National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week Highlights the Laboratory Medicine Profession April 19-25, 2020
National Medical Laboratory Professional Week originated in 1975 by the American Society for Medical Technology.
The goal of the week is to celebrate and recognize the clinical laboratory personnel that deliver results in hospitals and medical institutions across the country.
The medical laboratory profession is one that is behind the scenes of medical care but plays an integral role as a backbone of the diagnostic team. Medical laboratory professionals can often identify the condition of a patient without actually seeing the patient – they are essential in disease research, patient care, treatment, and diagnoses. In the United States today, there are 310,000 laboratory professionals employed. Laboratories are on the front lines for COVID-19 testing, as they have been for other global pandemics.
A Medical Laboratory Technologist requires an average of 5 years of college education and certification in hematology, immunology, urinalysis, microbiology, chemistry, parasitology, toxicology, transfusion medicine, and lab safety and operation.
In 2019, the laboratory team at Granville Health System received more than 243,753 orders for clinical lab testing. “We understand the crucial role we play in a patient’s healthcare and we always take pride in our job,” said Margaret Windett-Sims, Ph.D, MHA, MT (ASCP), GHS’s Clinical Laboratory Manager. “Phlebotomists, Medical Laboratory Technicians, Medical Technologists, Medical Laboratory Scientists, and Pathologists- We are medical laboratory professionals.”
For more information on the Medical Laboratory profession go to ascp.org.
About the American Society for Medical Technology
The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) is the world’s largest professional membership organization for pathologists and laboratory professionals. With more than 100,000 members, the society’s influence has guided the application and evolution of the pathology and laboratory medicine specialty since 1922.
