I worked in hospital labs for over 40 years. When I started, the first laboratory automation, the Coulter Counter (which automatically counted and sized red cells and white cells) was being used. We had to manually count platelets under a microscope with a "clicker". Soon, a platelet counting machine came into use, and automated cell dif…
I worked in hospital labs for over 40 years. When I started, the first laboratory automation, the Coulter Counter (which automatically counted and sized red cells and white cells) was being used. We had to manually count platelets under a microscope with a "clicker". Soon, a platelet counting machine came into use, and automated cell differentiation machines.
I can't possibly convey to the general public what these advances meant, even most doctors don't realize as they sometimes would come down to the lab. I believe this 100%: modern medicine would NOT exist without automation! A CBC (Complete Blood Count) in the mid 70s took hours. Now, about 60 seconds. I could expound upon the myriad automated machines and how they give meaningful results almost in real time; indeed, at our lab, blood test results were delivered within 30 minutes FROM TIME OF DRAW such that clot busting drugs could be administered to stroke victims within the 60 minute window. And that included an ER person literally jogging about two blocks in the huge complex with specimen in hand.
In an aside, medical laboratory technologists (now called Medical Laboratory Scientists) are a dying breed--HIV scared a lot of them away in the 80s. More opportunities for females came in the areas of physicians, and nursing paid much, much higher wages. Some went into forensics as CSI made it look so appealing (and the lab is NOTHING like CSI to the surprise and remorse of some student interns that I taught!) Radiology advances stole a number of potential employees away. The lab worker shortage is unknown to anyone except labs. This is a very serious issue which at some point will need to be addressed. Medical labs have automated to the point where it is doubtful more automation can be done, but without the current automation.......I can't even imagine how many millions more would have died during the worst of COVID.
Miselle thank you for telling your story and bringing to light the changes in your field and the issue of a shortage in lab workers. I learned something new today from you.
Thank you, Karen. This was a very serious problem with COVID. There is a lab test called the "D-DIMER" which in many medium sized hospitals might run about 5-10 a day. I had just retired right before COVID, but my friends told me our large complex which normally ran about 50 or so a day now was running about 100/shift. And the results were so out of range that our automation couldn't handle it, techs had to make manual dilutions to run. (That in itself is problematic as machinery will almost always replicate better than individual techs, even the same tech at different times. Be assured though that medical labs are highly regulated and we were all tested on all aspects of our job, at very least monthly, usually even more frequently!)
Medical lab work is fascinating to any who have knowledge of healthcare. Any current physicians, nurses, or others reading this: might want to call down to your lab and ask if you can have a tour. Many hospital labs offer tours during mid April when Medical Laboratory Week occurs. And if by chance you are a CEO/upper admin in a hospital and you have not visited your lab, shame on you. Do it today.
Automation and technology in general are fantastically powerful kit of tools, one that keenly fascinated me from the age of three or four. We reap benefits our forebears could not have dreamed of by it's means. But I think the profit motive alone will not insure that it is always used to society's benefit. It can be used to control and destroy as well as heal and it can result in social and environmental changes I think we would be wise to try to anticipate and guide best we can. To enjoy democracy, we have to keep the immense power of applied science from being dominantly controlled by too few hands.
China uses it to control.......maybe not destroy yet. Does automation destroy creativity? The intersection between freedom of expression and technology is waiting for some stop lights.
Great example of the importance of automation. States with all this new tech industry should spend some of the $$$ on the education of their populace - duh!
Thank You Miselle. All these decades in nursing (and even running a few samples to the lab) I never got the full picture before. Maybe time for a hospital medical laboratory TV drama.
I worked in hospital labs for over 40 years. When I started, the first laboratory automation, the Coulter Counter (which automatically counted and sized red cells and white cells) was being used. We had to manually count platelets under a microscope with a "clicker". Soon, a platelet counting machine came into use, and automated cell differentiation machines.
I can't possibly convey to the general public what these advances meant, even most doctors don't realize as they sometimes would come down to the lab. I believe this 100%: modern medicine would NOT exist without automation! A CBC (Complete Blood Count) in the mid 70s took hours. Now, about 60 seconds. I could expound upon the myriad automated machines and how they give meaningful results almost in real time; indeed, at our lab, blood test results were delivered within 30 minutes FROM TIME OF DRAW such that clot busting drugs could be administered to stroke victims within the 60 minute window. And that included an ER person literally jogging about two blocks in the huge complex with specimen in hand.
In an aside, medical laboratory technologists (now called Medical Laboratory Scientists) are a dying breed--HIV scared a lot of them away in the 80s. More opportunities for females came in the areas of physicians, and nursing paid much, much higher wages. Some went into forensics as CSI made it look so appealing (and the lab is NOTHING like CSI to the surprise and remorse of some student interns that I taught!) Radiology advances stole a number of potential employees away. The lab worker shortage is unknown to anyone except labs. This is a very serious issue which at some point will need to be addressed. Medical labs have automated to the point where it is doubtful more automation can be done, but without the current automation.......I can't even imagine how many millions more would have died during the worst of COVID.
Miselle thank you for telling your story and bringing to light the changes in your field and the issue of a shortage in lab workers. I learned something new today from you.
Thank you, Karen. This was a very serious problem with COVID. There is a lab test called the "D-DIMER" which in many medium sized hospitals might run about 5-10 a day. I had just retired right before COVID, but my friends told me our large complex which normally ran about 50 or so a day now was running about 100/shift. And the results were so out of range that our automation couldn't handle it, techs had to make manual dilutions to run. (That in itself is problematic as machinery will almost always replicate better than individual techs, even the same tech at different times. Be assured though that medical labs are highly regulated and we were all tested on all aspects of our job, at very least monthly, usually even more frequently!)
Medical lab work is fascinating to any who have knowledge of healthcare. Any current physicians, nurses, or others reading this: might want to call down to your lab and ask if you can have a tour. Many hospital labs offer tours during mid April when Medical Laboratory Week occurs. And if by chance you are a CEO/upper admin in a hospital and you have not visited your lab, shame on you. Do it today.
😲
Automation and technology in general are fantastically powerful kit of tools, one that keenly fascinated me from the age of three or four. We reap benefits our forebears could not have dreamed of by it's means. But I think the profit motive alone will not insure that it is always used to society's benefit. It can be used to control and destroy as well as heal and it can result in social and environmental changes I think we would be wise to try to anticipate and guide best we can. To enjoy democracy, we have to keep the immense power of applied science from being dominantly controlled by too few hands.
China uses it to control.......maybe not destroy yet. Does automation destroy creativity? The intersection between freedom of expression and technology is waiting for some stop lights.
Yes, which means we must elect wise leaders
“Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.” – John Adams
Great example of the importance of automation. States with all this new tech industry should spend some of the $$$ on the education of their populace - duh!
Thank You Miselle. All these decades in nursing (and even running a few samples to the lab) I never got the full picture before. Maybe time for a hospital medical laboratory TV drama.
Thank you for this view into the real world of the lab.