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Have you ever wondered who conducts the detailed medical laboratory testing for your glucose levels, cholesterol levels, or RT-PCR and analyzes the results? These professionals have always been here, saving numerous lives, but in the background.

Who are Medical Lab Technicians?

Medical Laboratory Technicians are health professionals concerned with the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases through the use of clinical laboratory tests. These paramedical healthcare professionals belong to the field of allied health sciences. Other personnel like radiography technicians, operation theatre technicians (OTT) etc., also belong to the same group.

The 2020 crisis and the role of MLT

Since Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) first emerged in December 2019, the disease has evolved into a pandemic overnight. As soon as the causative pathogen, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was identified, a laboratory diagnosis was established and has played an essential role in confirming a clinical diagnosis of COVID -19. Additional laboratory biochemical tests, including monitoring the change in blood cells, coagulation, liver function, cardiac markers, and inflammatory responses, are also critical in combating COVID-19. With the increase in the number of patients and number of asymptomatic cases, clinical laboratories are facing enormous challenges in:

-adopting diagnostic approaches that can rapidly and accurately identify infected persons and

-adopting strategies that can detect disease progression allowing stratification of suffering patients for appropriate care.

These are urgently needed and highlight the requirement of laboratory technicians in combating COVID-19.

MLTs provide up to 70 percent of patients’ laboratory testing to physicians so they can provide an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan.

A study concluded that 94 percent of the objective medical data in the patient record comes from laboratory technicians. While the world screams for “more tests” during the SARSCoV2 pandemic, most of us would agree that our largest hurdle to help our patients is the lack of medical lab technicians who conduct these numerous tests.

Moreover, people do not stop having heart disease, diabetes, influenza infections, pregnancies, just because of a single virus spreading the world over. So, these tests also need to be done on a regular basis.

So with the appearance of such an unprecedented situation, the worth of MLT has risen and has shifted the world’s focus on Medical Laboratory Technicians.

• These MLT professionals are juggling dozens and dozens of tests, and play the role of quality inspector. As if the specimen is not collected correctly by a nurse, phlebotomist, doctor, or another professional, the laboratory test will not be valid.
• The spread of COVID-19 is due to a lack of testing or patient awareness. That positive or negative result impacts patient responses in our communities and the isolation protocols. These can minimize the spread of the disease. Testing hence has an impact far beyond a positive or negative confirmation of COVID-19 for many individuals.
• Medical laboratory technicians spend countless hours collecting, conducting, correlating, and validating tests. There are very strict rules and policies that must be followed in the lab to ensure the right result is reported out on the right patient. Many laboratories invest in accreditation programs and continued proficiency testing to ensure the staff performs tests in accordance with laboratory procedures and guidelines. Due to the critical nature of what they do, labs are highly regulated and require medical technologists and technicians to obtain education qualifications, certifications, and continued training for error-free performance.
• They even make sure that the equipment performs the tests accurately.
• The workload for many labs has dramatically increased due to COVID-19 testing. The increase in demand has burdened the labs to add instrumentation and reporting mechanisms and implement additional procedures and staff training. Both manufacturers and laboratories are working to meet the clinical demands imposed by this pandemic.
• A patient never meets the medical laboratory professionals who spend hours determining their test results. The lab and technicians have always been there, behind the scenes, supporting patient care teams.

This current global pandemic highlights the key role that laboratorians play in the entire healthcare space and how critical it is in patient-care and emphasizes the shortage of medical laboratory technicians and the respect they deserve.

What does a Medical Laboratory Technician do?

• Collects, stores, and preserves samples of blood and other bodily fluids.
• Analysis and examines bodily fluids.
• Determines the level of chemicals in the Urine.
• Matches blood samples for effective transfusions in case of emergency and trauma
• Maintain the lab equipment.
• Are responsible for biomedical waste management
• Quality control based on NABL regulations has to be taken care of by them.
• Evaluate different blood cells & diagnose the changes or pathology therein.
• Conducts biochemistry tests to measure blood composition, hormones, enzymes, and drug levels
• Microbiological identification of various pathogens affecting the human body including all viruses, bacteria, and other disease-causing pathogens.

In general, the medical lab technologists assist and help the doctors reach a confirmed diagnosis and devise an appropriate treatment plan. MLT can be called the doctor’s doctor.

Job opportunities

• Hospitals, labs, diagnostic centers, nursing homes.
• Academics – college and universities
• Medical writing
• International health services (Red Cross Society)
• Government health services
• Blood banks
• Forensic labs
• Clinical research laboratories
• Applications specialists
• Veterinary hospitals
• NGOs
• Private ventures (Entrepreneurship) or outsourced service providers.

Remuneration

At the trainee level, executives can directly join a laboratory or a hospital and earn somewhere between Rs.10,000 to Rs 20,000 per month. With experience, one can earn between Rs 30,000 to Rs 40.000. The senior technologists earn more than Rs 40,000.

In addition to this, many employers offer healthcare benefits and other allowances to their employees.

How to become a Medical Laboratory Technologist?

To become a part of this healthcare workforce there are programs of varying durations available;

• Diploma program (DMLT)- 1year duration- with 5 months of internship
• Advanced diploma program in medical lab technology (ADMLT)- 2 years duration – with 6 months of internship
• Bachelors in medical lab technology (BMLT)- 3 years duration-with 6 months to a one-year internship.

Most of the paramedical programs including Certificate and Diploma programs are offered at Virohan institute of health and management sciences.

Eligibility Criteria

To take admission in DMLT, ADMLT, or B.Sc. MLT in India you must have passed Class 12 with at least 50% score in Biology, Physics, and Chemistry as main subjects from a recognized board/university.

Course curriculum

The curriculum equips the learner with knowledge-based as well as soft skills. It is so devised that the students are entirely transformed into responsible professionals at the end of the course with an in-depth knowledge of the basic functioning and structures of the body, the knowledge of diseases, and the vast knowledge of pathogens and pathological conditions they can cause.

Virohan at the core is a demand-driven platform and keeps a close track on the latest trend/requirement in the industry and accordingly sets the curriculum

THE CORE SUBJECTS STUDIED ARE :

• Anatomy
• Physiology
• Pathology
• Microbiology
• Biochemistry
• Medical ethics and communication for healthcare professionals
• Hospital administration and training
• Hematology
• Histocytology
• Biomedical Techniques
• Advanced Medical diagnostics
• Lab Management

Virohan has engineered the method of blended learning, which engages students with video-based teaching, gamified activities, and quizzes. This makes learning fun, engaging, and helps students remember the lessons better.

Virohan institute of health and management sciences offers programs in most of the paramedical sciences, paramedical programs likeMedical Laboratory Technician,Operation Theatre Technician,Hospital Administration,andRadiology Technicianare offered.

Before your admission, you can go for career counseling atVirohan institutewhere psychometric assessments and informed guidance advise you to take admission in a field of your interest and also guide you about the scope of that field.