Medical Laboratory Professionals Week gives us an occasion to acknowledge the essential service that medical lab professionals provide in healthcare. Medical Laboratory Professionals Week began under the name of National Medical Laboratory Week in 1975. It wasn’t until 2005 that the name was changed to highlight the medical professionals themselves.
MLP Week helps bring awareness to all of the work that medical lab professionals do to help improve the quality of healthcare patients receive.
What do medical laboratory professionals do?
Medical laboratory professionals often go unrecognized by patients despite the fact that they are an integral part of the healthcare team. Roughly 300,000 medical lab professionals help diagnose and prevent disease in the United States.
The American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science describes medical laboratory professionals as “healthcare detectives” who help in the diagnosis, prevention, monitoring, and treatment of diseases.
Medical laboratory testing is thorough and sophisticated, and the work done in these labs greatly improves the quality of healthcare that patients receive. The better the results from lab work, the better the quality of healthcare, which in turn leads to healthier communities.
Working behind the scenes
If you’ve ever had “blood work” or other laboratory tests done, then you’ve benefited from the work of a medical laboratory professional. It’s possible that you didn’t even realize that one of these health professionals was working diligently behind the scenes to ensure accurate results on your tests.
MANA strives to provide the best healthcare in Northwest Arkansas. Making sure that the members of our team, including medical laboratory professionals, are the best in the area allows us to deliver the highest quality of healthcare possible.
Help us give a big thanks to all of the medical lab professionals who help keep Northwest Arkansas healthy and safe!