PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Michelle Butina
AU  - Elizabeth Kenimer Leibach
TI  - From Technical Assistants to Critical Thinkers: The Journey to World War II
AID  - 10.29074/ascls.27.4.204
DP  - 2014 Oct 01
TA  - American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science
PG  - 204--208
VI  - 27
IP  - 4
4099  - http://hwmaint.clsjournal.ascls.org/content/27/4/204.short
4100  - http://hwmaint.clsjournal.ascls.org/content/27/4/204.full
SO  - Clin Lab Sci2014 Oct 01; 27
AB  - A review of professional literature was conducted to examine the history of the education of medical laboratory practitioners. This comprehensive review included historical educational milestones from the birth of medical technology to the advent of World War II. During this time period standards were developed by clinical pathologists for laboratory personnel and training programs. In addition, a formal educational model began to form and by the 1940's two years of college was required for matriculation into a medical technology program. Intertwined within the educational milestones are imprints of the evolution of critical thinking requirements and skills within the profession. For the first laboratory practitioners, critical thinking was not developed, discussed, or encouraged as duties were primarily repetitive promoting psychomotor skills.ABBREVIATIONS: American Medical Association (AMA); American Medical Technologists (AMT), American Society of Clinical Pathologists (ASCP), Board of Registry (BOR), critical thinking (CT); doctor of medicine (M.D.), laboratory technician (LT), medical technologist (MT), World War I (WWI).