The Clinical Laboratory

Professional

Lesson 1-2

Overview • Clinical laboratory professions• History of clinical laboratories• Requirements for laboratory

professionals• Allied health professions• Responsibilities• Professionalism• Employment

History

• Origins of “medical technology”

• Early medical laboratories

• Modern clinical laboratories

• Twenty-first–century laboratories

Role of Laboratory Professional

• Allied healthcare partner

• Work in many different settings

• Work at various levels of responsibility

Change in Certification Agency

• Effective 2010

• ASCP Board of Certification (BOC)

• See Tables 1-6, 1-7

Education

• Programs– Accreditation

• Requirements– Medical Laboratory Scientist (MLS)

or Medical Technologist (MT)– Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT)

Education

• Areas of specialization

• Credentialing and certification

• Licensing

Other AlliedHealth Personnel

• Phlebotomist• Medical Assistant• Physician Office Laboratory (POL) Technician• Point-of-care (POC) Technician• Other

Other Allied Health Personnel

• Examples:– Paramedic– Nursing staff– Clinical laboratory assistant– Diagnostic molecular scientist

Ethics

• Maintain– High standards of practice– Honesty, integrity, and reliability

• Duty to– Patients– Profession and colleagues– Society– See Table 1-8

Ethics

• Respect– Patients– Profession– Other healthcare professions

Professionalism

• Desirable qualities

• Patient privacy– Confidentiality

• Interactions with patients

Professionalism

• Professional organizations– See Table 1-9

Employment Opportunities

• Hospitals and clinics• Government• Universities• Military• Research• Public health• Product

sales/service