Medical Laboratory Science Jobs 
Where Do Medical Laboratory Scientists Work?

According to Giddens, while most people do think of a hospital laboratory when imagining the work environment for a medical laboratory scientist, there are many more tests than most hospital laboratories are equipped to run. These tests must be conducted in offsite labs—commonly known as reference laboratories—that offer specialty testing. These reference laboratories employ medical laboratory scientists as do crime labs, toxicology labs, DNA labs, water treatment facilities and even manufacturing and food packaging facilities.

Medical laboratory scientists may also be employed in other clinical settings or even in academia. A practicing medical laboratory scientist for more than 20 years, Giddens has a wide variety of clinical and academic experience including working as a laboratory director of the Southern Interventional Pain Center, a pain management practice with locations in Georgia and Florida, and as a medical technologist at Colquitt Regional Medical Center in Moultrie, Georgia. In addition to her current role at PCOM, she has prior academic experience in which she applied her skills and knowledge in medical laboratory science as an adjunct professor at North Georgia Community College and as an assistant professor and director of the medical laboratory science program at Thomas University.

Though career opportunities exist outside of hospitals, Feldstein—who is board certified in emergency medicine and previously worked as an emergency room physician— emphasized the important role medical laboratory scientists play on a hospital healthcare team.

“People need to understand that physicians make a physical diagnosis based on the history and physical exam, but a lot of times you are very dependent upon the lab tests for your diagnosis and treatment,” Feldstein explained.

And in the emergency room, he added, time is of the essence.

“We’re the highest priority, we want it done quickly and we need to have confidence that the results we’re getting are accurate,” he said. “Laboratory scientists are as integral a part as any member of the healthcare team because inaccurate laboratory results can result in life or death situations from not only a diagnostic, but a treatment standpoint.”

According to Giddens, emergency room physicians are not the only healthcare providers who rely upon medical laboratory scientists for accurate and timely test results.

“Typically our orders are derived from physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners, but we do interact with nearly every member of the healthcare team during that process,” she said.

In addition to interacting with nurses—who are often the primary point of contact—medical laboratory scientists also interact with pharmacists while monitoring certain medication levels, radiology technicians prior to administering certain contrast materials, operating room staff during surgery cases, as well as providers in specialty care areas including oncology, dialysis, pulmonology and environmental services.