Feature -- by Mark Sproxton           Français Version

The room buzzes with concentration. Fridges, filled with various blood products hum in the background, while tapping on computer keyboards can be heard over the din of centrifuges spinning away and people shaking test tubes. Although there are a dozen people in lab coats and hospital scrubs working in close quarters, conversation is light, focussed only on the task at hand.

Maureen Webb, says many opportunities will soon exist for medical laboratory technologists.

Then the phone rings. A patient in the emergency room needs blood immediately. The medical laboratory technician working in transfusion medicine takes down the required details and quickly moves to find the correct supply, double check the contents and process the order to get it to the ER immediately. "Being flexible is very important," said Maureen Webb, a medical laboratory technologist and manager of transfusion medicine at Foothills Hospital. "You have to shift from not being too busy, to being really busy. Being comfortable with making decisions is necessary because (the call) will be 'I need it right away' or 'I need it now.'"

In transfusion medicine, the lab techs work closely with medical lab assistants, nurses, other nursing personnel and doctors providing test results and samples for, or from, almost every department in the hospital. Medical lab techs conduct tests on blood, body fluids and tissues and may work on detecting anemia in a patient's blood sample, or test to determine the blood type of a patient waiting for surgery, or work closely with a transplant team. "I like this because it gives you a variety and a sense of making a difference," Webb explained. "Regardless of what area you're in, you're working with the health care team to help maintain, improve, or monitor the health of patients."

That sense of wanting to help first attracted Webb to the career. Having a role model in a friend who worked as a medical lab technician, and having a biology teacher that "pushed the right buttons" in high school also helped her decide on this line of work. "I wanted to make a difference," she said. "I wanted to help make people well."

Unfortunately, not everyone can be made well, which is one of the few downsides to the work, the transfusion medicine manager explained. "As a new person, I can remember feeling like I wanted to try and save everyone. You have to learn people die. And even though you work hard, you have to accept that's part of life cycle." And because hospital labs must be staffed 24 hours, seven days a week, working night shifts may not appeal to everyone.

Most hospital medical lab techs in Calgary work for Calgary Laboratory Services, which is housed within each of this city's hospitals. Medical lab techs may also find employment in equipment sales, and in the animal health and food industries. Rural medical lab techs will likely do a broad base of work, rather than focus on one specific area, and they may also have more patient contact as medical lab assistants do much of the blood sampling in Calgary hospitals. The five key areas of concentration for hospital lab techs include transfusion medicine, microbiology, clinical chemistry, hematology (a branch of biology dealing with blood), and histology (science of organic tissues).

As many of the body fluids or chemicals the hospital techs handle can be dangerous, strict safety procedures and dress codes, such as wearing gloves and closed-toed shoes, are a part of the every day work life. So too are working with computers, problem solving, and being able to concentrate for long periods of time. Working with more automated machines is becoming a more common realty in the workplace too, Webb said.

The third largest group of health care professionals after nurses and doctors, the need for medical lab technologists is growing, she added. With a significant number of current techs likely to retire in the next five to 10 years, combined with low admission quotas to post secondary programs, the Calgary manager said this is a great time to move into the career. "A shortage of medical laboratory technologists is looming. If you have a love of science combined with the desire to help people, (you should) take a path dedicated to medical laboratory technology."