During National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week, St. Luke’s Hospital wants to recognize its teammates in the St. Luke’s Hospital laboratory for the important services they provide to the hospital’s patients.

The St. Luke’s Hospital Lab is a Joint Commission accredited Laboratory. This accreditation requires a complete Joint Commission survey separate from the full hospital survey.  The lab is surveyed every two years while the full hospital survey is every three years.

The professional laboratory staff consists of medical technologists (MTs), medical laboratory technicians (MLTs), phlebotomists, the department director, Jody Flynn and Dr. Rory Dalton, a pathologist who functions as the medical director for the lab.

Required education does not end with the two-year degree for MLTs or the four-year degree for MTs. A national registry exam is also required for techs to obtain their license. In addition, continuing education units are required to maintain licensure. Medical technologists may also obtain certifications in specific laboratory specialties which require additional education and CEUs.

A tech’s job involves much more than processing specimens and running tests. They must also be proficient in the operation of multiple laboratory analyzers, including maintenance and troubleshooting problems.  Each analyzer requires daily, weekly and monthly maintenance and quality controls are run every eight to 24 hours depending on the analyzer.

Many lab tests are still very time-consuming manual processes using the microscope.  These tests include manual differentials, sediments for urinalysis, body fluid cell counts, micro plates and gram stains.