We all asked about the best specialty in Medical Laboratory Science, especially during our penultimate year when we wanted to choose majors and minors.
I had to call some of my senior colleagues for advice because I needed clarification about which to choose.
If you are here because of the same issues, know you are not the first to face this challenge!
For context, there are six specialties in medical lab sciences. These specialties are:
- Medical Microbiology
- Clinical chemistry/Chemical pathology
- Haematology
- Blood transfusion
- Histopathology/cellular pathology
- Immunology
We ask this question primarily to ensure that we will get a job quickly when we graduate. We want to know which specialities are often advertised in the job market so we can specialize in them.
Before I proceed, I must inform you that there is NO best specialty for you to choose as a medical lab science student.
However, some factors will determine your choice of specialisation, and it is important you pay attention.
Table of Contents
Factors to Consider Before Choosing Specialties
1 Location: Developing vs Developed countries.
Someone in Nigeria will have to consider if there are more jobs for his chosen specialities. Are there more jobs in microbiology than in Histopathology?
In developed countries, like the United Kingdom, people are more likely to choose a specialty based on what they like or love than job prospects. There are more job openings in developed countries than in developing countries.
2 Intent
If you plan to open and run a private laboratory, you might consider the specialty you would be opening later.
For example, if you plan to run a Blood transfusion centre, it is better to choose Blood Transfusion as your specialty. It is not a requirement, but it is essential to do so.
3 Capacity
The best indicator for your choice of specialty is your capacity or ability to understand that particular specialty more than others. Why would you specialise in clinical chemistry if you understand Hematology better? Would you want to specialise in microbiology if you struggle to read volumes of materials?
4 Lecturer Effect
Depending on your school, if you have one lecturer who handles a particular specialty and you happen to hate him or her, specialising in that unit will be difficult because you may struggle to understand the lectures and may not do well.
5 Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA)
The CGPA you graduate with is vital in some situations. For instance, if you are looking forward to some scholarships that require a specific CGPA.
Final year course unit credit loads are usually big, like 3 or 4 credits. Having less than a B in a 3 or 4 credit load will pull down your CGPA.
If your current CGPA is 3.49/5.0, you do not need to specialise in a unit you think you will struggle to pass well.
6 Final year Project work
If you specialise in histopathology, would you be able to fund a histopathology-based project?
If you specialise in microbiology and choose a project topic in virology, could you fund the cost of the project?
These are the factors to consider before choosing majors and minors.
My first project topic was the ‘antibacterial effect of lemongrass oil’. Unfortunately, I could not afford to continue paying for the oil extraction, as I was charged very high per Kg of lemongrass. So, I didn’t get enough oil to proceed.
I had to change the topic with the help of my supervisor.
7 Working abroad
How medical labs are practised abroad(in Developed countries) is slightly different from how they are practised in developing countries.
If you plan to work abroad, consider this…
More work means more money, as salary is calculated per hour. Those who work in Blood transfusion(Blood bank), Hematology, Clinical chemistry, and microbiology tend to have more work to do at night(call duty) and on weekends than those in Histopathology and immunology.
Overseas, you are paid more when you work nights and weekends, including public holidays(bank holidays).
These opportunities are not very common to those in Immunology and histopathology.
This is one reason many young scientists do not want to work in histopathology if they have other options.
So, before you make your choice, consider these points or factors mentioned above and make an informed decision.
When you make that informed decision, that specialty becomes the best for you.
Before I conclude, I want to describe the role of each specialty briefly. This would be good for you if you are yet to start your academic journey as a medical lab science student.
And even before that, who is a medical lab scientist?
Medical Laboratory Scientist
Medical Laboratory Scientists are the unsung heroes behind the scenes in hospitals and healthcare facilities.
They analyse clinical samples, such as urine, blood, stool(poo), etc., to provide data(lab results) that can influence up to 70% of medical decisions.
Are you scheduled for surgery? Your sample will be sent to the lab beforehand to check many things, including your blood level(PCV or Hb). The findings in the lab by lab scientists could cancel your scheduled surgery or hasten it.
From running blood tests to culturing bacteria, their work is very important for effective diagnosis, treatment and prognosis.
That done, let’s see the specialties in brief.
Specialties in Medical Laboratory Science
Clinical Chemistry/ Chemical pathology
If you major or work in clinical chemistry as a medical lab scientist, the clinical sample you would be working with is blood.
However, you can also have other samples like urine, csf, and other body fluids. But most often, it is a blood sample.
In this speciality, machines or analysers are used to analyse chemical processes within the body and their relation to disease.
This helps in diagnosing conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and liver malfunctions.
Medical lab scientists who work in clinical chemistry use some of this equipment, depending on your lab.
1 Centrifuge
2 Spectrophotometer
3 Analysers
- Beckman Coulter AU 480
- Roche Cobas series (c501, c502, c701)
- Siemens ADVIA Chemistry XPT System
- Abbott Architect c8000
- Sysmex BX-3000
- Mindray BS-480
- Horiba ABX Pentra 400
- Randox RX Daytona+
- Tosoh AIA-360
Haematology
Haematology focuses on diseases related to blood and blood-forming organs. Blood (99%) and bone marrow are the primary human samples used in haematology for diagnosis.
Medical lab scientists who work in haematology focus on two major areas which are:
- Clottology(clotting or bleeding disorders)
- Blood count & morphology(anaemia,cancer cells etc.)
Some equipment you will be working with within haematology as medical scientists are:
1 Hematology Analyzers
Beckman Coulter Ac·T Diff II
Sysmex Series
Abbott CELL-DYN Series
Mindray series
Siemens ADVIA Series
Sysmex CS-5100(coagulation analyser)
Stago STA Compact Max(coagulation analyser)
Siemens BCS XP(coagulation analyser)
2 Microscopes
3 Blood roller mixers
4 Dispensers(pipettes)
5 Incubators(surprised?)
6 Centrifuges
7 water bath(surprised?)
8 Automated stainer(Wescor® Hematology Stainers)
When dealing with haematology analysers, there are specific situations(e.g., suspected cold agglutinins) where you might need to incubate the sample at 37°C before rerunning it.
This is why incubators are used in haematology labs. They are not only used in Microbiology.
A water bath is for labs that do not have an analyser for coagulation tests.
Blood Transfusion lab(Blood bank)
The core job that medical lab scientists do here is antibody screening, blood grouping/typing and crossmatching.
Some blood transfusion labs have sections for bleeding donors(collecting blood from blood donors) and storing them properly.
The lab equipment blood transfusion scientists use are:
- Tiles(manual blood grouping)
- Incubators
- Plasma thawers
- Microscope(to check micro agglutination)
- Platelet agitators(for storage of platelets).
These three specialties, Clinical chemistry, Blood transfusion and Hematology, are jointly referred to as Blood sciences.
If a vacancy is advertised as “blood sciences,” if hired, you will likely work as a multidisciplinary scientist within one of the three or two specialities mentioned above.
Medical Microbiology
In this specialty, medical lab scientists identify microorganisms that cause diseases. This speciality uses lots of human samples like stool, sputum, blood, swabs from different parts of the body, urine, semen, csf, tissue etc.
Microbiology tests cover subspecialty areas like:
- Bacteriology(all about bacteria like Saph aureus)
- Parasitology(all about parasites like Malaria)
- Mycology(all about fungi like Candida)
- Virology(all about viruses like covid-19)
To work in a clinical microbiology lab, you will likely use the following pieces of lab equipment, depending on how advanced your lab is.
1 Microscope
2 Centrifuge
3 Incubators
4 Antibiotic susceptibility test analysers
- VITEK 2
- BD Phoenix
- Microscan systems
5 Blood culture analysers
- BacT/ALERT
- BD BACTEC™
- VersaTREK Systems
6 PCR Machine
- Genxpert
- Thermal Cyclers
- BioFire FilmArray
7 MALDI-TOFF
And many more.
Clinical Immunology
Most hospitals, especially in developing countries, do not have an immunology lab as a separate department.
Some hospitals incorporate immunology tests in the microbiology department, some in the clinical chemistry department, etc.
Nevertheless, this peculiarity does not change tests classified under immunology.
So, medical scientists working in immunology units focus on immune system disorders. They analyse immune responses to identify autoimmune diseases, allergies, and deficiencies.
Most of the clinical samples used in this unit are blood samples.
Lab equipment you will likely use to run immunology tests includes the following:
- Centrifuges
- ELISA readers(BioTek Elisa ELx800)
- Fluorescence microscopes
- Spectrophotometers
- Flow cytometers
Histopathology/cellular pathology
There are fewer medical lab scientists specialising in this unit compared to others.
The majority of non-blood cancers are diagnosed here, like breast and prostate cancers, etc.
The major work done by medical lab scientists here includes tissue grossing, sectioning, processing and staining.
Loads of staining!! The almighty H&E and special satains like Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS).
If you don’t want to see human parts, dead or alive, don’t specialise here!! Be warned!!
Here, scientists work closely with pathologists.
Some lab equipment used here are:
- Microscopes
- Microtomes
- Automated Tissue processors(LeicaTP1020)
- Embedding machine(Leica EG1160)
- Automated stainer(Histo Stainer R3)
Conclusion
Whether you are a student considering a career path, a professional aiming for specialisation, or just a curious mind, I hope you have learnt something new from this post.
Each speciality is unique, and so are you. Make a decision based on your unique situation, and remember that all the units are interrelated.
Have you got something to say?
Please drop it in the comment section!!
