(A Rigorous Course of Study)

Did you ever wonder what happens to your blood after it is drawn for testing?  Do those lab results, somehow, just miraculously appear?  Well, to do my part for “Medical Laboratory Professionals Week,” I am going to write about some of the more interesting (hopefully) aspects of my job.

Before I go into my school experience, let me list a few things about the field that people may not know.

1. New graduates in this field are no longer called “medical technologists.”  The name has been changed to “medical laboratory scientists.”
2. To become a medical laboratory scientist, it requires four years of study to obtain the bachelor of science degree.  Many people lump all laboratory professionals together.  Nothing against those people in laboratory fields that require only two years of study, but those extra two years add more knowledge and more student loan debt.
3. 70-80% of all doctor’s decisions are based upon laboratory test results.
4. Medical laboratory scientists are essential personnel in hospitals and have to work evenings, nights, weekends, snow days, and holidays, just like doctors and nurses.
5. One professor described the course of study as the “second hardest major outside of engineering.”
6. In this field, you have to memorize a lot.
7. You have to do math and understand statistics.
8. You have to understand quality control.
9. You have to know how to work with hazardous materials and infectious agents.
10. You have to get used to being tested for competency, over and over.
11. You will not have much patient contact unless you are required to do phlebotomy or assist with bone marrows.
12. The job is not boring.  In my position, I rotate to about 10 different benches.  Therefore, I am not doing the same thing every day.
13. The field is in demand.  There is a shortage of medical laboratory scientists in many areas of the country, especially in areas where there isn’t a college program nearby.
14. If you like being the center of attention, this field is not for you.
15. Since the classes are small, you really get to know your professors and they know you. This is especially helpful when you need a reference.
16. It is a criterion-based major.  This means that no exam is ever curved.  You either learn the material needed to pass the certification exam or you don’t.
17. There is a board certification exam given by the American Society of Clinical Pathology that you must pass in order to become a certified medical laboratory scientist.

In 2009, I got laid off from my job of 21 years as information chemist.  Long story short, I made the quick decision to enter the field of medical technology.  I was attracted to it because I always loved medical science, and I liked the fact that you could get a job practically anywhere in the country.  My first bachelor’s degree was in biology, and I didn’t like having to be so creative in getting a job. Because I already had a bachelor’s degree and was an alumni of the college, it only took me two years (as opposed to four) to get my second bachelor’s degree.

I got off to a rocky start in this field.  When I went back to school in my forties, I knew it would be difficult and that things might have changed.  Well, let me tell you about my first day.  I walked into my immunology laboratory (yes, we had a lab on the first day of school), and was not prepared.  I didn’t know that there was a quiz scheduled and that I was supposed to watch a pod cast about what we would be doing.  The laboratory assistant wasn’t very sympathetic, at first, but when she realized how lost I really was, she helped me out.  There was a whole computer set-up of assignments that I didn’t know about that were supposed to have been already completed.  I got through that lab, but went home to my husband, Shawn, and told him I made a mistake in going back to school.  He said it was too soon  to know that, so I listened and continued.

Later in the week, my class of about 30 students, was supposed to attend a mandatory lecture at McDowell Hall.  Well, twenty years ago, the medical technology department was in McKinley Hall, so I mixed them up and went to McKinley Hall by mistake.  By the time I figured out what I had done wrong and found the right place, I ended up late for the lecture.  When I reached the class room, the professor chewed me out and said, “Well, there’s no sense in joining us, now,” and wouldn’t let me enter the  class room.  Instead, I had to attend a private meeting with her and three other “irresponsible” students the next day.  I went home and cried.  I told Shawn that I wanted to quit, but he reminded me, “If you quit, they probably won’t let you back in again. You better be sure.” At that point, I didn’t care.

The next day, the same professor, the chair of the department, met with and chastised the four of us who missed the meeting.  When I told her that I mixed up the name of the building, she told me I had committed an error of “inaccuracy.”  I would later learn that “accuracy” and “precision” were big to-do’s in this field.  I informed her that I needed to speak to her in private.  We met, and I told her that I thought I made a mistake by entering this field.  She calmed me down and apologized.  She said that she hated disciplining me in front of the other students, but she was trying to make a point to them.  She couldn’t just let me slide.  As a mother, I understood.  She had to “follow-through.” She persuaded me to stay, and I did.

Compared to my experience as a biology major in the 1980s, this course of study was much more rigorous. At one point, one of the professors said, “You all do realize that you are taking 9 science courses?”  Because we received separate grades for each lecture and lab, it was true, and each semester averaged about 17 credits.  Most days, we were in lecture/lab practically all day, and then we had exams or quizzes the next day.  We had to make a decision whether to get much needed sleep or stay up and study for the next day’s tests,  because there is not a lot of study time when you are in class all day.  Contrast this to when I was a biology major and had only a few classes and labs and a lot of free time.

Eventually, I adjusted. Shawn was super supportive.  Many nights, I would tell him that when I got home, I was just going to grab a bite to eat and go downstairs to study.  No more long family dinners.  But, once I found my groove, I started doing well.  All my hard work began to pay off. I received many scholarships, and I ended up graduating the program with a 3.9 average in my medical technology classes.