In a quarter million clinical laboratories in the United States alone, techs work every day with little visibility or recognition. During the Covid pandemic, they risked exposure and worked extensive overtime running tests to produce accurate, timely results for patients. At all times, they must learn ever-changing technology while managing family life around a demanding job.
This book chronicles the unseen work of laboratory technicians, technologists, and aides through interviews and the author’s experience working in a clinical lab for more than 40 years, a time that saw astounding changes in lab technology, methodology, and testing. Most importantly, this book provides the human story of patients, diseases, and conditions diagnosed and monitored through lab work.

For more than 40 years Nyla Jo Hubbard worked in clinical labs in Florida in various specialties. She lives in Holiday, Florida.

Nyla Jo Hubbard
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 183
Bibliographic Info: 9 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2024
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9565-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5328-0
Imprint: McFarland

Preface 1
Prologue 3
One—Beginning: The Clinical Lab in 1968 5
Interview with a New Tech (2023)  16
Two—Meet the Patients: Clinic Work 19
Interview with the Face of the Lab  24
Three—Moving Up, Exam After Exam 28
Four—Specialty Patients: Oncology/Hematology 38
Statistics Show That New Methods of Detection and Therapy Are Prolonging or Saving the Lives of Cancer Victims  41
Five—Education: In the Lab and In the Classroom 43
Interview with a Recent Tech (2023)  56
Six—A Lab of My Own 60
Interview with a New Supervisor (2023)  74
Seven—The Hospital Lab: Where the Action Is 77
Interview with a Tech (2023)  89
Eight—A New World: The Microbiology Lab 93
Interview with a Micro Tech (2023)  99
Interview with a Special Chemistry Tech (2023)  103
Nine—Mission to Ethiopia: Setting Up a Lab in the Desert 106
Doctors Without Borders Today  125
Ten—Return to American Medicine 128
Maybe We Need to Use the Lab More Wisely  138
Eleven—Microbiology Expanded 139
Interview with a Molecular Tech (2023), ­Post-Covid  151
Twelve—The Lab of Today and Tomorrow 154
Bibliography 167
Index 171