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What
is Medical Technology?
Medical
Technology, or Clinical Laboratory Science, is a healthcare
profession where clinical laboratory scientists perform laboratory
procedures to help diagnose, monitor, and treat diseases. Many
medical technologists work in hospitals or in clinical laboratories,
although employment can be found at doctors' offices, research
facilities, public health institutions, forensic laboratories,
pharmaceutical laboratories, and animal clinics. Medical
technologists make a valuable contribution to patient care by
developing, performing, and evaluating diagnostic tests and clinical
laboratory procedures using state-of-the-art procedures. They
analyze samples of blood, tissue, and body fluids using the latest
technology and a variety of analytical techniques using both
cellular and molecular techniques.
Medical technologists can work in all areas of the laboratory or
specialize in one of several sections of a clinical laboratory such
as immunohematology (blood banking), urinalysis, body fluid
analysis, hematology, microbiology, clinical chemistry/toxicology,
clinical microscopy, or immunology. Within the laboratory clinical
laboratory scientists have various levels of responsibility as staff
technologists, research technologists, supervisors, managers, or
educators. Because people with a medical technology degree often
find themselves involved in laboratory management, coursework in
business or management is beneficial. Education and training in the
clinical laboratory sciences can open doors to many other careers.
Many graduates of medical technology programs find careers as
physicians, biomedical researchers, forensic scientists, hospital
administrators, laboratory managers.
What is the Medical Technology Program at Lycoming College?
(The
following is an excerpt from the Lycoming College Academic Catalog
of 2003-2004.)
Students desiring a career in medical technology may either
complete a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science program
followed by a clinical internship at any hospital accredited by the
American Medical Association, or they may complete the cooperative
program. Students electing the cooperative program normally study
for three years at Lycoming, during which time they complete 24 unit
courses, including the College distribution requirements, a major,
and requirements of the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical
Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS). The current requirements of the NAACLS
are: four courses in chemistry (one of which must be either organic
or biochemistry); four courses in biology (including courses in
microbiology and immunology), and one course in mathematics.
Students in
the cooperative program usually major in biology, following a
modified major of six unit courses that exempts them from Ecology
(BIO 224) and Plant Sciences (BIO 225). Students must take either
Microbiology (BIO 321) or Microbiology for the Health Sciences (BIO
226), and either Human Physiology (BIO 323) or Cell Biology (BIO
435). The cooperative program requires successful completion of a
one-year internship at a hospital accredited by the American Medical
Association. Lycoming is affiliated with the following accredited
hospitals: Williamsport Hospital, Graduate Hospital, Robert Packer
Hospital, Lancaster General Hospital, and Abington Memorial
Hospital. Students in the cooperative program receive credit at
Lycoming for each of eight courses in biology and chemistry
successfully completed during the clinical internship. Successful
completion of the Registry Examination is not considered a
graduation requirement at Lycoming College. Students entering a
clinical internship for one year after graduation from Lycoming must
complete all of the requirements of the cooperative program, but are
not eligible for the biology major exemptions indicated above. Upon
graduation, such students may apply for admission to a clinical
program at any hospital.
When and How Should I Apply?
If you are
interested in the Medical Technology Program, please contact me (Dr.
Terence McGarvey) at mcgarvey@lycoming.edu or stop by my office (130
Heim Science Building). I will get you started on the application
process. In short, you have to first decide whether you want to
spend four years at Lycoming College and then one year of clinical
internship or if you want to spend three years at Lycoming College
before entering your clinical internship (please see details above).
Application for admission to a clinical program is made directly to
the hospital that is in charge of your clinical education (please
see below for Lycoming College's hospital affiliations). This is
typically done in the late summer or fall for admission for the
following year. The application process begins early, and
enrollments are limited, so don't delay! Please contact the hospital
directly for specific information and for application materials.
What is Involved in the Clinical Internship?
All
students must spend a full twelve months of study in an accredited
hospital-based clinical program. Subjects include all aspects of
clinical laboratory science including microbiology, clinical
chemistry, serology, hematology, immunohematology, and immunology.
The format includes both lectures and laboratory assignments, with
most of the laboratory experiences being provided in the actual
hospital laboratory. In the laboratory, tests are performed for
patients and the student learns to function in the hospital
environment. The following is a list of courses taken during the
clinical laboratory science program at Graduate Hospital:
- Medical Hematology and
Coagulation
- Clinical Hematology and
Coagulation
- Immunology
- Clinical Immunohematology
- Medical Immunohematology
- Urinalysis and Other Body
Fluids
- Medical Chemistry
- Clinical Chemistry
- Medical Microbiology
- Clinical Microbiology and
Serology
- Clinical Seminar
Admission
to a clinical program is competitive. Currently, most of the
programs require a minimum GPA of 2.5 in all science courses as well
as a minimum GPA of 2.5 overall.
What Hospital Affiliations does Lycoming College Have?
Lycoming
College has affiliations with five hospitals in the state of
Pennsylvania: Williamsport Hospital in Williamsport, Graduate
Hospital in Philadelphia, Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Lancaster
General Hospital in Lancaster, and Abington Memorial Hospital in
Abington. If necessary, we can make arrangements with another
hospital if you would rather go through your clinical training
elsewhere. Please see me for contact information for these
hospitals.
Links
Contact
Dr. Terence
McGarvey
Department of Biology
Lycoming College
700 College Place
Williamsport, PA 17701
570-321-4189
mcgarvey@lycoming.edu
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