MICROFICHE REFERENCE LIBRARY

Second Preface in Easy EnglishFor laboratory assistants and medical assistantsI have written this book tirst of all for you. Let me start by telling you why I have written it.When a patient is sick, he comes for help to a doctor or medical assistant. Let us say that hecomes to see a doctor and that you are a laboratory assistant. The doctor must first find outwhy the patient is sick, so he starts by listening to what the patient says-he takes his patient’sI&tory. NW he looks at or examines the patient. From the history and examination it ispossible to fmd out or diagnose what is wrong with most patients. But very often it is notpossible to diagnose a patient by only listening to him and looking at him. A doctor needs thehelp of the X-ray department, where they take special pictures of patients, or of a medicallaboratory. For example, a doctor may think that his patient has got weak (anaemic) blc od. Hewill need a laboratory assistant to Iind out how weak it is and to help him find out why it isweak. I have therefore written this book to tell you about a medical laboratory and how youcan use the equipment in it to help doctors, and medical assistants, to diagnose their patients.Your job is to find things out about patients and to report (tell) what you have found to theperson who is looking after them. If the right diagnosis is made, patients can be given the righttreatment and will get well. The reports that you make are therefore important, and they mustbe right. If you give a wrong report, the wrong diagnosis will be made, the wrong treatment willbe given, and the patient may not get well. Your work is thus very important.I have also written this book for medical assistants who may be working in health centres ontheir own with nobody to help them in the laboratory. If you are a medical assistant you willhave too much to do to be able to spend much time in the laboratory. You should, however,learn how to do the methods described here sell, so that you can do them on some of yourpatients, where they will be of great help in diagnosis and treatment.If you are going to be able to do your job properly, you must have the right equipment andchemicals. If you do not have what you need-ask for it, and, if necessary, go on and onasking. In the end you will probably get what you want. If you do the methods in this book welland give true reports, you will be very useful indeed. You will be a great help to many sickpeople.Yours sincerely,Maurice King