LECTURE ON COVID-19; FROM IRIKEFE BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH LABORATORY. (CLINICAL LABORATORY SERVICE)

LECTURER : CHIEF IRIKEFE AKPORIDO (B. sc. SLT BIOLOGICAL TECHNOLOGY, M. sc PUBLIC HEALTH, F.NISLT.)

TOPIC TITLED : SAFETY IN THE LABORATORY DURING A PANDEMIC.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put laboratories on edge, even if they’re not testing for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19 is highly infectious; symptoms are mild or nonexistent for some, but fatal for others. Lab safety is always a top priority, but rules can sometimes fall by the wayside. Equipment, for example, might not get cleaned as often as the protocol demands, and employees may not always strictly adhere to safe work practices. Now is the time to protect your laboratory, your colleagues, and yourself.

PRACTICAL STEPS TO MITIGATE YOUR LABORATORY RISK DURING A PANDEMIC

Even if your laboratory team is working with a skeleton crew and only performing mission-critical tasks, like keeping precious cultures alive, during the pandemic, it should still strictly abide by standard lab safety protocols. Risk prevention, Lab Manager says, requires both individual precautions and lab-specific measures.

INDIVIDUAL PRECAUTIONS DURING PANDEMIC

Whether they’re coming to the laboratory or not, everyone should carefully follow the precautions prescribed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and NIgerian Institute Of Science Laboratory Technology (NISLT) .

(1.) Wash your hands frequently, especially after contacting commonly touched surfaces.   Use soap and water, and wash for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water aren’t available, use a hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol.

(2.) Don’t touch your face if you haven’t washed your hands.
Stay home if you feel sick and encourage others to do the same. If you’ve been exposed to the virus and you develop its common symptoms i.e dry cough, fever and difficulty breathing — seek immediate medical attention. Stay home to further minimize potential exposure. Avoid any contact with sick people.

LABORATORY SPECIFIC PRECAUTIONS DURING A PANDEMIC

To ensure the laboratory is safe for everyone, staff should exercise extra precautions to minimize the risk of person-to-person infection and surface contamination.

(1.) Follow the guidelines established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Nigerian Institute Of Science Laboratory Technology (NISLT), about readying workplaces for the coronavirus.

(2.) Limit close contact, Be aware of where others are in the lab and keep as much distance as possible. Limit movements throughout the laboratory to essential trips. Remote working policies and stagger shifts when possible to minimize the number people in the lab at one time.

(3.) Promote proper hand hygiene. Provide hand-washing stations throughout the lab and ensure that hand sanitizer is well stocked and readily available.

(4.) Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces, such as equipment and cabinet handles, with products that meet the Environmental Protection Agency‘s criteria for use against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Wear personal protective equipment(PPE) while cleaning, wipe down resuable PPE afterward.

 (5). If someone working in the laboratory contracts COVID-19, follow the protocols established by the CDC and NCDC., Close off and decontaminate any areas used by the sick person with an EPA-recommended disinfectant. Engage a professional decontamination service, if necessary.

Ensure that every member of the laboratory knows and understands the latest protocols and policies. Use a checklist, such as this one from the Association of Public Health Laboratories and Nigerian Institute Of Science Laboratory (NISLT), to assess potential safety hazards. If ever there were a time to reassess your laboratory’s safety policies, it’s now. If your laboratory’s protocols need to be updated, whether to deal with the novel coronavirus or just because it’s time, update them.

Be diligent and thorough. Inaction could have grave consequences for you or someone around you. As a laboratory professional, you’re on the frontlines of the fight to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Feel free to forward any question you might have to the email below to ask your question.

Thank you

irikefeman@yahoo.com

Science Laboratory Technology Program in Nigeria

Science Laboratory Technology program is a course studied in polytechnics, colleges of Health Technology and universities.  It is studied in the united kingdom (UK),  South Africa, Indian, china,  Nigeria etc. In Nigeria,  it is offered in polytechnics and colleges of health technology leading to a diploma degree (OND & HND)  and in the university leading to a Bachelor of science (B.  Sc) or Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech) degree.

An SLT graduate with OND is classified uncategorised because at this level he/she is just unspecialised but as he/she further his/her studies (HND), he/she then chooses an option for specialization and focus on it. For university students their road path is almost similar though chooses hi/her option of specialization at the beginning of hi/her career,  will do same course content with his/her fellow counterparts till 2nd year before specialization in his/her 3rd, 4th and 5th year.  SLT in the university is a five (5) year course.

SPECIALISATION IN SLT INCLUDE
Aquaculture and fishery
Biological
Biomedical
Biochemistry
Biochemistry and chemical
Biochemistry and chemistry
Microbiology
Microbiology and virology
Microbiology and mycology
Chemistry
Chemical petroleum
Physics and electronic
Physics with production
Physiology and pharmacology
Zoology
Geology
Geology and mining
Industrial chemistry and petrochemical
Biology
Biotechnology
Plant science
Environmental science
Histopathology
Immunology and blood transfusion etc

The Science Laboratory Technology Program provides students with the necessary skills and techniques for standard everyday science laboratory work. Science Laboratory Technology Program focuses on the fundamental  and applied principles of the biological, chemical and physical sciences and emphasizes on analytical laboratory techniques and applications, specifically in the realms of physical and engineering (soil,  earth,  meteorological and atmospheric, Polymer, nanotechnology, radiological sciences),  chemistry (Petroleum, metals, chemicals,) and biology (clinical and life sciences, applied sciences, natural sciences, plant). The curriculum also enables students to explore a variety of laboratory testing techniques and to prepare and operate various types of tools and electronic analysis equipment.

 The Science Laboratory Technology Program prepares graduates for employment in chemical, biological, clinical,  pharmaceutical, agricultural and associated science laboratories.

The science laboratory technology fields of opportunity include chemical, biological, agricultural and food science, clinical and pharmaceutical  sciences, environmental science and prevention, forensic, water, petrochemical, electronical,  forest and conservation, geological, and energy technology area.

As a graduate of SLT, you should be proud of belonging to a multidisciplinary profession. Graduates are licensed to practice as certified laboratory scientist/technologist all over the country in any area where there is a laboratory. Registration with the regulatory body, Nigeria Institute of Science Laboratory Technology (NISLT) gives you the title of an Associate,  which is an equivalent of a Masters degree holder in the academic world.

SLT is not just a degree like most courses out there but a professional multidisciplinary course where you can't practice unless you are licenced.

This excerpts is written by:
Akpede Akpevwe
Biomedical technologist
Delta State.

PRESS RELEASE BY NISLT ON THE CLINICAL SECTOR OF SLT ELIGIBILITY TO WORK AND RESEARCH IN HELATH INSTITUTIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

Laboratory Scientists in Nigeria seeks better treatment, urges industrial harmony

The Nigerian Institute of Science Laboratory Technology (NISLT) has called on the Federal Government to stop the alleged harassment of its members in public health institutions by members of the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN).
It specifically urged the Head of Service (HoS), Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita to prevent the ‘looming’ crisis in the sector that could affect effective healthcare delivery nationwide.

The NISLT is under the Ministry of Science and Technology while the Ministry of Health supervises the MLSCN.Chairman, Governing Council of the NISLT, Charles Obaseki, at a press conference in Ibadan, said it was unfortunate to “note that members of the MLSCN are physically preventing our members from participating in interviews for job placements in health institutions and closing down their private laboratory outfits.”

He disclosed that while some of his members allegedly assaulted in Delta State had approached the court for a redress, Obaseki, however, stressed the need to prevent a future occurrence. Accompanied by the vice chairman of the council, Alhaji Abubakar Hassan, and registrar, Mr. Yemi Gbadegesin, NISLT described as unconstitutional the alleged public statement by the MLSCN that its members have no “right to work in laboratories of health institutions where they have been duly employed and demanding for their dismissal.”

He claimed: “They also go as far as preventing students of science laboratory technology in tertiary institutions in carrying out industrial training (IT) relevant to their course of studies in these laboratories owned by the federal and state governments.”

Calling on health institutions to disregard the statement, which he said “contravened the functions of the NISLT as contained in Act 12 of 2003 as published in the official gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria No. 47, Volume 90 of July 23, 2003”, Obaseki disclosed that the institution would continue to toe legal means to resolve the crisis.He stated: “By virtue of Section 2 (M) of the Act, the SLT professionals are entitled to work in both public and private sectors of the economy.”

https://m.guardian.ng/news/lab-scientists-seek-better-treatment-urge-industrial-harmony/

The use of the word DIAGNOSTIC in Clinical, Physical and Chemical setting

The word diagnostic according to Cambridge dictionary defines it clinically as methods or systems for discovering the cause of a problem, illness,  diseases etc.

It went further to say

identifying a particular illness using a combination of signs and symptoms:

This is to say the definition of diagnostics in medical or clinical in simple term is the process of identifying or discovering the cause or origin of a sickness,  disease,  illness or a problem.

In computer world the word diagnostic is the art or science or routine for testing a piece of hardware or for locating an error in a program

According to Wikipedia,  diagnosis is the identification of the nature and cause of a certain phenomenon.

Diagnosis is used in many different disciplines with variations in the use of logic, analytics, and experience to determine "cause and effect".

In systems engineering and computer science, it is typically used to determine the causes of symptoms, mitigations, and solutions.

In simplicity,  the word DIAGNOSTICS is used in the medical world,  engineering world,  computer world,  geology areas,  technology field etc.

This is to say that the word "diagnosis/ diagnostic" is not restricted or synonymous alone with medicine or MLS (as they claim).  It shows that even we SLT can use it in our own way even in our laboratory as *Noble Diagnostic center* (NISLT approved) since what we do as researchers (like MLS say we are)  is find (diagnostic) solutions and causes of diseases,Illnesses, epidemic outbreak etc.
We also in different various field such as geology,  biomedical (engineering area),  physic a and electronics,  etc carry out diagnostic in our daily research work and activities by troubleshooting also called analysis of equipment used in our areas of specialization.

My fellow professionals and leaders,  ASLTON, NISLT,  COUNCIL and all concerned,  please if we are to fight this fight holistically,  then it is time we tell ourselves the truth and stand by it.

Our laboratories,  be it clinical (biological),  physical and chemical cancarry the word diagnostic as against the purported views and notions against us.

We are chartered scientist and deserves the rightful place in society.


Once more I say let's preach the gospel and prove it to the nation that we do well in diagnostic and can function effectively in all areas of laboratory practices in this country.


Article written and prepared by

Akpede Akpevwe AISLT
Biomedical Technologist
Delta state.