Currently, there is a shortage of medical laboratory professionals. It has been stated before that the laboratory is a big part of patient healthcare, yet the laboratory is often overlooked. Therefore, how can we get students interested in the field and how can we get them to apply to the medical technology programs?

Recruitment is a big part of trying to remedy the problem. Going out to the high schools and even colleges and targeting those students who are not sure what they want to do when they "grow up" is a great idea. Tell guidance counselors in high schools about the field and let them in on the work laboratory professionals do.

Medical technologists are the key to helping doctors find treatments and underlying health problems. In Tennessee, you can skim through the employment section of the newspaper and come across multiple hospitals hiring medical technologists--the need is there and the demand is high. Students are almost guaranteed a job once they graduate. I know that would appeal to college students, especially those who have undecided majors.

I read recently that employers pay with much more than dollars--they pay with experiences, too. A chance to save a life is far more valuable than getting your next paycheck. Also, the medical technology field gives you the chance for lifelong learning and variety. You can work in microbiology, hematology, chemistry, immunology/serology, molecular biology, blood bank and others. You will never be bored!

Don't you just love surprises? I walked into hematology and we were going over the instruments used in the hematology lab to do routine tests. Once we were finished talking about that, the teacher stopped and let us know she had a surprise for us.

Then walked in four of our other professors. We were told we were going to do venipuncture today. I was surprised but also relieved. I thought we were going to do venipunctures the next day, so of course I was already getting nervous.

I was actually happy they surprised us the way they did because then you did not have time to worry about it--you just went over all the steps in your head and did all the necessary prep work like making sure you correctly identified your patient, found your vein, washed with alcohol and tied the tourniquet, and then  all that was left to do was put the needle into your partners vein and draw blood.

My veins did not want to cooperate, but my partner did a really good job! All my classmates did a really good job. It wasn't nearly as bad as what I imagined it to be. I know I was nervous and did not want to hurt my partner, but if you know what you are doing then it really is not that bad.

The University of TN Health Science Center offers an advance practice track in Medical Technology, which I was elated to learn about when I applied to the program after already earning a bachelors of science in microbiology.

In the Master's program, the students learn valuable critical thinking skills, research skills and various other higher-level objectives. The thing that intrigues me the most about the program is students are given 4 weeks to do a research project. The students will be provided with a mentor who will help them along the way to achieve their research goals. What a great way to learn about other aspects of the field!

My fellow classmate and I were honored at the awards banquet that was held to serve as co-student delegates for the state of Tennessee. Because of this, we will be getting to go to Chicago this summer to attend the ASCLS national meeting. It was exciting and I am honored to be able to serve as co-student delegate. This is truly an opportunity of a lifetime, and I am proud to be able to represent all the medical technology students in Tennessee.

The University of TN Health Science Center's Medical Technology program has provided my classmates and I with the opportunity to join a national organization. In doing so, this will help us with our networking skills as well as providing an outlet to spread knowledge of our program to other colleges and to learn about programs at those other colleges as well.

I have become involved in an ASCLS committee, and now I'm running for the chance to be the student delegate for the state of Tennessee.

This month we will be attending the state ASCLS meeting. This will be an exciting way to meet future employers as well as making valuable contacts with medical technologists and other medical technology students from across the state.

As students at UTHSC, we are able to step out of the classroom and learn more about the profession in a new and exciting way. Instead of just classroom time, we actually get real experiences at state meetings as well as on rotations.

I was also provided with the opportunity to start this blog with ADVANCE, which I am grateful for. I want to be able to share what's happening as a college student and learn from professionals in the field. I have gotten some valuable feedback and I hope to keep getting more. I enjoy hearing from professionals in the field and from other students.

This semester I'm taking Hematology. I didn't think this course was going to be all that interesting. I was really wrong!

I had received my hematology book early in the mail and began going over the first chapter to refresh myself on the different cells types. Then I began reading about all the tests you can perform on blood. It's rather fascinating! In fact, I think I'm becoming rather fond of the subject.

I'm getting pretty excited about learning about leukemias and learning to identify them under the microscope.

The first week in lab, we learned about identifying cells such as monocytes, basophils and eosinophils. Then we moved onto WBC and platelet counts. It's rather fun getting to hit the buttons on the clicker and differ. We are getting to be the investigators hunting out cells. After this, we will be going more in depth about WBC differentials. We'll be doing that for a while until we all get the hang of it. Of course, I like to go slow, making sure I see all the cells in the field I need to see. I'm sure I'll be able to zip through the slides one day! I'll be a regular hematology pro!

When I was on my urinalysis rotation over the winter break, the med techs in the lab wanted to go over to hematology. They actually showed me the CBC machine and told me how it worked. They showed me a slide of a person with mono and had me look at blood smears.

I was not able to go in depth, of course, because I had not had hematology yet. However, I will be on hematology rotation this summer. Maybe I'll get to go back to that lab and learn with all the friends I made there while I was on urinalysis rotation.

Having a hard time picking out a major? Want to work in the healthcare field but do not really want patient interaction? Medical technology is a great field to enter.

There is a high demand for medical technologists around the country. Many schools also offer master's in Clinical Laboratory Science, and from doing research I've seen some employers will even count that as experience.

Personally, I wanted to work in the microbiology lab but in Tennessee one cannot handle patient samples without medical technology certification. That was not my only reason for entering the Medical Technology program, though. I visited St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis with my class a few months ago and heard a pathologist speak about the opportunity medical technologists have there to work alongside researchers to help find cures and new treatments for diseases.

It was then that I realized I had entered into a field that would give me a world of opportunity. I can work in a hospital or a small doctor's office. I can even teach future medical technologists one day. There are a lot of possibilities and I like that outlook. School is rigorous and it isn't easy, but in the end you're going to have a wealth of knowledge that you will have with you forever.

I worry about those people who only want a paycheck and how much they will make. I have made the pay scale my priority. There are always opportunities to advance, and you never know--you could manage a lab one day, like I hope to do.

I have always wanted to help people and be in the healthcare field, and being a medical technologist I will be able to do just that. I will not deal with patients directly but I will help touch their lives by giving them accurate test results.

I love it when teachers make lab fun! In hematology, we had an "Easter egg hunt." We looked for lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, basophils and eosinophils.

In urinalysis, you always looked for the "stankin' urines" because you knew you would find something interesting! In parasitology, all the little creatures were so small and many looked alike, so the assistant in the lab would come up with these cute and funny ways to remember names and what the parasite looked like. For example, Brugia Malayia has two nuclei at the end of its "tail," so you can remember Bru has Two. Of course, microbiology labs are always fun and filled with all the lovely aromas!

When you have a passion for something and come up with ways to spread that passion, it always makes things more enjoyable. I loved urinalysis lab and I believe I'm going to love hematology lab as well.

In Immunology this semester, we learned about syphilis, mononucleosis, hepatitis, HIV and many other diseases. I remember studying for my fourth test in Immunology covering HIV and hepatitis. I was reading that those people who have a mutated CCR5 receptor are immune to HIV. All I could think was if those people do not get HIV, why can't researchers come up with a way to mutate the CCR5 receptor in all individuals to keep the epidemic from growing?

The next day I was going through my genetics notes and started reading an article my genetics teacher passed out about the same question I was pondering about the CCR5 receptor. The article had something to do with giving one man new stem cells from a donor who had that defect in the CCR5 region and hoping the man would then become free of HIV.

So, what's so fascinating about that? The fact that I learned about the CCR5 receptor in Immunology and correlated that same receptor with stem cell research in genetics. Also, it sparked my interest and I began to learn more about the research that has already taken place with the CCR5 gene.

It's amazing how vast the field of medical technology is! There are so many unique facets to the program. I became even more fascinated with the program after learning about all these diseases and how they are tested for in the lab. Medical technologists are the people the doctor's count on. They are the problem solvers. It is not just learning how to run a test--it's learning about what that test means. I want to be able to run a test and tell someone what that test means to her. That's why I love this program so much! We are learning to be investigators and we are able to put the pieces of the puzzle together to find the answer.

As a student in the Medical Technology program, it's fascinating to learn about diseases and actually getting to run tests on patient samples that may or may not have that disease.

Just the other day I was talking to a prospective student interviewing for the program that will start this summer. I talked to her about parasitology and all the little creatures' one gets to identify under the microscope, and that urinalysis getting to examine someone's urine.

It's all so interesting! At the time my classmates and I were in serology lab and someone told the prospective student that "we get excited when we get positives--we like positive tests!" In regards to the poor patient that will have to be told he has a disease, its not good; however, its more of the curiosity of seeing what a positive test will look like.

We rarely come across many positive samples. It's part of the learning process getting to see both negatives and positives and learning the theory behind each test.

The whole process of having lecture and learning about the history and theory and then going into the lab and seeing patient samples and getting to correlate all the information you've learned to put a diagnosis to a patient is invaluable. It really helps in the learning
process. My program is a 2-year program and it's fast-paced. You're learning so much information, and this information stays with you and builds from class to class. It's a rigorous program but I love every minute of it.

I was an undergraduate student at a public university getting ready to graduate with a BS in microbiology, and while I was on my dead-end journey of looking for a job in a microbiology lab, I stumbled upon a significant finding-a positive correlation I had failed to see before. I could not get a job working in a microbiology lab without a degree in medical technology.

So, I did my research on the Internet. Just what was this program of study? I learned medical technology is about diagnostic work. A medical technologist is a behind the scenes problem solver. Medical technology has many different facets and unlimited possibilities. You can work in a reference lab, a hospital lab or in a doctor's office. You can be a microbiologist, an immunologist, or even a chemist! Doctors and nurses depend on the medical technologist for accurate lab results, ultimately leading to a diagnosis.