Lab week is April 22-28
Lab professionals reveal clues through detective work
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS

Using skill and science to solve mysteries and save livesthat's what medical laboratory professionals do every day. Television crime and medical dramas such as "CSI" and "House" have brought this field from behind the scenes to the forefront of popular culture.

While laboratory work may not be as glamorous as Hollywood makes it seem, there is no doubting its importance in saving lives and uncovering clues to illnesses that can rival the most sinister big screen villain.

Laboratory tests results comprise an estimated 70 percent of a patient's medical records and are vital to the diagnosis and treatment of illness and disease. More than 280,000 medical laboratory professionals across the nation perform and interpret these tests. Lab week, which is April 22- 28, puts the spotlight on pathologists and laboratory technologists and technicians, such as those at Gulf Breeze Hospital, to celebrate their invaluable contributions to medicine.

Using state-of-the-art technology and instrumentation, laboratory professionals help to prevent disease by detecting unknown health problems and by aiding in the diagnosis and treatment of existing conditions by giving accurate, timely test results. Results of laboratory tests often identify the presence of disease in its earliest stages when the possibilities of a cure are greatest and when treatment is less costly.

Medical laboratory professionals representing a variety of specialties, including pathologists, medical technologists, clinical laboratory scientists, histotechnologists, histologic technicians, cytotechnologists, cytopathologists, phlebotomy technicians, clinical chemists, microbiologists, laboratory managers and medical educators.

Within the laboratory, these highly educated and experienced medical laboratory professionals may work in chemistry, serology, hematology, cytology, microbiology, immunology, coagulation, histology, urinalysis, molecular biology, or the blood bank.

Laboratory professionals work in many areas, including hospitals, doctors' offices, clinics, universities, and yes, crime labs. It is a skilled profession that can take a person anywhere in the world, from the rural community to the bustling city to the world of academia. Medical lab professionals' detective work helps solve complex medical cases and keep public enemies at bay.