When Dr. Karen Golemboski was a kid, she had what she jokingly terms 鈥渁 morbid interest in sick people鈥 and a great interest in healthcare.
She assumed she would be a nurse. So as soon as she got her driver鈥檚 license, she
signed on as a candy striper at Sts. Mary and Elizabeth Hospital in southern Louisville.
鈥淥ne afternoon, I realized that while I was very interested in what
was wrong with the patients, I wasn鈥檛 the least bit interested in taking care of them,鈥
she said. 鈥淭hey sent me to the lab with a urine sample, and I pretty much never came
back.鈥
Dr. Golemboski went on to earn a bachelor鈥檚 degree in Medical Technology (which is now called Medical Laboratory Science) and a Ph.D. in Immunology. Today she is the chair of 农夫导航鈥檚 MLS program, which offers one of only seven entry-level master鈥檚 degrees in the U.S. (including the only one in Kentucky) and is the only university in Louisville to offer both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Medical Laboratory Science.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good career for those who are Interested in being on a healthcare team but
aren鈥檛 interested in hands-on patient care,鈥 she said. 鈥淲hat we do is science-oriented.
We make a difference鈥攁bout two-thirds of healthcare
decisions are based on our work鈥攂ut we don鈥檛 have face-to-face contact with patients.鈥
Perhaps because of that, many people don鈥檛 really know what medical laboratory scientists
do. 鈥淭hey will say, 鈥極h, so you are a nurse?鈥 or 鈥極h, you鈥檙e a phlebotomist?鈥欌 Dr.
Golemboski said. 鈥淣o, I鈥檓
this thing that is its own profession.鈥
It鈥檚 a profession that offers 100 percent employment for Bellarmine graduates,
she said, as there is a significant workforce shortage.
Some Bellarmine MLS graduates go into research, but most of them work in hospital
labs, testing blood and other body fluids to determine if disease is present. Their
work has been highlighted recently as hospitals battle the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
鈥淲hen you see videos of the testing centers, those specimens are going back to the
lab and it will be a medical laboratory scientist who will do the testing,鈥 Dr. Golemboski
said. 鈥淚n addition, it turns out the disease has had unexpected
effects, like messing up coagulation. Is there a decrease of certain cells? Are there
inappropriate clots forming? Is kidney function still going? All of that is medical
testing information as well. Medical laboratory scientists are an important part
of the team, because if you don鈥檛 have that information, you don鈥檛 know how to treat
a patient. Nursing doesn鈥檛 teach you this, and neither does medical school.鈥
Bellarmine鈥檚 entry-level master鈥檚 program does not require an undergraduate degree in MLS. Qualified applicants who have completed prerequisite course work are admitted regardless of their undergraduate field of study.
"This is a great program for those who have an undergraduate degree in biology or chemistry,鈥 Dr. Golemboski said. 鈥淚n two academic years, you can come and learn the technical content and some additional content, like health policy and evidence-based patient safety, that helps you to see the broader picture of healthcare so that you are better able to interact with a healthcare team.鈥
The hope, she said, is that Bellarmine鈥檚 master鈥檚 graduates can help physicians make better-informed decisions when they order tests. 鈥淚 used to work in an immunology lab, and some doctors, when they ordered blood tests, they would check everything on the page. There are still doctors who reflexively do that. Some patients with long stays end up with hospital-induced anemia just from having tests done.
鈥淚n the 21st century, we need to integrate the team so that we choose the best way to use the test鈥攖he best way to get to the result.鈥
Meera Patel graduated from Bellarmine in 2015 with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in biochemistry
and molecular biology. When her plan to attend medical school was sidelined, she returned
to Bellarmine and earned her master鈥檚 degree in Medical Laboratory Science in 2019.
She now works in a specialized Blood Bank Lab at Norton Healthcare, cross-matching blood for patients, confirming their blood types and determining whether they have antibodies that could cause a transfusion reaction. 鈥淲e do a lot of other specialized testing with patient blood and donor blood, along with storing platelets, plasma and other blood-derived products,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e take care of a wide patient population, from newborns to the elderly.鈥
Patel said she would recommend the undergraduate MLS degree to anyone who is interested in attending medical school, becoming a physician鈥檚 assistant, 鈥渙r really pursuing any higher-level healthcare profession.鈥
鈥淧hysicians and any healthcare providers need to understand laboratory results,鈥 she said. 鈥淟aboratory and radiology/imaging services are the two main ways to diagnose a patient with whatever illness or disease they have, because signs and symptoms don't always tell the whole story.鈥
Why pursue this degree at Bellarmine?
- 100% graduation rate
- 100% employment; most have job offers before graduation (national median salary: $60,000)
- Certification exam pass rates above the national average
- One of only seven entry-level MLS master鈥檚 degree programs in the country
- Annual inter-professional participation in a local community diabetes education program (Active Steps)
- 560 (or more) clinical hours in six laboratory disciplines
- Opportunity for research projects in bioinformatics
Dr. Karen Golemboski, program chair, is a member of the national ASCLS Patient Safety Committee