This post is all about 5 reasons to become a medical laboratory scientist.
If you don’t know what Medical Laboratory Sciences is, please keep reading. For the basics, medical laboratory scientists are the people in the back labs running tests on all the samples that are collected from patients. So when you get your blood drawn, Medical laboratory scientists are the ones that run tests on it to see if there is anything abnormal about you. We are pretty much the forgotten people.
When you think medical field and people in scrubs, you really only think about the doctors and nurses (and others) but HARDLY EVER the MLS. From now on I will be shortening medical laboratory sciences to MLS because I will be using the title a lot. Here are 5 reasons to become a medical laboratory scientist.
Side Note
If you have no idea what you want to major in that’s medical-related, please please please do not go into a biology major because you will not be able to do much with that degree. Start with MLS first and you can switch out later. MLS will give you a good foundation for any other medical field. BUT I have a really strong feeling you’ll end up sticking with the MLS program because we are awesome 😉
Here are 5 reasons why you should become a Medical Laboratory Scientist.
1. You do NOT have to Deal with Patients Directly
This detail alone pretty much won me over. I always knew I wanted to be a part of the medical field but dreaded the thought of me touching patients, telling them their results, and being directly involved with their health.
As an MLS, the only patient-related thing you have to deal with is their body fluids. And I mean the pee, the poop, alongside the blood. Okay, yeah that sounds kinda gross. BUT I think I’d rather be the one to do tests on the sample than be the one that has to go collect the sample. Do you know what I mean?
Also, If I ever lose a patient, I don’t know if I would ever be able to recover.
2. You get to know your Classmates and Co-workers really well
If you’re one of those people that feel as if they have a very hard time making friends, this career is for you. Since you’re in a lab all day, you’ll see the same people and will be working with them constantly. You’re literally forced to make friends. (Cause if you don’t become friends with them, it might make your work feel 10x harder than it already is.)
In the lab, you have to work as a team if you want anything to go well. Even on the bad days, you and the rest of your team are all you have to keep you afloat. Also, just being able to joke around and have a good time while doing your job and getting paid is always a plus.
3. This Field is Technology Heavy
If you want to work in the medical field and love technology, being an MLS may be the career for you. I’m currently doing my clinical rotations right now and the hospital I’m at uses Vitros systems let me just say that these techs around me look SUPER cool when they’re able to run around and fix these machines when they break down. They like to think of their job as “babysitting” the machines.
You feed it new reagents when it runs out. You give it samples exactly the way it wants to take samples. In exchange, the machine will test your samples and put out results, and when it’s done, it will organize and file your samples for you. HOW COOL!
You’ll have to be in a lab with one of these machines to know how cool it is.
4. You don’t have to get a Master’s Degree as a Medical Laboratory Scientist.
The one thing that would’ve stopped me from getting a degree in the medical field was that most of them require more than your typical 4 years of college. There’s medical school, PA school, pharmacy school, etc. MLS is just a 4-year bachelor’s degree.
Even if you don’t want to do a 4-year degree, they have 2-year degrees to be an MLT too (You just won’t be able to do as much as an MLS does).
If you really wanted to, you could go for an MLS master’s but based on all the MLS people I’ve talked to, a master’s will only become useful if you have a plan for what you’re going to use it for. It could help you get more advanced positions but as I said, you need a plan.
5. Medical Laboratory Scientists are High in Demand
If you want to know if getting a job will be a challenge, let me tell you that with this degree, you will (almost) NEVER be out of a job. MLS is always going to be in demand and after covid, like every other job out there, there is a shortage.
And based on the fact that we, MLS, are needed to run patient samples and give results to the doctors, you best know that they will probably hire you because they will get desperate.
Of course, there are always caveats to this. You’ll be in demand at the hospitals, but not so much at the private labs. You’ll have to wait for someone to leave to get into those, unfortunately. But other than that, there will always be work for you. So don’t fret.
Ending Note
There are so many things that go into the Medical Laboratory Sciences program but this is a brief overview of what sold me for not switching my major to something else. If I think of more, I’ll let you know!
I can’t really see myself doing any other job so maybe I’m convincing enough to get you into the program too. Just be an MLS major! You won’t regret it! (I hope).
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