Associate of Applied Science Degree
Clinical laboratory testing plays a crucial role in the detection, diagnosis and treatment of disease. Proper treatment of a patient always depends on an accurate diagnosis, and today, more than ever, physicians rely on laboratory test results in order to make accurate diagnoses and then monitor the effects of prescribed therapy. While laboratory personnel have minimal patient contact, by performing these tests they become medical detectives searching for clues to the absence, presence, extent and causes of disease. Clinical laboratory technologists are an integral part of the health care team.
Examination and analysis of body fluids, tissues and cells play a crucial role in a physician’s ability to diagnosis and treat disease. Clinical laboratory technology programs prepare students to work in certain areas of a clinical lab, which include hematology, urinalysis, immunohematology (blood bank), microbiology, serology and chemistry. Education in these areas prepares graduates to collect blood samples, work with state-of-the-art clinical laboratory instrumentation, perform chemical and microscopic urine analysis, match blood for transfusion, identify abnormal blood cells, perform many blood chemistry tests and identify infectious bacteria from cultures. The tests performed help physicians to diagnoses and treat anemias, leukemias, diabetes, renal disease, infections, cardiac arrests and many more. The complexity of the tests performed, the level of judgment needed and the amount of responsibility laboratory workers assume varies from setting to setting. It is worth noting that the profession of Medical Laboratory Technician was rated 35th best career by 2011 Jobs Rated Almanac, which rates over 250 careers based on salary, stress, environment, security, outlook and physical demands.
Extension 7194, HS 210A
Learn More about Clinical Laboratory Science
National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences