Medical Laboratory Heroes: The Pillars of Healthcare

What are the roles and responsibilities of medical lab doctors and professionals in primary health care??

As a servant of humanity, a medical laboratory technician supports a range of laboratory processes under the guidance of a medical laboratory technologist. They are skilled specialists who play a crucial role in healthcare by serving three major purposes: diagnosis, screening, and monitoring of patients. They contribute to 60 to 80% of medical decisions related to diagnosing and treating crucial procedures such as blood collection, ECG, ultrasound, sample testing, and others.?

A healthcare team clearly depends on medical lab personnel, as they provide essential details. From maintaining a clean environment to reduce the risk of infection to ease a patient’s anxiety during testing to gathering information, they help patients receive the diagnosis and care they expect.?

The five important roles and responsibilities of medical laboratory doctors are:

Healthcare providers won’t struggle to balance their commitments and receive test findings with the help of medical laboratory doctors. Hence, they are important because:?

1. They manually perform standard laboratory testing such as blood, urine, stool, and biopsies as directed under the supervision of technologists.?
2. Clinical laboratory testing is important to provide high-quality healthcare. It is roughly 70% supportive of medical decisions.?
3. A medical lab technician is not only involved in specific diagnoses or treating diseases but also indirectly in their prevention.
4. The clinical lab tests and their findings could help rule out a diagnosis. For instance, X fever can be misdiagnosed as malaria, jaundice, or typhoid.?
5. The procedure for sample collection can be nerve-wracking for laboratory assistants. They communicate with the patients and accompany them throughout the procedure to ensure they do not panic and remain calm.?

In short, the role of a medical lab assistant is far more than just sample collection. No professional can confirm the safety of patients except them. They ensure the sample is properly labeled, transferred, and sent to the laboratory for analysis.

Are medical laboratory doctors worth it?

Doctors and physicians are the most reputed degree holders, whereas lab technicians are considered people with minimal capabilities.?

Based on the information shared by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya with Lok Sabha on February 9, 2024, it was also revealed that the doctor-population ratio in India stands at 1:834, which is better than the WHO standard of 1:1000.

The medical fraternity is backed by highly talented medical lab doctors and physicians. Hence, this notion needs to change and has changed a lot since the pandemic. The medical lab technicians burned the midnight oil, busy detecting the virus, its cause, impact, and treatment.?

Medical laboratory professionals play a major role in healthcare. Their diagnostic testing helps establish a clinical condition and supports further treatment.?

It is hard to imagine healthcare without medical laboratory doctors because of the following reasons:

• 100% professional services: The medical lab assistants collect the samples correctly, label them, and send them to the correct lab for analysis.?
• Proper equipment cleaning and sanitization: The medical lab technicians or assistants ensure that the equipment is clean to reduce the danger of contamination from germs, bacteria, and viruses.?
• Accurate Results: The lab workers use clean equipment that guarantees the samples are not contaminated, patients are safe, and precise results and the correct diagnosis are made.?
• Effective Services: The medical lab technicians ensure that the correct test is performed on the right person at the right time with a 100% accuracy guarantee.

• Monitor patients’ health: The advancement in medical laboratory sciences helps the lab technician diagnose and monitor patients' health.?

• Lab services at home: You can now get lab services from the comfort of your home, saving you time and energy. It is a 100% tailored service that meets your needs.?

Challenges Faced by Laboratory Experts: A Modern Outlook

New technologies, new diseases, and strain diseases lead to an increase in demand for more tests. Regretfully, lab experts are considered a service for doctors, especially when it is impossible to imagine healthcare without them. They deserve equal status as other experts in their medical discipline, ensuring a successful healthcare system. Some of the challenges faced by medical laboratory professionals are:??

• Due to the need for more communication between medical departments and laboratories, laboratory experts find it challenging to evolve themselves more in structuring and ordering tests. Better communication between the two can influence treatment outcomes and medical expenses.
• They are often busy performing tests, so they do not frequently communicate with upper management.?
• Refrain from the initiatives to make laboratory experts act as medical consultants.?
• Other medical professionals interrupt them to produce quicker results, even when they can do nothing about it. This leads to a negative relationship between the two.?
• Laboratory technicians work in stressful environments; this requires both patience and flexibility on the job.?

Happy Doctor’s Day- Healing Hands, Caring Hearts

You can trust Redcliffe Labs as your partner in your overall well-being. Here, the medical lab professionals work tirelessly to ensure that every patient receives 100% report correctness to make informed decisions about their health. The doctors at Redcliffe Labs are the unwavering support system helping us with pan-India research-based omnichannel diagnostic services, ensuring high-end, convenient, and affordable diagnosis reaches across the country's diverse geography for a Healthier Bharat. We salute the unsung heroes of health & humanity who prioritize Community Health Above Self—wishing you all a Happy Doctors Day, never off duty just like the soldiers, saving lives and spreading smiles.?