Hollywood and the Lab Profession

It is not different here neither. i agree with people who say that we should be proud of what we do, and talk about it, but think with me a little, how many persons will you affect by talking? and how many millions are watching such movies around the world? you cant defend the effect on millions by the effect on hundreds. so i say that some associations of the laboratory professionals (unfortunately we dont have one here) should contact some studios, have some scenarios written to be put in one of the movies, or series, representing the laboratory professionals truly. or even better, we should have a production for the lab as there is one for surgeons (Gray's anatomy). by the way, it seems that House MD false representation of the laboratories keep annoying all laboratorians around the world.

thanks

I watched "ER" for years and always felt they did a pretty accurate portrayal but did not show the lab often. When I watch "House" I start yelling "Doctors don't do that!" and other harsher comments when they are supposedly doing the tests themselves, usually under a microscope. It's too bad because I enjoy the acting.

I watched "ER" for years and always felt they did a pretty accurate portrayal but did not show the lab often. When I watch "House" I start yelling "Doctors don't do that!" and other harsher comments when they are supposedly doing the tests themselves, usually under a microscope. It's too bad because I enjoy the acting.

I think one of the first steps in turning this situation around is that we have to be proud of what we do.  If you like what you do, it is difficult not to speak up about it and let people know. My husband, kids, sister, brothers know what I do and think CLS are some of the most important people on the health care team and tell their friends.  Because of this I get lots of calls asking "what does my lab test mean?" from people I don't know.   We have too many people in the lab who don't like what they do and complain but don't do much about improving the situation.  If they really dislike it so much, why have they stayed for 20+ years?  They're not doing anyone a favor.

This year I am chair of the ASCLS Committee on Professional Affairs.  This committee is going to be working on finding letters and responses written by CLS  to newsletters, magazine editors, TV producers, etc regarding laboratory issues and posting them on the ASCLS website.  These can be used as templates for those who want to respond to the type of situation mentioned here but lack confidence in what and how to say it.  Another thing we need to do is get articles about laboratory issues in magazines like AARP, Ladies Home Journal, etc.  If anyone can think of a topic that might draw attention to the lab/CLS in these publications, let me know and we can try to find an author for it.

In addition to all members of the clinical laboratory profession being vigilant about noting and pushing back when the profession is either neglected or portrayed in a negative light, it is also important that every member of our profession take the opportunity to be proud of what we do and taking the opportunity to tell people what we do and why it is important.  Whether it is in the workplace, with other healthcare professionals; whether it is with ourfamily and relatives; or whether it is with our friends at church, school, or elsewhere, we need to be proud of what we do and not have the normal response, which is often to minimize what we do.  We need to tell people that we work in the clinical laboratory profession and how we individually and as a group of professionals contribute much value to quality and safe healthcare.  We need to make people realize what healthcare would be like without us.

But this takes more than our laboratory leaders to do this.  We need all of our professionals from students, the Clinical laboratory scientsts and technicians, to educators, to managers to be advocates and spokespersons for the profession.  We have a story to tell and that story will never be heard if we always rely on others to tell it.

How Laboratory professionals are represented in the media bothers me as a student mostly. At the school I'm attending Medical Technology students are a minority as far as majors go. Alot of students in other majors don't really understand the field so you get ignorant comments like, "so what do you do, like, push buttons?"  I feel that if medical laboratory professionals were accurately (or at all) portrayed  in the media, these kind of assumptions wouldn't be made and we might even have higher enrollment in the major.

I love watching <i>House</i>  but I can't seem to ignore this.

It is interesting how stereotypes develop and become perpetuated in film (and to a degree in life itself).

For a long time racial and ethnic stereotypes, many false, have been repeated in film after film because filmmakers often simply repeat a "model that worked before" and no one contradidcted them.

The general public- except those who have had a close encounter with the lab- is not aware of how CLS works. Blood is often drawn in the physician's office or a swab is taken and sent off "somewhere"  then the doctor calls to say  "the results are back".

Most people dont know who does the testing or where it's done. The phrase "my doctor did a bunch of tests" to many people means the doctor himself (or his direct employees) performed the tests.

Doctors who act as consultants on film often deliberately reinforce that inaccuracy. They make sure medication names are correct, dosages are credible and the sthethoscope is turned the right way, but they dont worry about that pesky "lab thing".

Also many physicians frankly think of the lab as a black hole where specimens get lost and results take too long, so they might ACTIVELY reinforce stereotypes of "lab techs" goofing off, misplacing specimens or otherwise ignoring the importance or urgency of generating a useable result. Laboratorians are rarely protrayed as dressing professionally unless they are physicians.

Every Hollywood studio has a PR department with contact information on the Internet. It's worth contacting them. For TV shows, we can start by writing the local affiliates and pointing out discrepancies, stereotypes and inaccuracies. They might, if nothing else, generate a mention on the local news or an interview with you to set the record straight; especially if they hear from enough folks.

We can do the same for TV interviews, articles, books etc. A few years ago ASCLS under President Dr Shirlyn McKenzie led a very strong response to an article in Reader's Digest written by a physician (as I recall) and full of inaccuracies and denigrating references to CLS.

Generally stereotypes stand because they are not challenged enough.