I woke up at 8.30am on a friggin’ Sunday because the four of us wanted to get our blood tested at Wellness Lab. We read somewhere that they had a promotion going at RM80 for two. Upon arriving at the lab, we were told that the promotion have already ended and would we like to have their buy one free one promotion?
It seemed like a good enough offer so we took it up. We were made to wait for a really long time but that was expected. I experienced that too at BP Lab a year ago.
Since we’ve been in the clinics for almost 8 months now, it’s time to check properly to be sure that we are still healthy dentists to be. (and also worried about other things like cholesterol, diabetes, etc etc).
The reason I am blogging about this today is because a technician/biochemist/phlebotomist attempted to withdraw blood from me FOUR TIMEs at four different sites. You know usually they take blood from the junction between your upper arm and your forearm? Usually technicians/nurses who attempt to take blood samples from me will be unsuccessful when they try from that spot.
So I told the lady to take from the back of my hand because almost all the time, the technician would have no problem getting blood from there.
You know what she told me? “Ahhh..saya tak biasa lah…..nanti sakit.”
………
DOT DOT DOT DOT SWEAT.
Here I am, putting up a brave front, ready to have my blood taken by a scary needle.. and then having an incompetent phlebotomist telling you that she is not all that skilled.
Bottom line, I came out of the room with four plasters and a terrible mood. I kicked up a fuss and declared that I would be taking my business elsewhere.
Came home to draft an email to the Wellness Lab management and the email bounced. LOL.
Well, for being incompetent both in skills AND in PR, I hope they don’t mind having this post on google results when people google “Wellness Lab.”
edited: Haha, within 24 minutes of posting this, the post is already on the first page of google results for “Wellness Lab”.
By complaining to the management, I might make the lady lose out on her rice bowl which is quite cruel. But would it be better for her to leave due to her incompetency than linger on and being allowed to only take blood from skinnier patients and continue to damage patients’ tissues.
Here’s the email:
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Good afternoon.
My name is Jolene Lai and I went to your Sungai Petani branch today, 14 June 2009 at about 9.30am for a routine blood test.
We were expecting that the RM80 for two people promotion was still on but turns out that it has ended and we had to make do with the other promotion which was the buy 1 package free 1 package promo. I decided to go for the RM220 package.
There was a chinese lady at the counter and a malay lady conducting the blood tests. I’m not sure if she was a biochemist/technician..but whatever it was, she was incompetent.
Due to past experiences, I’m quite certain that she would need to draw blood from the back of my hand.
But she wanted to try at the junction between my upper arm and my forearm, which is the usual site where most people get their blood taken from. So fine.. I let her do it.
She inserted the needle in but didn’t go deep enough, and while INSIDE, she was changing directions with the needle and adjusting the depth. She had already pulled the syringe a little bit but no blood came out and i don’t know if it was filled with vacuum or air.
but you know what she did? She pushed everything back in again. How can your staff not be educated about the dangers of air embolism? I know that it takes quite a big volume of air to cause it, but STILL! Not ethical!
And when I told her that she should just try to go for the back of my hand, your way-below-professional-standards staff said, “Saya takut. Tak biasa”.
As it is I was already “takut” to have my blood taken, hearing her say it I felt I was pretty much damned.
Then she decided to switch over to the right hand to see if she could get any results. Again she inserted the needle and changed directions while inside. I can’t imagine the internal lacerations that she might have caused.
As a patient, I shouldn’t have to tell her that there’s air in the syringe.. and that she didn’t insert deep enough..and WHERE she should insert the damn needle.
So as you might guessed, still no blood. She pulled the syringe back, and a little bit guzzled in but it was mostly air that filled the tube. or vacuum. Still no blood gushing in.
Then AGAIN she pushed the syringe back in.. I was really quite scared by then. It was really just empty space! Again, could have been air.
Then she finally agreed to take blood from the back of my right hand. She didn’t insert the needle deep enough because she was way too afraid of hurting me. I could even see the tip of the needle (the beveled surface) poking out of my skin. This is when she inserted and pulled it out a little too much and tried to ‘draw blood then’. A bit more blood gurgled into the tube.. but that was it. hardly enough to fill the cartriges needed for my blood tests.
She wanted me to come back another day but I told her that I’m very busy and have no time. Especially since my exams are drawing near so can she please start with the other hand?
So she did and yeap, you guessed it. Changing of directions while inside, pulling in and out till half of the bevel can be seen and blood oozing out slightly. I’ve had my blood taken a few times before and blood did not come out around the needle while the blood was being taken.
I was really in pain after the second injection and I was almost in tears. I had a total of four injections.
She sent me out and told me that they’ll arrange for someone to come over to my house to take my blood. But I told her that I was way too busy to be sitting at home waiting like that and that I go out of the house at 8am everyday and come back around 8pm. Pissed off, I decided enough was enough and didn’t want to continue with Wellness Lab. I’ll be going to Gribbles or Pathlab up the road.
I was also told that there would not be a doctor to explain my results to me. A year ago, I had my blood tested at BP Lab and there was a doctor who explained my results to me.
I went with three of my other classmates and two of them had their blood taken as well. One of my two friends is quite skinny and so there was no problem drawing blood from her but we all noticed that this technician did not wear gloves on both her hands while taking our blood sample.(or attempted to take our blood sample). Then for my other friend, who is also quite slim and her vein was so obvious you could see it meters away, also had problems with getting her blood taken. The technician did the same mistakes to my friend as she did with me and my friend asked her to stop and told her straight that she was not competent.
I hope you’ll investigate this because you cannot have a staff member who can only draw blood from ONE spot and on ONE type of patient only – the ones with the obvious vein.
With best regards,
Jolene Lai
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Pissed off. Wasted my time and wasted my stomach acids.
wah pain! But i’m usually very calm for my blood tests cos we have to do it every year. I think it’s quite normal for them to change direction while inside though, cos for mine, the nurse always need to do dat and then will manage to get blood through. but they don’t inject the ‘air’ back in la, when they failed they’ll remove the whole thing and use a new one for each attempt. What a dodgy pathologist/watever she is.
jo: normal meh? i thought they’d have to remove the needle before inserting it in again. damn pain lah like you’re pulling the structures all to one side.. ughh!
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Good morning Jolene! 🙂
oh god I hate having blood drawn from me!! 4 plasters! Poor you!!
Gosh~!!
I agree with your letter but I dont think you’re gonne get a reply! :/
jo: of course they won’t reply lah… small lame companies like these..
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Arghhh!! Horrors!! I am frightened!!
jo: YA don’t go there.
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Wah, I’m surprised you didn’t stormed out. I would have hehe
jo: lol! my other housemate did:)
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that’s horrible! i’ve never had my blood taken, so if its my first time there and they did that to me, i’d probably pass out!
then sue the shit out of them.
jo: lol … that scary huh taking blood? 😀 but sue on what grounds?
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For God Sake, You dare to go to WELLNESS LAB?
Dude, do not simply play with your life.
They are even using expired products for the customers.
And the tests are totally questionable.
Believe it or not.
jo: oh? you had bad experiences there as well?
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…
sounds “ouch” experience..
jo: yes it does.
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Horrible experience. It is so dangerous, sounds like you are putting your life at risk.
I dont think they will bother your complain anyway.
Really sounds like a fucked-up company. Don’t ever go there anymore.
jo: i won’t. 🙂
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sheesh.. sounds like this technician was out to ermm.. cause some horror to a patient and permanently scar that person for life from taking blood samples! heh…
don’t they have to be qualified to take blood?
jo: precisely~!! … but the way she carried herself, you really feel like vomiting blood. don’t know why she isn’t fired yet.
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That’s why when I see a person with veins like you, I will pretend to look confident, check a few other veins and give a disclaimer saying your veins are too fine =)
Sometimes, certain people’s veins are just too hard to locate 😀
Can I try on you? LOL
jo: hahah ya but thing is she didn’t even try to hide her insecurities. i don’t mind you trying on me. when free?:P
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ok totally unrelated to the post …..
but i just realised u are studying in SP wtf
not just la … but when i was there i couldn’t remember if u were here or somewhere else in Kedah :X … and no internet/your number :S:S
Jo: hahaha. ah damn…… well maybe next time if ur coming up, drop me a line beforehand. 🙂
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may i know ur buy 1 free 1 package is how much?
wellness lab really used expired product?
i heared is a good lab
Hai,
Wellness Lab is fake company.Their do not really check your body.My friends got go to wellness lab for checking at kepong.Their said my friends healty is normal.But after few months,my friends go to check at other place.Their said that he have 3rd stage cancer.So,if my friends get know early and it should able to treat when at wellness lab.Then,my friends go to wellness lab for complaint.Their denied everything and said maybe after check at wellness lab,the cancer suddenly happened.It was ridiculous.
So,are you will put your life to danger at wellness lab?This is not the first thing happend at wellness lab.Many people complain about it but not one take legal action again wellness lab.
oh may god!! how can a lab make a report for customer without check their blood n body??? R u sure? tht’s Impossible !!
Wallace, u must noe that the accuracy for tumour markers are not 100% ,even in any other lab …n does the checking include the tumour markers? wat cancer is it?
I dont like this damn company. It’s too money minded.
From what i see from their promoters, sales executive, and so on. They conerns more on their commission rather than what they are going to sell to you. They keep promoting on their most profitable package than what is really needs to the customer. When you said No, they will start cursing behind you. So called Health care ? Swear to God, It’s true, I heard it clearly.
I had a friend who used to work there and told me everything. Would I still go there for check up? Unless I must be insane. Lots of staffs there are really unqualified, uneducated, and some can’t even speak simple english.
Hi Jo, I saw that you mentioned about BP, just wonder why not BP this time for your blood test, got bleeding issue? I will still believe in Dr to give me report consultation.
wellness lab is a joke…
they should get sued for jeopardizing ppl’s safety. They do not autoclave their equipment for test like PAP smear, and they DO NOT HAVE trained staff to perform the simple task of blood extraction…
In simple words, go to Wellness, for Unwellness…
We need to file a complaint to the ministry of science.
LOL this company again… I heard that someone contracted AIDS after going there… v bad…
Yup, wellness lab is really using expired products for the patient. This is wat i know from one of my frens that working in this lab b4.. somemore the management is really SUCKS… the Boss is just like a Gangster Head… SHIT…
hi,
I have used Wellness Lab (Kepong) for three annual checks. Always received competence, politeness and unbeatable value for money. I say that as somebody who has lived in & received healthcare in England & France (the latter is supposedly the best healthcare service in the world), so my standards are fairly high. I have worked in hospitals in England. I’m not disagreeing with anything that anybody else has said, just saying there are other positive experiences also. My wife recently had a healthcare checkup elsewhere for rm880 – it was about 95% the same as a checkup I have at Wellness labs for rm140. I rate the doctor I meet there are knowledgeable and professional.
I heard that recently wellness lab sp has been changed management and i went there few weeks ago.Their services improved and their biochemist also well-trained cause i m wellness lab few years customer but this time really improved a lot their services.
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ya agree with u all