Armed with new information, the doctor was able to prescribe a proper course of treatment. Clinical lab scientists and technologists play an important role in the medical field, aiding doctors in diagnosing diseases. But they also perform drug testing through blood and urinalysis, blood-sugar tests, hepatitis tests and dozens of other sophisticated screens. We're not biased. We just want to make sure it's right.
Clinical scientists are mostly college graduates.
The HMOs have the idea that anybody can be taught, and that you don't need high-quality people doing the work. There are 16 scientists who work at the lab and at two other county-owned facilities. Few people are becoming lab scientists, according to the Medical Laboratory Observer, because the industry hasn't done enough to promote itself. The training, said lab scientist Buda Kajer-Crain, goes well beyond simply screening blood or urine. It's expensive, and you can't keep calling somebody.