why a hemolyzed specimen is not acceptable for testing and why it is something that almost always happens preanalytically is one of my current challenges. The most rewarding part of my job has to do with being a temp. I have been traveling for RT Temps for 5 years now and the changing setting, new instrumentation and new procedures keep things interesting for me. I have to say being able to go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans one year and being able to spend a lot of time touring Washington, DC, is definitely a perk to being a temp on assignment. I also get the opportunity to work with many different kinds of instrumentation and I enjoy getting to learn new ones and the new technology associated with them.

What has inspired you through difficult times?
When I receive heartfelt thanks from a nurse, doctor or patient and I know that the little extra time I have spent explaining something to them has made their day a little bit easier. I once spent a half hour talking to a woman about her glucose monitor after I noticed she had little black and blue marks on all her fingers. I talked to her about some of the new alternate site testing monitors that are new on the market. She was surprised to hear that she had an option and I told her I would look it up on the Internet and send her some information. I received a note in the mail from her thanking me for the information and telling me that her current monitor was approved for alternate site testing. Those are the times I realize that I do have a rewarding job.

What do you enjoy most about your facility?
I am on assignment in Silver Spring, MD, at Holy Cross Hospital and it is only about 20 miles outside of Washington, DC. I have had the opportunity to see so much of our nation's capital and really take the time to enjoy it and see my favorites over and over again. It really is a beautiful place to visit, especially at cherry blossom time.