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Concept
Medical laboratory scientist
Summary
A medical laboratory scientist (MLS) or clinical laboratory scientist (CLS) or medical technologist (MT) performs diagnostic testing of blood and body fluids in clinical laboratories. The scope of a medical laboratory scientist's work begins with the receipt of patient or client specimens and terminates with the delivery of test results to physicians and other healthcare providers. The utility of clinical diagnostic testing relies squarely on the validity of test methodology. To this end, much of the work done by medical laboratory scientists involves ensuring specimen quality, interpreting test results, data-logging, testing control products, performing calibration, maintenance, validation, and troubleshooting of instrumentation as well as performing statistical analyses to verify the accuracy and repeatability of testing. Medical laboratory scientists may also assist healthcare providers with test selection and specimen collection and are responsible for prompt verbal delivery of critical lab results. Medical Laboratory Scientists in healthcare settings also play an important role in clinical diagnosis. An estimated 70% of medical decisions are based on laboratory test results and MLS contributions affect 95% of a health system's costs.
The most common tests performed by medical laboratory scientists are complete blood count (CBC), comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP), electrolyte panel, liver function tests (LFT), renal function tests (RFT), thyroid function test (TFT), urinalysis, coagulation profile, lipid profile, blood type, semen analysis (for fertility and post-vasectomy studies), serological studies and routine cultures. In some facilities that have few phlebotomists, or none at all, (such as in rural areas) medical laboratory scientists may perform phlebotomy. Because medical laboratory scientists have many transferable technical skills, employment outside of the medical laboratory is common. Many medical laboratory scientists are employed in government positions such as the FDA, USDA, non-medical industrial laboratories, and manufacturing.
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