Name
Vandhanaa Ganeswaran
Role
Vandhanaa is an advanced biomedical support worker in Haematology. Vandhanaa joined SWLP in 2016 as a biomedical support worker in the Specimen Reception at St George’s and was promoted to her current role in April 2017.
What does an average day look like for you?
When Vandhanaa arrives in the lab in the morning, the first thing she and her team do is to catch up on anything outstanding from the night before – or ‘odds and sods’ as the team calls it. They process anything outstanding from the night before and make sure everything is completed, ready for the day ahead.
The lab gets busy from around 12pm, which is when the samples start arriving from the wards and from GP surgeries. Vandhanaa collects the booked-in haematology and coagulation samples from reception and puts them into a machine which sorts them into types of tests. Once the sorting is complete, Vandhanaa loads the samples into the analyser. When the analysis is complete, the biomedical scientists can collect the results.
Sometimes, other things need to be done with the samples, such as blood films including malaria and Kleihauer, G6PD screen and assay, monospots. In addition Vandhanaa and her team also carry out that maintenance on the analyser, run QC to check if the results are valid.
What is your favourite thing about the job?
Teamwork is crucial in a busy haematology lab and working closely with her colleagues in a team setting is one of Vandhanaa’s favourite things about the job. She also enjoys multitasking, which is very useful in a role where she can be asked to jump in and help out other areas when things get busy, for example working on the front desk or booking in urgent samples.
Is there a moment you will always remember?
During her time on Specimen Reception, there was a member of staff at St George’s who would always ask for her by name when they had questions. Vandhanaa never met this person but never the less had obviously impressed them so much that they wanted to speak to her specifically.
How did you get into biomedical science?
Vandhanaa always enjoyed science at school and was good at it, so always wanted to get into a career in science. Having joined SWLP as a band 2 in Specimen Reception, Vandhanaa has been promoted and is now working on her registration portfolio and hopes to continue her career in blood sciences.
