UNIVERSITY OF PORT HARCOURT

SCHOOL OF SCIENCE LABORATORY TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL TECHNOLOGY
A TECHNICAL REPORT ON A SIX MONTHS STUDENTS’ INDUSTRIAL TRAINING
WORK EXPERIENCE SCHEME (SIWES)
UNDERTAKEN

AT
HEALTH-WORTH CLINIC AND DIAGONISTIC CENTER 54 OBIAGU ROAD ENUGU
STATE , NIGERIA.

PRESENTED BY:
AGBO BLESSING CHIEMERIE
U2018/5015072(TRANSFER STUDENT)

COURSE CODE: SLT

COURSE TITLE: INDUSTRIAL TRAINING EXPERIENCE
COURSE COORDINATOR: DR. GENTLE WILSON KOMI
MARCH, 2024
 DEDICATION
This work is dedicated to God Almighty, the giver of life, strength for His
unconditional love and mercy granted to me throughout the period of my
Industrial training. And also dedicated to my ever-supporting mother, Mrs. AGBO
IFEOMAfor her unending love and support to see to the success of my Industrial
training.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I give thanks to God Almighty the giver of life and every good thing for his love
and protection on me. I also acknowledge my ever caring mother MRS AGBO
IFEOMA gratitude ,FOR her tireless effort and financial support to see to my
success in every step of my academic journey. My appreciation also goes to Mr.
OKWE UCHECHUKWU , the Head of Department of the Laboratory HEALTH-
WORTH CLINIC AND DIAGNOISTIC CENTER, MR SONARI-OTOBO ,V.A, my
Institutional supervisor and Dr.H.O ASZU-SAMUEL, SIWES coordinator to the
department of Biomedical Technology and other staffs for their relentless efforts
to see to a successful training period. Also, special thanks to the Management of
the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and Director of the SIWES unit, University of Port
Harcourt, Prof. A.D ALAGAH for seeing to the continuity of this exercise in this
unique school. It opened our eyes to understand all that has been taught in
lectures better. And to my course representatives and fellow Industrial training
students, thank you for your contributions. God bless you all.
ABSTRACT
UR The Students’ Industrial Work Experience Scheme established by the Federal
Government of Nigeria was aimed at exposing students of higher institution to
acquire industrial skill and practical experience in their approved course of study
and also to prepare students for their industrial work situation in which they are
to meet after graduation. This technical report is based on the experiences gained
during my period of attachment at Health Fountains Hospital, Port Harcourt. The
highlights of this report cover how patients are being managed and several tests
carried out for patients such as:URINE ANALYSIS, Packed Cell Volume, Stool
examination, Widal (Typhoid test), H. pylori, SEMEN ANALYSIS, etc. I was
opportune to work in the laboratory unit which covers the Hematology section,
Serology section, Chemistry section, Microbiology section and Parasitology
section. These sections exposed me to the precautions, rules and regulations of
the laboratory, how to diagnose a patient and how tests are being analyzed. The
relevance of SIWES, challenges encountered and appraisal are also covered in this
report as they describe the activities of and my experience gained during the
period of attachment.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Title page
Dedication
Acknowledgement
AbstracT
Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction
1.1 SIWES and its objectives
1.2 History and Background of Health-Worth Clinic and Diagonistic Center
1.3 Organograms of Health-Worth CLINIC and Diagonistic Center Chart
1.4 Various departments and functions of Health-Worth Clinic and Diagonistic
Center
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 Activities Carried Out During the SIWES Period.
2.1 Orientation
2.2 The Medical Laboratory
2.2.1 Description of a Laboratory
2.2.2 Laboratory Safety Precautions
2.2.3 Hazards in the Laboratory
2.2.4 Emergency Response
2.3 Laboratory Apparatus Used in the Medical Laboratory 2.4 Biological samples
and collection
2.5 The Laboratory Sections and various tests performed
2.5.1 Reception/Collection Section
2.5.2 Serology Section (Hepatitis and VDRL, Pregnancy test, Widal test, Retroviral
test)
2.5.3 Parasitology Section (Stool macroscopy, stool microscopy, Malaria Parasite,
Urine microscopy, Culture and Sensitivity (m/c/s)) vi |
2.5.4 Hematology Section (Blood group test, Genotype test, PCV)
2.5.5 Chemistry Section (Urinalysis, Urine macroscopy, Urine Chemistry,etc)
2.5.6 Microbiology Section (Culture media, Preparation media, stool Culture, High
Vagina Swab microscopy)
2.6 Helicobacter Pylori test
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 Relevance of SIWES
3.1 Challenges Encountered
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 Conclusion and Recommendations
4.1 Conclusion
Recommendation
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 SIWES AND ITS OBJECTIVES
SIWES is an acronym that stands for Students’ Industrial Work Experience
Scheme. The vision was birthed in 1973 to provide an avenue for students to
acquire practical industrial exposure in their respective disciplines during the
course of their studies. During the industrial training, students are exposed to
machines, equipment, professional method of work, etc. In SIWES, there are
several roles that are carried out by the Federal Government, Industrial
Training Fund (ITF), NUC, Institution, Employers and Students. Therefore, the
objectives of SIWES are as follows:
OBJECTIVES OF SIWES
1. Prepare an avenue for students in Nigerian Universities to acquire
industrial skills and experience in their course of study.
2. Prepare students for the work situation they are likely to meet after
graduation.
3. Expose students to work methods and techniques in handling equipment
and machinery that may not be available in the universities and other
institutions of higher learning
. 4. Provide students with an opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge
in real work situations, thereby bridging the gap between university work and
actual practice.
5. Make the transition from the university to the place of work easier and
thus, enhance students’ contact for later job placement.
6. Enlist and strengthen employer’s involvement in the entire education
process of preparing university and other tertiary graduates for employment
in industry.
1.2 HISTORY AND BACKGROUND OF HEALTH FOUNTAINS HOSPITAL
Health-Worth Clinic and Diagnostic Center was established in the year
2015 it was formally known as Praise-Worth Medical Laboratory before it was
also registered as a clinic in the year 2018 as Health-worth Clinic and
diagnostic center, The clinic seeks to provide comprehensive, quantitative
and compassionate health care services to all categories of clients with health
problems, irrespective of their race, religion or socio-economic status and
they provide friendly and comfortable environment using World class
technology. It is located at No. 54 Obiagu road Enugu North local Government
of Enugu State. They provide business activities between 8am -7am except on
 sunda. The hospital started with about four staffs, amongst which was a
resident , nurses, laboratory technician, receptionist, and a cleaner. To the
glory of God, it now have about 10 full time staffs.
1.3 ORGANISATION OF STAFFS AT HEALTH-WORTH CLINIC AND DIAGONISTIC
CENTER
. MEDICAL DIRECTOR
.HEAD OF LABORATORY SCIENTIST
.NURSES
.PHARMACIST
.RECEPTIONST
.CLEANERS
1.4 VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS IN HEALT-WORTH
CLINIC AND DIAGNISTIC CENTER
The various departments and their functions in Health fountains hospital are
as follows:
 Reception unit: This is the unit where patients are received and attended to.
Here, the patients are given the laboratory request form and registered in the
laboratory register, which is then forwarded to the collection unit for sample
collection. Patient’s name, age, sex, amount and receipt number must be
recorded to avoid misplacement of result. 
Administration department: this department is where enquiries are made
concerning the hospital. Job applications are submitted and screened in this
department. 
Clinical laboratory services: this is where clinical test and diagnosis are
carried out
.  Sample collection unit: this is the unit where samples and specimen are
collected from patients for clinical diagnosis according to the examination
required. The value and reliability of microbial reports are directly affected by
the quality of the specimen received by the laboratory and the length of the
time between its collection and processing. It is therefore knowledgeable to
know the following: Best time to collect a specimen, the amount and type of
specimen required, container use and need for any preservative or transport
medium, Aseptic and safe methods of collection to avoid any other form of
contamination and accidental infection and proper labeling of specimen.

CHAPTER TWO ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT DURING THE SIWES PERIOD

2.1 ORIENTATION The first phase of my training commenced with an
orientation in which an intensive lecture was given on the activities, policies,
nature and other functions of the different departments. Emphasis was made
on the rules and regulations guiding the medical laboratory. The penalties for
breaking any of these rules were clearly spelt out in order to ensure
seriousness and maintain discipline of staffs and Industrial Training students.
The use of personal laboratory protecting equipment such as hand gloves,
laboratory coats and nose masks were also stressed on. The orientation also
covered how to use some laboratory equipment carefully thus avoiding
damages and mishandling of samples for accurate results which is key for a
scientist.
2.2 THE MEDICAL LABORATORY
2.2.1 DESCRIPTION OF A MEDICAL LABORATORY
A laboratory is a scientific facility that provides controlled conditions in which
scientific researches, experiments and measurements may be performed.
Hence, the medical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are carried out on
clinical specimens in other to get information about a patient’s health. There
are three sections in the laboratory. They are: Clinical Microbiology section,
Hematology/Serology section and Clinical Biochemistry section. The overall
significance of the laboratory diagnosis is that they guide towards the
administration most effective therapy so as to restore a proper health on the
patient. There are also safety precautions and ethics used in the laboratory
for efficiency and accuracy.
2.2.2 LABORATORY SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
In the Laboratory, there are certain rules and regulations which must be
strictly adhered to for efficiency and thus to avoid certain hazards not just in
the laboratory but the hospital at large. These safety precautions include:

 Wearing of protective gloves inside the laboratory while collecting blood

samples for hepatitis, HIV/AIDS or viral/hemorrhagic fever investigations.
 The use of protective clothing like laboratory coats or gowns which must be
worn over normal clothing. Cover shoes should also be worn while in the
laboratory and walking bare-footed should also be avoided.

Avoiding to eat, drink or chew gums in the laboratory.

 High prohibition to smoking in the working zone.
 Handling all specimen and infected materials with utmost care
 Disposing used needles and syringes immediately after use.
 Disinfecting all infected/contaminated materials before disposal  Storing
processed specimen containing highly infectious pathogens in the safety
cabinet.  Pouring disinfectant solutions over any spilled material in any case
of spillage, and leaving it for fifteen (15) minutes before cleaning.
 Avoiding the use of any equipment in the laboratory unless you are trained
and approved as a user by your supervisor.
 Wearing safety glasses of face shades when working with hazardous
materials.
 Turning off all ignition sources/power when leaving the laboratory
unattended and as well locking the door.
 Keeping the work area clear of all materials except those needed for your
work
 Hanging laboratory coats in a hall place or locker to avoid spread of disease.
 Cleaning all work benches at the end of the day with disinfectant.  Carefully
reading labels.
2.2.3 HAZARDS IN THE LABORATORY
Laboratory hazards are possible accidents that can occur in the laboratory
due to some mishandlings of laboratory equipment and carelessness. These
hazards can be in form of:
 Infections
 Burns
 Cuts and pricks
 Hazard to toxic chemicals
 Electric shocks 6 | P a g e Infections:

Infections can occur in different ways in the hospital but the most common
ways are:
 Ingestion of pathogens from mouth pipetting.
 Pathogens may find their way into the body through needle pricks, cuts,
scratches, insect bites, sores, or skin lesions.
 Inhalations of pathogens in airborne droplets or spilling of infectious fluids,
centrifuging, dispensing or pipetting of infectious materials and snap opening
and closing of specimen containers.
 Ingestion of pathogens from contaminated food and water.
Burns: This kind of hazards can be caused by:
 Flammable substances when exposed to fire
 Ingestion of corrosive substances during pipetting or spilling such
substances on the skin.
 Fire from Bunsen burners, lamps from faulty or overloaded circuits.
Cuts and Pricks:
Cuts and pricks may result from the following
:  Edges of knife.
 Accidental pricking with needle or any other sharp objects.
 Edges from broken glass ware like test tube, measuring cylinders, conical

Hazards of Toxic Chemicals: Hazards due to toxic chemicals are caused by:
 Inhaling fumes of toxic chemicals

 Ingesting toxic chemicals

 Skin contacts with toxic chemicals
Electric shock: Causes of electric shock include the following:
 Incorrect installation of electrical equipment/appliances used in the
laboratory.
 Touching exposed live wires
 Faulty electrical circuit.

2.2.4 EMERGENCY RESPONSE

It is of utmost importance that laboratories have appropriate code of safety
laboratory practices. These responses include the following:

 The responsibility to read safety and fire alarm posters.

 Avoid working alone and unsupervised while handling hazardous substances
in the laboratory.
 Always know the location of fire extinguisher, eye wash and safety shower
in the laboratory and know how to use them.
 Notify instructor immediately after any injury, fire explosion or spill.
2.3 LABORATORY APPARATUS USED IN THE MEDICAL LABORATORY

Laboratory apparatus include tools used in the laboratory specifically

designed for carrying out critical measurements, analyses and testing of
several parameters involved with human biological conditions and health
factors. Their procedures They are manufactured through strict supervision in
other to maintain highest level of safety standards. These apparatuses
include:
1. Compound Microscope: This is one sophisticated device every laboratory
must have. Its function is to magnify the microscopic constituents of a human
bod specimen like blood, tissue and serum which enables exact verification of
its biological conditions under x4, x10, x40 and x100 objectives.
2. The Centrifuge: This powerful device used is used to swiftly separate and
sediment the molecular elements like cells that may be dispersed inside a
fluid through a fast-rotational movement through a process called
“centrifugation”. Specimens like urine and blood which is centrifuged into
serum and plasma. More specifically, a centrifuge is used for determining the
volume of the packed cells of RBCs. Here, capillaries filled with blood samples
are rotated at high speeds and finally the percentage of RBC is calculated.
3. Refrigerator: This provides suitable temperature for storage and
preservation of reagents, unused media, blood samples, etc.
4. Autoclave: This is used for sterilization
5. Hot Air Oven: This is used in air drying slides (either containing samples
such as blood film or wet slides), Petri dishes, etc. with hot air. It can also be
used to sterilize washed materials which can be reused.
6. Auto-Hematology Analyzer: This machine is used for Full blood count.
7. Bunsen burner: Serves as source of heat for sterilizing wire loop, surgical
forceps and other metal instruments to be used for analysis. 8. Wire loop:
Used for streaking samples on culture plates and making smear of samples on
slides.
9. Capillary tube: Used for collection of blood samples to determine the
packed cell volume.
10. Universal bottle: Used for sample collection like semen, urine and stool.
11. Glass slide: Used for preparation of sample to be viewed directly under
microscope.
12. Pasteur Pipette: Used for collecting little amounts of liquid samples like
blood and urine for analysis.
13. Sterile swab stick: Used for collection of samples directly from site of
infection.
14. Sampling bottles: these are bottles used for collection of blood samples.
Examples are the universal bottle, fluoride oxalate bottle, Ethylene-Di-amine-
Tetra Acetic acid bottle (EDTA), Lithium heparin bottle, plain bottle.
15. Incubator: for culturing or drying microorganisms.
16. Water bath: this is used a s heating apparatus.
17. Hematocrit reader: this is used to read packed cell volume in percentage.
18. Tourniquet: this is a laboratory equipment that is rope like. It is tightened
around a patient’s hand in the collection of blood sample in other to get a
prominent vein before insertion.
19. Needle and syringe: used for collection of blood samples.
20. Glucometer: used to check for the sugar level in the body with the aid of
its strip.
Below is a table showing the diagrams of some laboratory equipment:
9 2.4 BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES AND COLLECTION
A sample is a specific representative quantity of matter produced by a
patient for laboratory analysis in other to detect the staging of a disease
process for diagnosis or research. While diagnosing a patient, several samples
are critically worked on. These samples are inter related to the particular test
for which they are used. The disease or health condition of a patient can be
traced by the activities of several quantitative and qualitative analysis.

Table 2.1 Brief showing sample collections and methods

S/N SAMPLES METHOD OF COLLECTION SAMPLE COLLECTION MATERIALS
LABORATORY TESTS 1. Blood  Venipuncture  Arterial sampling  Fingerstick
EDTA bottle Blood bag (for blood donation or storage), syringe, cotton wool 
Malaria Parasite (MP)  Widal test  Blood sugar testing In collecting blood
sample, there are basically three (3) methods:
Venipuncture:
i. Tourniquet is tied tightly around the upper arm and the patient is asked
to tighten his or her fist (for the veins to be more visible).
ii. ii. 70% alcohol is used to sterilize the area to be punctured with the aid
of a piece of cotton wool.
iii. iii. The syringe is gently inserted into the superficial vein (median
cubital vein) and blood is withdrawn and inserted into a sampling
bottle for testing.
iv. iv. After the blood is withdrawn into the syringe, the syringe remains in
the vein while the tourniquet is loosed. The syringe is removed gently
and a piece of cotton wool is used to apply pressure on the punctured
spot.
v. v. Blood is inserted to a collection bottle for testing.
vi. Arterial Sampling:
vii. Note: There are brachial, femoral and radial arteries. The easiest and
safest to access for blood collection is the radial artery.
viii.  Locate radial artery at the wrist region close to the thumb and
disinfect the area with 70% alcohol and allow to dry for some seconds.
 Holding the syringe and needle like a dart, the index finger is used to
locate pulse.
ix.  The needle is inserted at 45º away from the index finger after which
it is advanced into the radial artery until a blood flashback appears.
x.  The blood is allowed to fill the syringe till appropriate level.
xi. Note: the syringe plunger is not to be pulled back at this point.
xii. 11
xiii. Fingerstick Sampling: Needle and syringe are withdrawn and a cotton
wool is used to apply firm pressure for some time for bleeding to stop
(at least 3 minutes or 5 minutes for a high blood pressure patient. 2.
Urine By patient releasing urine Universal bottle  Urine Microscopy
Culture Sensitivity (m/c/s)  Urinalysis Urine can be collected at
midstream (1st urine of the day passed out within the very early hours
of the day) by patient: i. While urinating, urinate inside the Water
 closet for some seconds (this is to ensure that all microorganisms
surrounding the pelvic region are flushed out). ii. Using the Universal
bottle, collect some urine sample by inserting between legs while
urinating. A large amount is not necessarily needed. iii. Take it to the
Laboratory for testing. PS: Step 1 is for midstream particularly for urine
m/c/s while step 2 and 3 can be carried out for any other Urine test 3.
Stool (Faeces) This is collected by the patient in a toilet with small
sample transferred to a universal bottle. Universal bottle Stool
macroscopy, stool, microscopy, etc
xiv.
2.5 VARIOUS SECTIONS OF THE LABORATORY

2.5.1 RECEPTIONIST/COLLECTION SECTION: This is the unit where

patients are received, registered and attended to regarding the
investigation written on their laboratory request forms by the doctor.
The activities which go on in this section are collection of clinical
specimens and issuing of laboratory results. Fig 1: Myself working at
the reception unit

2.5.2 SEROLOGY SECTION: The serology section analyzes blood

specimens for diseases. It is where serology blood tests are performed
to detect and measure the levels of antibodies. Clinical tests done in
this section are blood-borne pathogens including HIV, Hepatitis B
surface Antigen (HBsAq), Widal tests and analysis of blood specimens
for diseases of public health significance like vaccine preventable
diseases and diseases transmitted from animals to humans as well as
mosquito-borne diseases. Blood, especially serum is used.
STRIPS
A) TESTS FOR HEPATITIS, VDRL (VENERAL DISEASES RESEARCH
LABORATORY) TEST FOR SYPHILIS USING
Introduction: HBsAG is a rapid immunochromatographic test for
qualitative direction of Hepatitis B surface Antigen in human
serum/plasma. It can be used for prenatal or transfusion screening,
and during acute infection or chronic carriage of the hepatitis B virus.
VDRL is a screening test for syphilis. It measures antibodies that are
produced from the body making contact with the causative agent of
syphilis called treponema pallidium.
Aim: To determine the presence or absence of hepatitis and syphilis in
the body system.
Materials: HBsAG Test strips, VDRL test strip EDTA bottle, centrifuge,
clean test tube.
Specimen: Serum
Procedure: The patient’s blood sample was collected into a plain bottle
through venipuncture. The blood sample was spun n a centrifuge for
five minutes. After spinning, the serum was separated carefully into a
clean test tube by use of Pasteur pipette and then test strip was
immersed vertically into the serum for 10 minutes. The observation
was taken after 10 minutes.
Result:  Positive: Two distinct red lines, one line should be in control
region (C) and another line should be in the test region.
 Negative: One red line appears in the control region (C) no apparent
red line appears in the test region (C).
 Invalid: This occurs when the control line fails to appear due to
insufficient specimen volume or incorrect procedural techniques.
13 | P a g e Fig 2: showing hepatitis result strip after insertion.
B) BLOOD PREGNANCY AND URINE PREGNANCY TEST, USING TEST
STRIP
C) Aim: to determine the presence of pregnancy hormone (HCG) in
the blood and urine.
D) Materials: Pregnancy test strips, plain bottle, needle, syringe, wet
slab, cotton wool, centrifuge, clean test tube.
E) Specimen: Blood (serum) and urine.
F) Procedure for Pregnancy Test using Blood: Patient’s blood was
collected through venipuncture into a plain bottle, blood sample
was spun using the centrifuge for five minutes and the serum was
 separated carefully into a test tube by the use of Pasteur pipette.
The pregnancy test strip was immersed vertically into the serum for
five minutes. The strip was removed and the reaction was
observed.
G) Procedure for Pregnancy Test using Urine: the patient’s urine
sample was collected into the universal bottle and the pregnancy
test strip was immersed into the urine for three seconds, then
removed and left for five minutes before observation.
H) Result: An appearance of a line at the control region and another
at the test indicates positive result while an appearance at the
control region only indicates a negative result. In a case where
there is no appearance of any line, the result is said to be invalid
and thus has to be redone using another test kit.
I) Fig 3: showing result of a pregnancy test strip
C) WIDAL TEST
Introduction: Widal test is a test used for the diagnosis of typhoid
fever, based on agglutination of salmonella typhi by dilution of the
patient’s serum.
Aim: To detect the presence of salmonella typhi and Para typhi in
the serum of a patient.
Materials: White rocking tiles, Pasteur pipette, centrifuge,
Salmonella antigen suspension kit and stop watch.
Procedure: 3-5ml of blood was collected from the patient through
venipuncture into a plain bottle and the blood was spun at 3000rev
per min for five minutes as to separate the plasma from blood. A
dropper was used to carefully draw out the antigen kits (Salmonella
‘0’and ‘H’) and a drop was placed on each of the test cards in the
rocking tile. A drop of serum was also made on each of the drops of
the antigens. The serum and antigens were homogeneously mixed
after which the white rocking tile was rocked continuously for
about 2 minutes. Mixture was observed for agglutination at
intervals of 30seconds, 1 minute, 2minutes and 5minutes.
Result:
 Reactive: visible agglutination on spot H and others indicate the
presence of salmonella antibodies.
 Non-reactive: no visible agglutination indicates absence of
Salmonella antibodies. The result is graded according to the degree
of agglutination ranging from 1:20<1:80<1:160
Result: An appearance of a line at the control region and another at the test indicates
positive result while an appearance at the control region only indicates a negative
result. In a case where there is no appearance of any line, the result is said to be
invalid and thus has to be redone using another test kit. Fig 3: showing result of a
pregnancy test strip 14 | P a g e C) WIDAL TEST Introduction: Widal test is a test used
for the diagnosis of typhoid fever, based on agglutination of salmonella typhi by
dilution of the patient’s serum. Aim: To detect the presence of salmonella typhi and
Para typhi in the serum of a patient. Materials: White rocking tiles, Pasteur pipette,
centrifuge, Salmonella antigen suspension kit and stop watch. Procedure: 3-5ml of
blood was collected from the patient through venipuncture into a plain bottle and the
blood was spun at 3000rev per min for five minutes as to separate the plasma from
blood. A dropper was used to carefully draw out the antigen kits (Salmonella ‘0’and
‘H’) and a drop was placed on each of the test cards in the rocking tile. A drop of
serum was also made on each of the drops of the antigens. The serum and antigens
were homogeneously mixed after which the white rocking tile was rocked
continuously for about 2 minutes. Mixture was observed for agglutination at intervals
of 30seconds, 1 minute, 2minutes and 5minutes. Result:  Reactive: visible
agglutination on spot H and others indicate the presence of salmonella antibodies. 
Non-reactive: no visible agglutination indicates absence of Salmonella antibodies. The
result is graded according to the degree of agglutination ranging from
1:20<1:80<1:160