We all know where to go when we feel something unusual with our bodies. When we feel unwell or lethargic, the first thing that pops up in our minds is visiting a doctor. Your doctor will conduct your exam to identify what is wrong, and if it is not visible on the surface, they might ask you for screening. The screening test serves as a window to your internal body functions and often prove helpful in making the correct diagnosis of disease.
Medical screening test requires a person with perfect expertise to handle all the equipment. From drawing blood samples to read them accurately is the job of a laboratory scientist or lab technicians. These are skilled individuals, often with the background knowledge of hematology and pathology. A laboratory scientist can work in many fields. From assisting in research analysis, food industries, pharmaceutical companies, and hospitals. They are responsible for analyzing the samples accurately to compile the data for a better and precise diagnosis.
Often, we get recommendations for a testing lab through our doctor or pathologist. Lab results play an essential role in our treatments. Residents of central and Southern California can rely on the Primex Labs diagnostic reports regarding their accuracy. These labs promise accurate reports with an expert diagnosis and sample handling. Many youngsters choose to be laboratory scientists to learn more about the disease and gain experience.
If you are ambitious to work as a laboratory scientist, here are the necessary skills to excel in your career.
1. Analyzing samples
When you decide to work as a laboratory scientist, be aware that you will have to deal with blood, urine, and saliva samples daily. Analyzing these samples will require you to concentrate on the number of chemicals you are using to assess the sample. A single mistake can lead to forging the sample results and might lead to a wrong diagnosis. Utilizing the anti-coagulant in your sample tubes to using drops of chemicals requires your focus and concentration as the patient’s diagnosis relies on your report.
2. Documentation and communication
Once you have analyzed the samples and noted your findings, the next skills are how you relay your message to the doctors and patients. A medical laboratory scientist shall know to write in a comprehensive language that anyone can easily comprehend. Even if you are writing about a blood film, it shall have clear recommendations and finding along with standard range values. A document from a laboratory will decide the further course of treatment of a patient. It shall contain clear instructions or comments for a doctor to understand.Having excellent communication skills is necessary to help patients understand their testing needs and guide them about the information they seek regarding their test.
3. Critical thinking
While dealing with different test samples, it will not reveal the deficiencies unless you pit some chemicals to see the difference. Blood samples are a bit tricky to deal as it has coagulation abilities. If you are going short of a compound, you shall know about its substitute or any alternative method to prevent your collected specimen from spoiling. Keep your essential tools and chemicals at your desk and see when you have to use it. Critically thinking enables a person to check for all the possible solutions and knowing the possible causes of a particular disease.
4. Dealing with equipment
A laboratory scientist not only analyzes the samples through chemical reactions but also runs it on specific machines to extract particular cells out of a sample. It is indispensable to ensure the cleanliness of these machines to avoid contamination of samples. The calibration of the device is one of the essentials information for a laboratory scientist. If they calibrate a machine on wrong values, the specimen might go waste. In case you do not know about a particular device, do not hesitate to ask or read the manual to properly understand the calibration.
5. Efficient time management
When dealing with diagnostic tests, we receive and collect many blood samples in a day, and every sample report is mandatory for the treatment. A laboratory scientist must have outstanding time management skills to manage and compile the test reports. Spending a day on one or two blood samples might delay the analysis and treatment of other patients. If you have blood samples that need centrifugation, put them on the machine. And take enough time to complete centrifugation; you can study different cell cultures or gather chemicals that you may need for another test.
6. Noticing detail
Paying detailed attention plays a vital role in diagnosing more than one abnormalities. Many times a sample can reveal more than one issue if you pay attention to the details. These skills can save a person’s life by your valuables information, and if you miss any aspect, the scenario may fall at the other end of the table. Analyzing multiple samples requires attention, and it can also help you update your knowledge and explore more about the abnormalities. If something out of the ordinary is witnessed, you can re-run the sample to check its presence before compiling your report.
7. Teamwork
Running a laboratory and manging all the samples is not a single person’s forte. You will need people with different expertise to help and assist you on all fronts. A hematologist can help you in analyzing and recording values on the blood samples. An expert microbiologist can deal with detecting bacterial infections and doing cell cultures. Similarly, a person with background knowledge in biochemistry can solve the chemical mysteries of our body. A team is a mixture of individuals with different capabilities. A laboratory scientist can effectively run a medical unit by leading an organization efficiently and communicating thoroughly on all fronts.
Conclusion
A medical testing laboratory is where doctors can refer their patients for screening tests to find the underlying cause of any disease. The diagnostic tests vary in nature depending on the severity of the ailment. Many trials require molecular assessments, while blood cells often involve blood cell count, extracting hormonal quantities, and other infections. A medical laboratory scientist is responsible for conducting the tests with high accuracy to provide better and authentic results for a diagnosis. A hematologist can only inform and give you reports about blood samples. If you wish to know about some bacterial or viral infection, you may rely on a microbiologist. A medical unit comprises of professionals each with an expertise in their field.