National Medical Lab Week Starts Today

Prince George, B.C. - National Medical Laboratory week starts today,and Northern Health is marking it by sending out a message  to young people to consider a career as a medical lab technologist.

“At a national level, we estimate about half of the lab techs across the country will be eligible to retire over the next 10 years,” said Ken Winnig, NH’s regional director for diagnostic services. “Thankfully, potential students from the North have lots of training options including the College of New Caledonia’s diploma program which is now available in Prince George.”

Laboratory testing of blood, body fluids and tissue helps physicians diagnose and treat illness, and maintain a patient’s health. Lab testing can be responsible for up to 80 per cent of all physician diagnoses. Common lab tests include measuring blood glucose levels to check for diabetes, tissue biopsies to diagnose cancer and throat swabs for detecting pathogens that can lead to conditions such as Strep throat.

Lab leaders are speaking to high school students across the region, encouraging them to think about medical lab tech careers. Senior techs have also taken part in career fairs at the University of Northern British Columbia because many new lab techs take science degrees before entering lab diploma programs.

“Medical laboratory technology isn’t all that well known because patients only usually see technologists when we’re collecting blood,” said Karen Bowers, an NH lab tech and coordinator for the College of New Caledonia’s Medical Laboratory Technology Science Program. “We’re important members of the health care team because providing accurate and timely test results helps patients get the best care possible.”

People interested in becoming lab techs need to have an aptitude for science, be detail oriented, have good manual dexterity and visual discrimination, and be effective problem solvers. The starting salary for hospital lab techs is $26 an hour. Education is an on-going process with continuing change in testing technology and disease treatment.

Medical laboratory technology diploma programs are available in western Canada at the College of New Caledonia (www.cnc.bc.ca), the BC Institute of Technology (www.bcit.ca) as well as the Northern and Southern Alberta Institutes of Technology (www.nait.ca and www.sait.ca).  The CNC program had its first intake of 18 students this past January 2008.