1137. Be meticulous

Today the lab phoned to say that the 3 blood tubes sent were not labelled. But my vet assistant swore he had done so, including the urine bottle sent on Saturday.

"The complaint is from the blood tubes," I was angry with him. "This is not the first time and it should not happen at all after the first time. I had just advised you to label the tubes before taking the blood but you would prefer to label them after taking the blood."

The lab girl said the tubes were not labelled, otherwise why should she waste her time phoning me. For unlabelled tubes, no blood test would be done. "I want to see the tubes, not just an image" I said. After all, Naing was adamant he did write.  The lab would not want to return the tubes.

If he had adopted my system, he would not have neglected to do it. It is possible that the lab had mis-placed the tubes and said that they were not labelled but I doubt it. Many young people would prefer to do it their own way and it takes a lot of patience to supervise them.

I asked him to sit down to have a chat. "You are veterinary graduate from Myanmar and you will know the importance of proper recording," I said. "There must be a system of labelling tubes and I have given you a new system because the other vets and staff had made similar mistakes of not labelling in the submission." I hope he will not repeat the 3rd time.

Many young employees and interns may not accept advices and instructions from the old persons and they waste time in their work due to inefficiency or mistakes. This seems to be part of the culture of the younger generation used to the good life and affluence of Singapore and the region over the last 30 years. Patience is needed but they should be aware that they brand themselves as incompetent and risk being fired from the job if they persist in doing a bad job.