Doctors Day Special: How Do Laboratory Doctors Play an Essential Role in Primary Healthcare?

Every year, on July 1, National Doctor’s Day is celebrated in India. This day aims for everyone to take a moment to thank the doctors who always put community health and well-being before themselves.

Their contribution to society is why many people smile and are with their loved ones.

 On Doctor's Day, while we celebrate the tireless dedication and extraordinary efforts of all medical professionals, it’s crucial to spotlight the often-overlooked laboratory doctors. 

 These specialists play an important role in primary healthcare, providing essential diagnostic services that form the backbone of the healthcare industry.

 This blog discusses laboratory doctors' contributions and their indispensable role in ensuring effective and accurate healthcare delivery. Let’s learn about the efforts that go on behind the scenes and celebrate the doctors, who are the backbone of any treatment.

Early Diagnosis and Disease Management:

Diagnostics play a key role in any sort of treatment. With their help, your health providers can determine what condition you are suffering from and provide medication accordingly. Diagnostic services, be it blood tests, sonographies, or MRIs, are all done under the supervision of a laboratory doctor (pathologist, radiologist). Various samples, like blood, tissue, urine, etc., are analyzed by the doctors working in the laboratory. 

Yes, some doctors work in laboratories to get accurate results so your treatment can start as soon as possible. There is a reason why they are called the backbone of the healthcare system. If no diagnostic services are available, the doctors on the frontlines cannot proceed with their treatments, so on this doctor’s day, let's take a moment to appreciate the ones working behind the scenes.

Supporting treatment decisions:

Medical laboratory results are an important part of any decision-making process in any treatment. Physicians rely heavily on these lab tests and MRI scans to understand what condition you have been going through and the severity of the condition.

These test reports are pivotal in understanding any health condition. They help physicians understand and decide what treatment method to use. These tests help monitor the treatment method to determine if any changes are required and then proceed.

Prevention and screening:

Laboratories also play a significant role in preventive health care. If you are someone who gets their regular health checkups done on time, it is a boon. This helps you keep track of your health and determine if any abnormalities are occurring that require immediate medical attention. 

Your samples are analyzed by the doctors in the laboratories, who work to give you the most accurate results so that your health is not jeopardized. We often forget their efforts and fail to show them appreciation, but let’s not do that anymore.

Research and Development:

Beyond patient care, laboratory doctors play an important role in researching and developing new diagnostic services. They keep on studying and trying out new ways of diagnosing. This helps in the discoveries and ways that can help in the diagnosis and prognosis of major health conditions.

These laboratory doctors have led us to breakthroughs in understanding health conditions and diseases on the molecular level, and these discoveries have led to new and more effective ways of treating them.

Quality Control and Assurance:

Pathologists or any other laboratory doctors play an important role in ensuring the quality of the samples. They take extra care of the samples that are collected to keep them free from contamination. This contamination can lead to inaccuracies in test reports and adversely affect someone’s health due to the treatments they may provide.

This is why these laboratory health professionals are extra conscious of giving accurate diagnoses and maintaining the quality of the reports.

They are very strict with the quality control standards, and as the patients trust the reports they provide, it becomes their duty to be extra careful so that there are no issues with them.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, medical laboratories and laboratory doctors are irreplaceable in this era of medicine. Without the help of pathologists and radiologists, physicians or surgeons cannot carry out their treatments. The first step towards treatment is diagnosis, and laboratory doctors work tirelessly behind the scenes to give proper and accurate diagnoses.

This Doctor’s Day, along with appreciating the front-liners, let’s take a moment and thank these laboratory doctors who have been working to keep us healthy behind the scenes and are not given their due credit. 

Ref: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/vital-role-medical-laboratories-healthcare-narendra-vaishnav-qunsc/