About Medical Laboratory
Technicians
Do you like the field of science? Are you interested in medicine and all the many changes that are taking place? Do you enjoy research and looking for answers to unknowns? As a medical lab technician, you may work in a medical center, private laboratory, doctor's office, or business to perform procedures on body fluids, such as blood, tissue. You will be relying on medical instruments and equipment, including microscopes and computers.
History of
John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, opened the first clinical laboratory in 1889. A $10,000 contribution was used to build two floors especially for medical laboratory work. The hospital director encouraged that studies be made with the microscope, which had not been used to any great extent in the U.S. before this time. Medical students learned look for diseases such as malaria and amoebic dysentery, and to examine blood, tissue, feces and urine. They used their results to help diagnose the illnesses of patients in the wards. The experiences of the medical students advanced the use of the microscope in other parts of the United States. In the early 1920s, the field of medical laboratory technology was inaugurated.
Significance
Medical laboratory technicians are becoming increasingly important due to the growing emphasis on prevention and early treatment of diseases. For example, George Papanicolaou, M.D. developed a laboratory test in the 1930s that is now called the Pap smear. This is a simple procedure, where a cell specimen is removed from a woman's cervix. The medical technicians then analyze the cells, looking for early signs of abnormality, which could be cervical cancer or another similar issue. The accuracy of this test has reduced fatalities from cervical cancer by more than 75 percent. Technicians can often find conditions that may become cancerous, eve though the woman does not have any symptoms. These results are then sent to pathologists for further study.
Medical laboratory technicians can also help doctors determine what is wrong with a patient. In addition, the clinicians run tests of body fluids, cells, or tissues and examine them under very strong microscopes. They frequently prepare and test vaccines and serums, looking for the proper solution and temperature to grow the cell cultures. They then record, analyze, evaluate and send the output to the doctors.
Features
Medical laboratory technicians, also called clinical laboratory technicians, perform a wide variety of laboratory procedures under the supervision of a medical laboratory technologist or someone who specializes in biological sciences. The laboratory technician knows follow specific techniques in such specialties as blood banking, microbiology, chemistry, hematology, and immunology.
To enter this important medical field, the laboratory technicians usually need to acquire an associate's degree from a community college or a training certificate from a private technical school, hospital, vocational school or the Armed Forces. Some states require that anyone working in this career be licensed or certified. Information on licensure can be obtained from the state departments of health or occupational licensing boards.
The Facts
Across the United States, about 300,000 clinical laboratory specialists are playing an important role in disease diagnosis and prevention. According to the U.S. Department of Education Occupational Handbook, at the turn of the century there were approximately 295,000 medical laboratory professionals. About half of these were employed in hospitals. The majority of the other jobs were filled in private clinics, medical laboratories, doctors' offices, blood banks, research and development laboratories, and departments of the Federal Government, such as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Public Health Service facilities. In the coming years, independent laboratories will experience the largest growth of openings for these individuals, since hospitals are sending out more of their lab work.
The number of hired laboratory workers is expected to grow at the same pace of all other jobs through the year 2010, which is about 10 to 20 percent. Medical laboratory technicians earned a median annual salary of $27,540 in 2001. The middle 50 percent received between $22,260 and $34,320. The bottom 10 percent were paid less than $18,550; the top 10 percent earned over $42,370.
Expert Insight
Not all people would make successful medical laboratory technicians. Some specific skills and interests are important to have. Those who enter this career should be detail-oriented, enjoy working with numbers and not get frustrated when the results do not add up as expected. In addition, they should enjoy investigation, regularly searching for facts and looking for solutions. They have to be realistic, knowing that answers do not always occur quickly. In the meantime, they need to like working on practical, hands-on problems. Although they may be working with other technicians, these workers are usually independent contributors and work on their own. They will get some direction from their supervisors, but will need the ability to pace themselves and set their own deadlines.
Tags: laboratory technicians, clinical laboratory, About Medical, About Medical Laboratory, blood tissue, body fluids, cervical cancer