About Clinical Laboratory Technicians
Whenever you have your blood drawn or take a urine test, those samples go to a lab. Once they reach that lab they are studied by a clinical laboratory technician or medical technologist. Without these scientist doctors would be unable to get the results needed to diagnose such things varying from cancer to even the common cold. Clinical Laboratory Technicians operate in the field of Clinical Laboratory Science or Medical Technology.
History of
Clinical Laboratory Science first started all the way back during the time of the ancient Greeks in 300 B.C., when Hippocrates started observing and using body fluids to determine disease and sickness. Most movements forward in the field, however, happened during the late 1800's after the serious outbreaks of diphtheria, cholera, and tuberculosis. The profession began to grow but largely under the direction of pathologists. As such, eventually the clinical laboratory technicians wanted more autonomy and so created their own societies and accrediting systems.
Invented
In 1896, on the campus of John Hopkins University, the first clinical laboratory was created. From this the field of clinical laboratory science has virtually exploded with laboratory training programs in major universities throughout the world and located in just about every state in America. In 1922 the American Society of Clinical Pathologists was created to help grow the field. The field was not necessarily invented by one individual alone. Many scientist contributed to the discoveries of the clinical laboratory field including: Almroth Wright, James Lorrain Smith, Hideyo Noguchi, Johannes Muller, Walter Reed, Friedrich von Recklinghausen, Christian Gram and R.J. Petrie.
The Facts
Medical Laboratory Technicians go through a series of training experience starting with a college education. There are many different options for schooling when it comes to this profession. The most widely used is through a 3+1 or 4+1 degree granting program. A 3+1 degree granting program includes 3 years at the university and 1 year in a medical laboratory training program at a local hospital or through the universities hospital if one is located on campus. The 4+1 is usually only used for those wishing to gain a degree in both Microbiology and Clinical Laboratory Science and includes 4 years at the university and 1 year in a training program. However, for a Medical Laboratory Technician, you only need to take a 2 year program through a local community college or training institution.
Regardless of the path taken, after graduation the student will then apply to take the National Certification Test before being able to work as a CLT. Once the test is passed the Clinical Laboratory Technician can expect to make between $28,000-$40,000 per year depending on the state and facility they chose to work in.
Risk Factors
Working as a clinical laboratory technician is not without its risks. On a daily basis, the technician is exposed to bodily fluids that can and will contain a host of parasites and viruses ranging from the HIV/AIDS virus to Tuberculosis and other highly contagious diseases. As such, the CLT field is one that is full of safety precautions and procedures that must be followed to the letter on a day to day basis.
Significance
Despite the risks associated with being a clinical laboratory technician, without them we would not be able to concretely determine what diseases are affecting us on a day to day basis. Every time that blood is drawn or a sample is sent to a laboratory, it is the laboratory technicians who study and discover what is present within those samples in which doctors then can make a diagnosis and create a treatment plan. With the help of CLTs, we can detect diseases and disorders much more quickly, which, in turn, improves the survival rates of millions of people worldwide everyday.
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