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Hospital labs are often overlooked but they are a vital department and often help out many different patient pathways. I work in the Clinical Biochemistry laboratory in Reading which receives over 3000 samples a day from both GP surgeries and from patients in the hospital.

Clinical Biochemistry means measuring the concentrations of different chemicals and compounds in your body fluids.  For example, we measure blood sugar (glucose) to help in the diagnosis of diabetes, tumour marker proteins to monitor how well cancer treatment is going, and enzymes to check for damage to different tissues.

For the routine tests, we use massive automated analysers that churn out the results.  However, for the more unique tests, manual methods are used and it sometimes really is like doing school chemistry at work!

Luckily, the majority of patient results are normal and go straight back to the doctor. However, the more unexpected or unusual results need a little bit more investigation and interpretation… that’s where I come in.

As I’m in my fourth and final year of training, I still work in the lab on the bench one or two days a week.  I set up new methods on the analysers and have to do a fair bit of reading on new techniques to check it is the best option.

Other days I help out with the clinical validation of the results.  This means I check whether the doctor needs an explanation of the result or whether it would be a good idea to add on more tests that might help explain the result further.

I’m also part of the nutrition support team which sees patients on the wards twice a week.  Most of these patients have had surgery on their stomach or intestines and need feeding through a vein.  I check that they are receiving enough nutrients, vitamins and electrolytes (eg. sodium, potassium) by measuring them in the blood and provide biochemistry advice to the doctor, dietician and pharmacist.