CLINICAL LAB SCIENEC

CHAPTER 1: HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF MEDICAL LABORATORY SCIENCE 19
at the end of the 19th century. Several agencies
have become very active since the 1930s, when
California initiated personnel licensure for medical
laboratory professionals. Attempts from the
beginning by professional groups ranged widely
in their approaches and state and federal government
offices were not consistent in applying
standards developed by professional registering
agencies. State government regulations requiring
licensure of clinical laboratory workers exist in a
relatively small number of states. Some of these
states will accept those registered by the major
registering agencies as being equivalent to licensure,
while others do not and require a licensing
exam even for those who have been certified for a
FIGURE 1-3 Clinical laboratory professional at work.
number of years.
Source: Delmar/Cengage Learning.
Since the earliest efforts, many steps have
been taken to control the entry of personnel into the medical laboratory field.
Work positions in the laboratory (Figure 1-3), standards for excellence in education
and training, and scope of practice regulations that categorize and determine
minimum competencies of candidates for licensure or registry have become
increasingly stringent in the medical laboratory profession. Clinical laboratory
personnel are now recognized as professionals in an ever more complex field by
the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Duties of the Medical Laboratory Worker
The typical laboratory worker may work in a variety of settings, ranging from
large commercial laboratories that are sometimes specialized to hospital and
clinic laboratories, crime laboratories, or physician’s office laboratories. Many
POLs do not perform tests of sufficient complexity to be required to use only
registered or licensed laboratory personnel. The simple tests they conduct are
termed “waived” and are basic tests that require little or no interpretation. They
are allowed under federal regulation to be performed by personnel with minimal
training and education. These categories of testing will discussed later in
this book.
Most laboratory workers find employment in hospital laboratories. Hospital
and clinic laboratories contain four general departments: hematology
and coagulation, clinical chemistry, immunohematology (blood banking), and
microbiology. Simple and routine slide tests and examination of urine samples
may be performed in separate departments in larger facilities or may be incorporated
into one of the four major departments. Some large laboratories may have
a dozen or more departments where specialized testing is done in specialized
laboratories areas by qualified personnel.
There are two major categories of laboratory worker in the United States
who perform medical laboratory procedures. The MLT may also be known
as a CLT depending on the work-site policies or the credentialing agency that
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