- Industry: Government; Labor
- Number of terms: 77176
- Number of blossaries: 0
- Company Profile:
A professional who performs medical laboratory tests, procedures, experiments, and analyses to provide data for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. Responsibilities include:
* Conducts chemical analyses of body fluids, such as blood, urine, and spinal fluid, to determine presence of normal and abnormal components.
* Studies blood cells, their numbers, and morphology, using microscopic technique.
* Performs blood group, type, and compatibility tests for transfusion purposes.
* Analyzes test results and enters findings in computer.
* Engages in medical research under direction of medical technologist, chief .
* May train and supervise students.
* May specialize in area such as hematology, blood-bank, serology, immunohematology, bacteriology, histology, or chemistry.
Industry:Professional careers
A professional who collects blood components and provides therapeutic treatments, such as replacement of plasma, or removal of white blood cells or platelets, to patients, using blood cell separator equipment. Responsibilities include:
* Compiles and evaluates donor information to ensure that donor meets screening criteria.
* Connects and installs tubes, transfers pack units, saline solution unit, other solution packs, and collection as well as separation containers to set up blood cell separator equipment.
* Explains procedures to donor or patient to reduce anxieties and obtain cooperation of donor or patient.
* Performs venipuncture on donor or patient to connect donor or patient to tubes of equipment to prepare for procedure.
* Sets controls and starts equipment that collects specific blood components or adds, reduces, or replaces blood components, and replaces remaining blood in vein of patient or donor.
* Monitors operation of equipment and observes trouble lights indicating problems of equipment.
* Talks to and observes donor or patient for signs of distress or side effects such as pallor, nausea, fainting, or other problems during process.
* Forwards collection bag to laboratory for testing or further processing.
* Records information following collection or treatment procedures, such as flow rate, body site at which needle was inserted, anticoagulant rate, amount of fluids used, volume processed, red cells lost, and other information.
Industry:Professional careers
A professional who collects blood components and provides therapeutic treatments, such as replacement of plasma, or removal of white blood cells or platelets, to patients, using blood cell separator equipment. Responsibilities include:
* Compiles and evaluates donor information to ensure that donor meets screening criteria.
* Connects and installs tubing, transfer pack units, saline solution unit, other solution packs, and collection and separation containers to set up blood cell separator equipment.
* Explains procedures to donor or patient to reduce anxieties and obtain cooperation of donor or patient.
* Performs venipuncture on donor or patient to connect donor or patient to tubing of equipment to prepare for procedure.
* Sets controls and starts equipment that collects specific blood component or adds, reduces, or replaces blood component, and replaces remaining blood in vein of patient or donor.
* Monitors operation of equipment and observes trouble lights indicating equipment problems.
* Talks to and observes donor or patient for signs of distress or side effects such as pallor, nausea, fainting, or other problems during procedure.
* Forwards collection bag to laboratory for testing or further processing.
* Records information following collection or treatment procedures, such as flow rate, body site at which needle was inserted, anticoagulant rate, amount of fluids used, volume processed, red cells lost, and other information.
Industry:Professional careers
A professional who performs immunohematology tests, recommends blood problem solutions to doctors, and serves as consultant to blood bank and community. Responsibilities include:
* Visually inspects blood in specimen tubes for hemolysis.
* Centrifuges blood specimen to separate red cells from serum and tests separated serum to detect presence of antibodies.
* Interprets reactions observed to devise experiments and suggest techniques that will resolve patient's blood problems.
* Combines known and unknown cells with serum in test tubes and selects reagents, such as albumin, protolytic enzymes, and anti-human globutin, for individual tests to enhance and make visible reactions of agglutination and hemolysis.
* Processes various combinations in centrifuge and examines resulting samples under microscope to identify evidence of agglutination or hemolysis.
* Repeats and varies tests until normal suspension of reagents, serum, and red cells is attained.
* Interprets results obtained and identifies specific antibodies.
* Writes blood specifications to meet patient's need, on basis of test results, and applies knowledge of blood classification system to locate donor's blood.
* Performs immunohematology tests on donor's blood to confirm matching blood types.
* Requisitions and sends blood to supply patient's need, and prepares written report to inform physician of test results and of required volume of blood to administer.
* Evaluates completeness of immunohematology tests.
* May advise medical technologists in techniques of microscopic identification of precipitation, agglutination, or hemolysis in blood that leads to resolution of problems.
Industry:Professional careers
A professional who performs pulmonary-function, lung-capacity, diffusion capacity, and blood-and-oxygen tests to gather data for use by physician in diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary disorders. Responsibilities include:
* Confers with patient in treatment room to explain test procedures.
* Explains specified methods of breathing to patient and conducts pulmonary-function tests, such as helium dilution and pulmonary mechanics (flow of air rate in lungs), arterial blood gas analyses, and lung-capacity tests, such as vital capacity and maximum breathing capacity tests, using spirometer or other equipment.
* Measures expired air, using various analyzers.
* Observes and records readings on metering devices of analysis equipment, and conveys findings of tests and analyses to physician for interpretation.
* May perform blood analysis tests to measure such factors as oxygen and carbon dioxide tensions, hemoglobin saturation and levels, and pH of blood, using blood gas analyzer.
* May measure sweat chloride to test for cystic fibrosis, using computerized analyzer.
* May assist physician in special procedures such as bronchoscopy.
Industry:Professional careers
A professional who performs pulmonary-function, lung-capacity, diffusion capacity, and blood-and-oxygen tests to gather data for use by physician in diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary disorders. Responsibilities include:
* Confers with patient in treatment room to explain test procedures.
* Explains specified methods of breathing to patient and conducts pulmonary-function tests, such as helium dilution and pulmonary mechanics (flow of air rate in lungs), arterial blood gas analyses, and lung-capacity tests, such as vital capacity and maximum breathing capacity tests, using spirometer or other equipment.
* Measures expired air, using various analyzers.
* Observes and records readings on metering devices of analysis equipment, and conveys findings of tests and analyses to physician for interpretation.
* May perform blood analysis tests to measure such factors as oxygen and carbon dioxide tensions, hemoglobin saturation and levels, and pH of blood, using blood gas analyzer.
* May measure sweat chloride to test for cystic fibrosis, using computerized analyzer.
* May assist physician in special procedures such as bronchoscopy.
Industry:Professional careers
A professional who analyzes data from cardiac-function monitoring device (Holter monitor) worn by patient for use in diagnosis of cardiovascular disorders. Responsibilities include:
* Places magnetic tape or cassette from Holter monitor worn by patient in scanner and starts scanner that produces audio and visual representation of heart activity.
* Adjusts scanner controls that regulate taped sounds associated with heart activity and focus video representation of sounds on scanner screen.
* Observes scanner screen to identify irregularities in patient cardiac patterns, utilizing knowledge of regular and irregular cardiac-function patterns, or verifies data provided by computer program that automatically scans, analyzes, identifies, and prints irregular heart patterns.
* Prints sections of abnormal heart patterns or full disclosure tape for physician.
* Analyzes information in patient diary to identify incidents that correspond to heart pattern irregularities detected on heart monitor.
* Records findings on report form and forwards tapes, form, patient diary, and printouts of heart patterns to interpreting physician.
* May attach electrodes to patient's chest and connect electrodes to heart monitor, following standard procedure.
* May measure distances between peaks and valleys of heart activity patterns, using calipers, to obtain data for further analysis.
* May perform other diagnostic procedures, such as electrocardiography and stress testing, to aid in medical evaluation of patient.
Industry:Professional careers
A professional who analyzes data from cardiac-function monitoring device (Holter monitor) worn by patient for use in diagnosis of cardiovascular disorders. Responsibilities include:
* Places magnetic tape or cassette from Holter monitor worn by patient in scanner and starts scanner that produces audio and visual representation of heart activity.
* Adjusts scanner controls that regulate taped sounds associated with heart activity and focus video representation of sounds on scanner screen.
* Observes scanner screen to identify irregularities in patient cardiac patterns, utilizing knowledge of regular and irregular cardiac-function patterns, or verifies data provided by computer program that automatically scans, analyzes, identifies, and prints irregular heart patterns.
* Prints sections of abnormal heart patterns or full disclosure tape for physician.
* Analyzes information in patient diary to identify incidents that correspond to heart pattern irregularities detected on heart monitor.
* Records findings on report form and forwards tapes, form, patient diary, and printouts of heart patterns to interpreting physician.
* May attach electrodes to patient's chest and connect electrodes to heart monitor, following standard procedure.
* May measure distances between peaks and valleys of heart activity patterns, using calipers, to obtain data for further analysis.
* May perform other diagnostic procedures, such as electrocardiography and stress testing, to aid in medical evaluation of patient.
Industry:Professional careers
A professional who stains, mounts, and studies cells of human body to detect evidence of cancer, hormonal abnormalities, and other pathological conditions, following established standards and practices. Responsibilities include:
* Prepares microscopic slides from specimens of blood, scrappings, or other bodily exudates, and fixes and stains slide to preserve specimen and enhance visibility of cells under microscope.
* Examines slide under microscope to identify abnormalities in cell structure.
* Reports abnormalities to pathologist .
* May supervise and coordinate activities of staff of cytology laboratory and be known as Supervisor, Cytology.
Industry:Professional careers
A professional who performs dental prophylaxis. Responsibilities include:
* Cleans calcareous deposits, accretions, and stains from teeth and beneath margins of gums, using dental instruments.
* Feels lymph nodes under patient's chin to detect swelling or tenderness that could indicate presence of oral cancer.
* Feels and visually examines gums for sores and signs of disease.
* Examines gums, using probes, to locate periodontal recessed gums and signs of gum disease.
* Applies fluorides and other cavity preventing agents to arrest dental decay.
* Charts conditions of decay and disease for diagnosis and treatment by dentist.
* Exposes and develops x-ray film.
* Makes impressions for study casts.
* May remove sutures and dressings.
* May administer local anesthetic agents.
* May place and remove rubber dams, matrices, and temporary restorations.
* May place, carve, and finish amalgam restorations.
* May remove excess cement from coronal surfaces of teeth.
* May provide clinical services and health education to improve and maintain oral health of school children.
* May conduct dental health clinics for community groups to augment services of dentist.
Industry:Professional careers
