From American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS)

National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week 2010

Laboratory Professionals Get Results!

The clinical laboratory professional is a key member of today's health care team. Laboratory professionals have the skills to unlock important medical information that is pivotal to the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease.

Every day, nurses, physicians and other healthcare workers depend on laboratory professionals to perform tests on blood and other body fluids, interpret the results and help provide a complete picture of a patient's health. Using modern biomedical equipment and complicated analysis, laboratorians can detect the presence of cancer, identify infectious viruses and bacteria, and measure glucose, cholesterol or drug levels in blood. Without this precise and valuable information, medicine would simply become guesswork.

Laboratory professionals often work in hospitals, physician offices or private clinical laboratories performing laboratory tests and monitoring the quality of their results. Others are employed by university or industrial research laboratories to seek solutions for medicine's many unanswered questions. Laboratory professionals are increasingly found outside the traditional laboratory, participating in community health activities, conducting environmental testing or serving in the Peace Corps.

National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week (NMLPW) began in 1975 under the auspices of the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS). During NMLPW, national groups, numerous hospitals, and clinical laboratories around the country will hold celebrations to benefit the general public as well as laboratory professionals. These events are designed to recognize laboratory professionals, enhance their image and educate the public, government and private sectors about their role in health care.