Recently I had the opportunity to visit the Biochemistry labs at a large hospital nearby. I saw all the various machines used to analyse substances, such as urine and blood samples. Although most of the machinery I did not fully understand, there were some more low-tech methods that I know about from school, such as chromatography. I saw how haematologists can view individual red blood cells and from this diagnose cases such as sickle cell anaemia and how the hospital priotised blood tests on how urgent they were (generally the tests from the ICU in the hospital were more urgent than samples from nearby GP surgeries).
Perhaps the thing I found most interesting was the toxicology lab. Here they analysed urine samples from local sessions aimed to help addicts with drug dependancies. From analysing the urine it is possible to see whether it has been spiked by the patient in an attempt to significantly reduce the proportion of metabolites from drugs present. One example is how the patients would spike their sample with methadone to make the metabolites of the crack cocaine less obvious.
I found the whole experience interesting, especially as I saw an area of a hospital I had not previously experienced and saw the science that goes on behind the scenes.
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