CLINICAL LAB SCIENEC

CHAPTER 1: HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF MEDICAL LABORATORY SCIENCE 11
from humans to provide information used in the
diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of disease or
impairment, and for the assessment of health, such
as in general physical examinations. The major
objective of the CLIA Program is to ensure the
accuracy, reliability, and timeliness of test results
regardless of where the test is performed. Unlike
some other accreditations, the CLIA Program is
not voluntary, and hospitals and laboratories that
collect federal funds from Medicare and Medicaid
are required to fund the program. User fees collected
from approximately 189,000 laboratories,
as well as from physicians who accept reimbursement
from Medicare and Medicaid. The majority
of these laboratories are located in the United
States, with a few in territories over which the
United States may have a level of oversight.
FIGURE 1-2 Performing urinalysis in a clinical laboratory.
Source: Delmar/Cengage Learning.
Even the professional groups that offer voluntary credentialing of workers
and that attempt to improve and to raise the standards of laboratory workers are
divided as to levels of education and the length and breadth of educational processes
for varying levels of workers within the laboratories. There are also differences
relative to the need for ongoing efforts to ensure continuing competency
throughout the career of the medical laboratory worker. Medical laboratorians
in most cases work in large and well-designed facilities, as shown by a technologist
performing analytical tests on urine samples (Figure 1-2). Testing personnel
in the modern laboratory have a vast array of equipment and supplies at their
disposal, and there is an increasing complexity of duties that seems to require an
even more extensive educational background than previously. This should cause
laboratory professionals on whom these increased requirements and responsibilities
rest to seek more recognition.
Employment Opportunities as a Medical
Laboratory Worker
There are a vast number of areas in which one may find employment in a medical
laboratory. There are also a considerable number of names or occupational
specialties by which the laboratory professional may be classified, depending on
where one works and the job position occupied. In addition, the various agencies
and state licensing bodies will confer varying titles on the medical laboratory
worker. While the majority of clinical laboratory workers are employed by
hospital laboratories, there are numerous other opportunities for interesting and
rewarding employment, ranging from the most common employment as a professional
in the hospital setting to positions in the business sector as well as in
educational institutions, and even in research or in legal categories of work such
as in a state crime laboratory. Among these general categories of employment,
there are numerous specialties within these overall areas.
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