Cutting Supplies at PSC?

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Anonymous

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Hey all I am new to this board and I am wondering what direction the company is headed. Supplies are coming few and far between and they are cutting out butterfly needles. Is this an attempt to save the company or just another attempt to squeeze every penney out of its employees? It seems to me they are turning into another Quest 2.0. If this is the case I wont do that again and I am ready to jump off the sinking ship.
Only respond if you are a current employee and have some insight. Thank you for your help.
 












Anonymous said:
Hey all I am new to this board and I am wondering what direction the company is headed. Supplies are coming few and far between and they are cutting out butterfly needles. Is this an attempt to save the company or just another attempt to squeeze every penney out of its employees? It seems to me they are turning into another Quest 2.0. If this is the case I wont do that again and I am ready to jump off the sinking ship.
Only respond if you are a current employee and have some insight. Thank you for your help.
Click to expand...

What do you need butterfly needles for? Are these geriatrics? Supplies are usually given to a client with a plus 25% variance. The idea is, Quest or any lab must make sure their supplies aren't used for non-lab patients. You get into an antikickback statute situations and compliance departments will be all over this, since it is their only justification to exist.
 






Anonymous said:
What do you need butterfly needles for? Are these geriatrics? Supplies are usually given to a client with a plus 25% variance. The idea is, Quest or any lab must make sure their supplies aren't used for non-lab patients. You get into an antikickback statute situations and compliance departments will be all over this, since it is their only justification to exist.
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What a boat load. Go into any multi doc practice and see that they have several work stations that require supplies for patient care. (for ex: Northside Internists). Did we drop this legacy account because of supplies. The ponytailed Silver Fox had used us since Dave was alive. Shame on us for being cheap.

Butterflies are needed for geriatric, peds, and cancer folks. They are usually drawn in the patient's room.

ANSWER: YES WE ARE BEING CHEAP. COMPLIANCE IS ANOTHER WAY TO SAY NO.
 






Yes, I left the quest cattle processing factory. Clearly you don't understand the acronym PSC patient service center (the locations where labcorp employees draw patients blood). We are not recieving the supplies required for our job, if a patient has a PPO (perferred provider organization insurance (which they pay extra for...) and they request a butterfly needle for what ever reason (pediatric, geriatric, fear, or diffilcult veins) shouldn't I as a healthcare provider use what I feel is necessary? The math doesn't add up if a PSC is expected to see 20-30 patients a day, conservatively if 5% of our patients were pediatric or geriatric, or required a hand draw then we would require 20 butterfly needles a month. We are getting less than 20 butterfly needles per month. I am starting to get the feeling that the company is following the direction of some accountant who has never treated a patient in their life and we care more about the upper managment bonuses than a sick child with a fever who needs two sets of blood cultures. The last time I experienced this type of supply restrictions was when a company I was working for was cooking their books so the company would have a higher stock offering.
 






Anonymous said:
Yes, I left the quest cattle processing factory. Clearly you don't understand the acronym PSC patient service center (the locations where labcorp employees draw patients blood). We are not recieving the supplies required for our job, if a patient has a PPO (perferred provider organization insurance (which they pay extra for...) and they request a butterfly needle for what ever reason (pediatric, geriatric, fear, or diffilcult veins) shouldn't I as a healthcare provider use what I feel is necessary? The math doesn't add up if a PSC is expected to see 20-30 patients a day, conservatively if 5% of our patients were pediatric or geriatric, or required a hand draw then we would require 20 butterfly needles a month. We are getting less than 20 butterfly needles per month. I am starting to get the feeling that the company is following the direction of some accountant who has never treated a patient in their life and we care more about the upper managment bonuses than a sick child with a fever who needs two sets of blood cultures. The last time I experienced this type of supply restrictions was when a company I was working for was cooking their books so the company would have a higher stock offering.
Click to expand...

Do like the the Dekalb school system does...have the teachers buy their own supplies. PSC folks could ask for the employee discount on butterflies.
 












Anonymous said:
Yes, I left the quest cattle processing factory. Clearly you don't understand the acronym PSC patient service center (the locations where labcorp employees draw patients blood). We are not recieving the supplies required for our job, if a patient has a PPO (perferred provider organization insurance (which they pay extra for...) and they request a butterfly needle for what ever reason (pediatric, geriatric, fear, or diffilcult veins) shouldn't I as a healthcare provider use what I feel is necessary? The math doesn't add up if a PSC is expected to see 20-30 patients a day, conservatively if 5% of our patients were pediatric or geriatric, or required a hand draw then we would require 20 butterfly needles a month. We are getting less than 20 butterfly needles per month. I am starting to get the feeling that the company is following the direction of some accountant who has never treated a patient in their life and we care more about the upper managment bonuses than a sick child with a fever who needs two sets of blood cultures. The last time I experienced this type of supply restrictions was when a company I was working for was cooking their books so the company would have a higher stock offering.
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1. You left one factory for another. And now you realize the grass ain't no greener...
2. "shouldn't I as a healthcare provider use what I feel is necessary?" You proved your mental ability with #1 above. Therefore to answer your question: No.
3. "I am starting to get the feeling that the company is following the direction of some accountant who has never treated a patient in their life and we care more about the upper managment bonuses than a sick child with a fever who needs two sets of blood cultures." Well, maybe there's hope for you after all.
4. "The last time I experienced this type of supply restrictions was when a company I was working for was cooking their books so the company would have a higher stock offering."

BINGO!!!! We have a winner!!!
 






Anonymous said:
1. You left one factory for another. And now you realize the grass ain't no greener...
2. "shouldn't I as a healthcare provider use what I feel is necessary?" You proved your mental ability with #1 above. Therefore to answer your question: No.
3. "I am starting to get the feeling that the company is following the direction of some accountant who has never treated a patient in their life and we care more about the upper managment bonuses than a sick child with a fever who needs two sets of blood cultures." Well, maybe there's hope for you after all.
4. "The last time I experienced this type of supply restrictions was when a company I was working for was cooking their books so the company would have a higher stock offering."

BINGO!!!! We have a winner!!!
Click to expand...

The new reality of ObamaCare. Pretty soon we will get a card to smear feces on for colon test and a urine cup for bacterial analysis. Forget wellness check ups. Look at all of the comapnies who are going to aprt time labor to circumvent Obama's great society plan. Even the ultra liberal Universal is on board with part time labor to beat out paying for coverage. Hey we can't beat up our LCA group too bad. We still have health insurance.
 






Our employer sponsored health plan is about as bare bones minimum as you can get. Talk about paying thru the nose. Yikes. Here's hoping anyone on that plan doesnt experience any serious health setbacks.

This company ... Anything to save a dime. No doubt those psc techs will be given a narrow budget for suppliesvand will be have their paycheck dinged for any overages.
 






I worked at a psc as a phleb for many years. Very seldom did we ever use a butterfly. 21 and 22 gauge needles are available and a butterfly is not needed for most PSC patients. They are not even needed for nursing home patients. If you felt you needed a smaller needle you used a 22. I did not have access to a butterfly in my kit. I used to draw at prisons from people who were long time needle users. I still used a smaller needle and not a butterfly. No I am not bragging. If you don't have the butterfly you work without it.

When a butterfly is available on a regular basis the phleb learns to reach for it first instead of using a smaller needle and begins to loose their skill. When you use so many butterfly needles you really need to question why you are and not place the it all on the company.

If a butterfly was not available what would you do?
 






Anonymous said:
I worked at a psc as a phleb for many years. Very seldom did we ever use a butterfly. 21 and 22 gauge needles are available and a butterfly is not needed for most PSC patients. They are not even needed for nursing home patients. If you felt you needed a smaller needle you used a 22. I did not have access to a butterfly in my kit. I used to draw at prisons from people who were long time needle users. I still used a smaller needle and not a butterfly. No I am not bragging. If you don't have the butterfly you work without it.

When a butterfly is available on a regular basis the phleb learns to reach for it first instead of using a smaller needle and begins to loose their skill. When you use so many butterfly needles you really need to question why you are and not place the it all on the company.

If a butterfly was not available what would you do?
Click to expand...


Good point.

Back in the 19 hundreds, I became the sharpest needle in the lab. If I couldn't get blood, the patient didn't have any. There was no one I couldn't get. Even the worst of the junkies.

Never, ever ,never did I ever use a butterfly. Never had to. Even on a newborn.
 






Anonymous said:
Good point.

Back in the 19 hundreds, I became the sharpest needle in the lab. If I couldn't get blood, the patient didn't have any. There was no one I couldn't get. Even the worst of the junkies.

Never, ever ,never did I ever use a butterfly. Never had to. Even on a newborn.
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And back in the day I did not need MS WINDOWS because I used DOS. I added the hardware I needed to my Apple 2C. I could surf the internet with Delphi or Prodigy. So why the hell would you need a MAC or Windows 8?
 






Anonymous said:
And back in the day I did not need MS WINDOWS because I used DOS. I added the hardware I needed to my Apple 2C. I could surf the internet with Delphi or Prodigy. So why the hell would you need a MAC or Windows 8?
Click to expand...

This post was from someone who has never drawn blood from a patient. Either way; a false analagy.

The butterfly needle is not an innovation to the straight needle, like Windows is to DOS. The butterfly needle is actually inferior to a straight needle in routine draws due to the clotting caused by the tubing of the butterfly needle.
 






Anonymous said:
I worked at a psc as a phleb for many years. Very seldom did we ever use a butterfly. 21 and 22 gauge needles are available and a butterfly is not needed for most PSC patients. They are not even needed for nursing home patients. If you felt you needed a smaller needle you used a 22. I did not have access to a butterfly in my kit. I used to draw at prisons from people who were long time needle users. I still used a smaller needle and not a butterfly. No I am not bragging. If you don't have the butterfly you work without it.

When a butterfly is available on a regular basis the phleb learns to reach for it first instead of using a smaller needle and begins to loose their skill. When you use so many butterfly needles you really need to question why you are and not place the it all on the company.

If a butterfly was not available what would you do?
Click to expand...



Exactly! I am forever greatful for the phlebotomist that trained me to draw with 21 & 22 gauge needles. Butterflies were mainly used for pediatrics and hard draws. One problem is that LabCorp hires phlebotomists that worked in doctor's offices but hardly drew blood. If they did, it was with a butterfly which is why so many of them have a hard time at a PSC. When your experience is working in a slow paced office with hardly any blood draws & butterflies always available, how do you expect to keep up with a PSC that sees over 150 patients a day with a limited amount of butterflies? Suck it up and work with what you have or get friendly with a nearby PSC and see if they will help you out with supplies.
 






Anonymous said:
Exactly! I am forever greatful for the phlebotomist that trained me to draw with 21 & 22 gauge needles. Butterflies were mainly used for pediatrics and hard draws. One problem is that LabCorp hires phlebotomists that worked in doctor's offices but hardly drew blood. If they did, it was with a butterfly which is why so many of them have a hard time at a PSC. When your experience is working in a slow paced office with hardly any blood draws & butterflies always available, how do you expect to keep up with a PSC that sees over 150 patients a day with a limited amount of butterflies? Suck it up and work with what you have or get friendly with a nearby PSC and see if they will help you out with supplies.
Click to expand...

Not to mention that many pleb programs on teach with butterflies
 


















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