Medical Technology Profession: History, Curriculum, Organizations, and Clinical Practice

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards reviewing the fundamentals of the Medical Technology profession, including core terminology, global and Philippine history, educational standards, licensure requirements, regulatory laws, professional organizations, and laboratory leadership roles.

Medical Technology

A science that deals with the chemical, physical, and microscopic study of various body fluids to provide clues or confirmatory findings to physicians, consultants, or specialists regarding possible patient disorders or diseases.

Laboratorian

A medical technology professional who works in a clinical laboratory providing direct patient service and establishing vital linkages between technological developments and advances in medical science.

Professional Educator

A medical technology professional who works in an academic institution and is involved with faculty instruction, curriculum design, student-teaching, and program development.

Laboratory Analyst

A professional employed in pharmaceutical companies, veterinary clinics, food establishments, or the cosmetic industry who provides technical support and consumer protection through quality laboratory analysis.

STAT Test

A laboratory test performed immediately and individually with its own control and standard, costing 20% to 50% more, and having a shortened turnaround time (TAT).

Today Test

A laboratory request that is needed on the day requested, performed as soon as possible, and prioritized according to running time.

Routine Test

A laboratory test processed in batches where the results are released according to the laboratory's standard turnaround time.

Reference Values

A preferred term for 'normal value' representing results pulled from approximately 95% of the population, which vary by age, sex, pregnancy status, diurnal variation, race, and blood type.

Critical Values

Also called 'panic values'; laboratory test results that indicate an immediate life-threatening risk to the patient and require prompt notification of the attending physician.

Plasma

The liquid component of anticoagulated blood that contains fibrinogen, represents the in vivo ion composition of circulating blood, and can be prepared immediately after mixing.

Serum

The liquid fraction obtained from clotted blood lacking fibrinogen; it requires a 30-minute delay for clot formation, has elevated potassium due to clot retraction, and is considered the gold standard for biobanking.

Hippocrates

The 'Father of Medicine' and author of the Hippocratic Oath who advocated tasting urine and listening to lungs, establishing qualitative assessment based on four humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile).

Galen

A Greek physician and philosopher who characterized diabetes as 'diarrhea of urine' and contributed to humoral medicine alongside Hippocrates.

Vivian Herrick

A medical historian who traced the origins of medical technology to 1550 B.C. via the Ebers Papyrus, which documented intestinal parasites such as Taenia and Ascaris and the three stages of hookworm infection.

Uroscopy

The practice of diagnosing diseases through the examination of urine appearance, widely practiced as 'water casting' in medieval Europe.

Alessandra Giliani

A 14th-century laboratory worker employed at the University of Bologna by Mondino de Liuzzi to perform medical tests; she died of a laboratory-acquired infection.

Zacharias Janssen

A Dutch lens maker credited with inventing the first compound microscope between 1585 and 1632.

Marcello Malpighi

An Italian microscopist considered the founder of microscopical anatomy and histology, as well as the father of physiology and embryology.

Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek

The 'Father of Microbiology and Microscopy' who constructed the first functional microscope in 1660 and first described red blood cells, protozoa, and bacterial morphologies.

Leeuwenhoek Microscope

An early single-lens brass microscope apparatus containing a focus knob, a sample holder, a lens, and a sample translator screw.

Edward Jenner

The physician who developed the smallpox vaccine in 1796, making a foundational contribution to immunology.

Dr. William Welch

The first professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins University who offered the first pathology course in an American medical school at Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1878.

Dr. William Osler

The 'Father of Modern Medicine' who established the first clinical laboratory at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1896, specializing in routine tests and the detection of malarial parasites in blood.

William Pepper Laboratory

The oldest clinical laboratory established in the United States, opened at the University of Pennsylvania in 1896.

Dr. James C. Todd

Author of the 1908 standard reference textbook 'A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis', later published as 'Clinical Diagnosis by Laboratory Methods'.

26th Medical Infantry/Laboratory

A unit of the 6th Infantry Division of the US Army established in 1944 at 208 Quiricada Street, Sta. Cruz, Manila, which served as the first clinical laboratory in the Philippines.

Dr. Alfredo Pio de Roda

A Filipino physician who reorganized the deserted US Army clinical laboratory into the Manila Public Health Laboratory on October 1, 1945, with the assistance of Dr. Mariano Icasiano.

Dr. Prudencia Sta. Ana

A physician at the Manila Public Health Laboratory who developed the formal syllabus for a six-month laboratory training program with completion certificates in 1954.

Mrs. Willa Hilgert-Hedrick

An American Seventh-Day Adventist missionary recognized as the founder of medical technology education in the Philippines; she established the first BSMT degree program at Philippine Union College in 1954.

Mr. Jesse Umali

The first graduate of the Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology program in the Philippines (PUC, March 1955), who later became an OB-Gynecologist.

CMO No. 13 Series of 2017

The Commission on Higher Education memorandum that sets the Policies, Standards, and Guidelines for the Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology / Medical Laboratory Science program under an outcomes-based system.

Clinical Internship Program

A 1-year fourth-year rotation across clinical laboratory sections totaling 1664 contact hours (32 hours per week for 52 weeks) in a CHED-accredited training laboratory.

Medical Technology Board of Examiners

A regulatory board under the Professional Regulation Commission composed of one Pathologist (Chairman) and two Registered Medical Technologists (Members), each serving a 3-year term.

Section 19 of RA 5527

The statutory provision defining MTLE passing criteria: a general average of at least 75%, no subject grade below 50% in major courses, and not failing in at least 60% of subjects by weight.

Medical Laboratory Technician

A board-registered professional who achieved a general weighted average between 70% and 74% in the MTLE, qualifying them to assist an RMT or pathologist.

Republic Act No. 10912

The Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Act of 2016, which mandates registered medical technologists to earn 45 CPD credit units every 3 years (15 units per year) for Professional Identification Card (PIC) renewal.

Executive Order No. 266

A directive issued by President Fidel V. Ramos on July 25, 1995, institutionalizing Continuing Professional Education (CPE) and requiring 60 CPE units for professional license renewals.

PASMETH

Philippine Association of Schools of Medical Technology and Public Health, Inc.; the national organization representing registered educational institutions offering medical technology programs, organized on May 13, 1970.

PHISMETS

The Philippine Society of Medical Technology Students; a national student organization organized in 2002 by Dr. Zenaida Cajucom to foster academic and holistic development.

PAMET

Philippine Association of Medical Technologists; the only PRC-accredited professional organization for Filipino registered medical technologists, founded on September 15, 1963.

Crisanto Gomez Almario

The laboratory worker known as the 'Father of PAMET' who initiated the organization of the Philippine Association of Medical Technologists on September 15, 1963.

Charlemagne T. Tamondong

The first president of PAMET (1964–1967) whose tenure was marked by the 'Emergence of the Profession' and the passage of House Bill No. 7682 in 1965.

Nardito D. Moraleta

The PAMET president known as the 'Father of the Profession' who oversaw the passage of RA 5527, SEC registration, IAMLT membership, and nationwide curriculum standardization.

Bernardo T. Tabaosares

The PAMET president who proclaimed the third week of September as Philippine Medical Technology Week on September 15, 1972, under the theme 'Celebration of the Practice'.

Carmencita P. Acedera

The PAMET president associated with 'Image Building' who initiated PAMET-Safeguard scholarships, published LABNEWS and the Philippine Journal of Medical Technology, and upgraded government MT salaries from Salary Grade 13 to 22.

Point-of-Care Testing (POCT)

Diagnostic testing conducted near or at the patient's bedside, recovery area, or physician clinic that offers portability, rapid results, and built-in quality control.

Newborn Screening

A public health diagnostic program that screens neonates for six congenital disorders: Congenital Hypothyroidism, Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, Phenylketonuria, Galactosemia, G6PD Deficiency, and Maple Syrup Urine Disease.

Laboratory Director

A licensed physician certified as a pathologist who assumes ultimate legal and operational responsibility for the functioning of a clinical laboratory.