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Some ordinary people believe that the profession of a laboratory assistant does not provide for anything complicated. They believe that such specialists simply wipe test tubes at school or stack student term papers at the institute.
In fact, the laboratory assistant does a great job, freeing the main expert from minor matters, although his position is really positioned as an auxiliary one.
There are many varieties of this specialty: laboratory research technician, research assistant, chemical analysis expert. Moreover, the last point usually affects both employees of research institutes and those people whose task is to study the materials of analyzes of patients from hospitals.
There are options when the paramedic is simultaneously appointed as a laboratory assistant. This just applies to cases of work in a polyclinic or inpatient clinic, when the employee is required not only to take tests, but also to help the patient at the same time. The job description and equipment at the workplace will vary from the orientation of the qualification.
Profession history
Historians confirm that for the first time laboratory assistants appeared in the Middle Ages. At that time, the universities of Italy and Austria enjoyed special authority, where every day they had to prepare audiences for the reception of students of medical faculties. This hard work was dumped on the shoulders of laboratory assistants. They had to not only arrange test tubes and tools for dissecting frogs, but also look for material for research, or buy it from local residents.
It is believed that most of the ancient thinkers and progenitors of various biological, geological and chemical theories before XII preferred to make their own experiments. At the same time, not all historians agree with such a stereotype, since in many experiments described in the old postulates, it was simply impossible to participate alone in order to achieve the desired result. Hence the theory is born that even then junior employees helped the great ones to create significant discoveries, remaining in the shadows.
Today, the importance of the presented profession has increased significantly, as evidenced by numerous thematic vacancies. And this applies not only to large centers in megacities, but also to small villages. There, laboratory assistants work to check the quality of the crop and everything connected with it, and also act as the “right hand” of veterinarians in vast farms.
Also, yesterday’s chemist can apply for a job in the standardization department, local clinics, where people are always needed to check blood, feces and urine, as well as in the sanitary service or even metrology.
There will also be a place for a specialist who has received a higher education in the specialty “Ecology”. A qualified ecologist can become a so-called field laboratory worker who will produce prototypes of everything from soil to air.
Laboratory assistant for research activities
This branch for specialists provides for work in departments that have their own laboratory. Depending on the range of activities of the organization, the capabilities and responsibilities of an employee will fluctuate, because not all institutes practice only the theoretical part of research.
If the organization provides for the need and appropriate resources, then an additional responsibility falls on the shoulders of the specialist, such as monitoring a control group of subjects, even if they are just lab rats.
Usually, the competence of this professional category provides for the preparation of materials and equipment for an upcoming experiment or presentation. There we are talking about the results of experience, new perspectives are considered. On his shoulders lies the reverse function – cleaning inventory upon completion of work. But the above is more about some special cases like seminars or congresses.
The routine is based on taking intermediate or control readings, keeping a journal, and processing the information received. Such a specialist helps teams that can conduct both small experiments and experiments at a global level. The latter include the search for drugs for oncology or evidence of the harm of some food additive.
The main duties of such an officer, regardless of his specific category, include the following provisions:
- performance of laboratory analyzes and tests;
- collection and subsequent processing of received materials;
- control over the serviceability of equipment and other inventory;
- preparation of instruments for research activities.
The last point sometimes obliges that, in addition to a specialized biological or medical education, a person has some technical in stock.
An engineer is the best solution if different employees have only one such assistant for the whole organization, who will still have to fix failed devices.
In addition to participating in the preparatory stages, an experienced worker also often becomes the one without whom it is impossible to fully conduct the experiment. This is especially true in cases where a senior laboratory assistant is involved, who is responsible for monitoring, taking indicators, and keeping logs. Sometimes the report is required to be submitted several times a day. Then a team of junior employees divides the work, distributing it according to their own abilities and skills.
Strict requirements
Like most other medical professionals, his rank may be reviewed from time to time.
This happens depending on:
- work experience;
- specifics of activity;
- undergoing additional training.
Refresher courses are traditionally available at many medical and research centers. After completing a certain program at the end of the course, tests are issued, the results of which determine the fate of those who want to improve their level.
This is done in order to qualify for a higher salary or to be able to combine several similar positions.
It is also worth preparing for the fact that the laboratory assistant will be instructed not only to perform computational and other graphic work, he will be asked to make a selection of data from the literature, abstracts, and even the regulatory and technical base. It will not do without personal assignments of the management staff, but all of them should be within the framework of general scientific activity.
To qualify for this position, it is not necessary for the applicant to work somewhere before. A full higher education is not always required from a future assistant. In some cases, an unfinished higher or secondary special is enough.
This applies to positions where for the most part there is “paperwork” or a small range of duties, which is typical for laboratories in schools.
But if the future range of activities involves the preparation of radioactive materials, difficult-to-use devices, or visits to bacteriological stations, then a university diploma is indispensable.
This is necessary in order to ensure that labor protection, personal and collective safety of the surrounding employees are under control.
Periodically, the medical center will send its junior assistant for additional courses so that he does not lag behind generally accepted standards. Knowing the current legislation in the area assigned to it, as well as the methods and means of performing calculations, it will be easier for a laboratory assistant to find a job.
On the spot, they can help him with the direct rules for the operation of specific equipment, as well as give advice on the internal labor regulations. Moreover, they should not go beyond the basics of the organization of labor production.
The final important point is checking the current state of health of a person applying for a position, as well as regularly checking it in the future.
Requirements are put forward for future experts, among which mandatory knowledge is distinguished:
- all materials specific to the subject of activity;
- methods for conducting experiments of the required spectrum;
- current conditions and requirements for paperwork;
- features of control and measuring and other equipment.
Such concern on the part of labor legislation is explained by the high risks of becoming a victim of harmful elements and reagents.
Many of them are allergens, and some work as a poison with a cumulative effect, which is why the profession is considered harmful.
Clinical diagnostic laboratory laboratory assistant
A clinical laboratory assistant should act according to a similar scheme. This is exactly the same person to whom patients go to donate blood for analysis. He also conducts a number of other tests, helping the doctor to identify the cause of the deterioration in the patient’s well-being.
Despite the absence of strict requirements for previous experience in medicine, the qualifications of an employee of a clinical diagnostic center must be high. We are talking about obtaining a certificate of incomplete higher education or conferring the status of a bachelor in the medical field. The list of allowed specialties of the university for applicants included only two: laboratory and clinical diagnostics.
Such a thorough approach is explained by the fact that a physician must know not only the paper part of his work, such as regulatory documents on health protection.
He will also have to show his skills in organizing the activities of the clinical diagnostic laboratory. To do this, you need to clearly know the official rights, duties and be ready to bear responsibility. From this follows the conclusion that the result of the work of this category of laboratory assistants is as important as the work of the doctor himself. One mistake in analysis can cost a patient his life.
The specialist is obliged to navigate the basics of general medical and clinical disciplines, because he also has the responsibility to decipher the results of the tests:
- blood;
- urine and other biological fluids;
- tests for the detection of eggs of parasites and helminths.
Due to the fact that for each type of analysis the method of sampling material varies, the laboratory assistant should keep all this in mind. After all, the same blood is not always donated on an empty stomach, and the specialist must interview the patient about whether he adhered to the established rules before testing.
Also, the employee must be able to store the received material and deliver it to another research center, if the procedure requires it. He also bears the whole range of duties regarding the preparation of reagents with nutrient media, which make it possible to identify deviations in the collected material.
Another important point is disinfection and other forms of treatment of tools, equipment, and even just the room itself. Moreover, this must be done on a regular basis in a strictly established form.
The townsfolk do not notice all this, believing that the clinical laboratory assistant works only until the queue of people who want to donate urine or sputum runs out. In fact, they still have to identify possible deviations in the process of laboratory research in order to recognize emerging or progressive pathological processes.
In most cases, the employee is additionally required to be able to understand the etiology, symptoms and pathogenesis of the most common ailments. During the training, they are even told how to properly provide first aid.
In emergency situations, such specialists will be able to understand medicines, starting from the methods of their administration and ending with the calculation of the required dosage. It is likely that this will come in handy during a global epidemic.
But in ordinary life, on an official basis, a laboratory assistant cannot prescribe any course of treatment using both medical methods and traditional medicine. Only a doctor has such powers.