History of Medical Technology

HISTORY OF MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY PROFESSION

The Medical Technology perform laboratory tests on body fluids and tissues which aid in the diagnosis of
disease and management of health. The scope of practice includes collection and processing of
specimens, performance of a broad range of analytical procedures, quality control, and reporting of test
results.

The oldest history of clinical laboratory sciences (CLS) date from the middle of the 1920s, although
socioeconomic subtleties that influenced the development of the field go back to the American
Revolution. After the Civil War, women started enrolling in college, and it was thought that getting a
degree was solely for self-fulfillment and to help them be better spouses and mothers. The number of
career options was restricted because to the lack of mobility in largely male-dominated environments.
However, a number of epidemic outbreaks (including diptheria, typhoid, TB, and others) in the late 19th
century brought about a new requirement for laboratory testing in patient treatment. An in-house
laboratory in a medical facility was a luxury in the early 1900s. Female scientists began to carve out a
niche as a result of increased pressure on pathologists to fulfill shifting public health and "big science"
expectations. In spite of the fact that the specialized skills required, such bacteriology and glass washing,
were "feminine," CLS was one of the first jobs that women could obtain that wasn't the traditional low-
level secretarial duty.

The American College of Surgeons' accrediting requirement from 1919, which mandated that hospitals
maintain a lab, worsened the scarcity of competent personnel and rise in service demand that followed
World War I. In 1928, ASCP founded the Board of Registry, and the following 20 years were devoted to
determining titles, academic criteria, and whether or not the practice of laboratory technology was
"purely mechanical" and required "little thought." On the influence and significance of laboratory
technicians, there were a variety of views. Dr. Kano Ikeda believed recognizing lab technicians as
professionals would elevate the service and status of clinical pathology. Bailey (1936) described them as
"silent partners to Aesculapis (god of medicine)." Salaries would eventually see an increase with World
War II because the military couldn't meet staffing demands.

The term "medical technologist" first gained popularity about 1936, with the founding of ASMT. In 1939,
the Texas Society of Medical Technologists became its first state branch. ASMT had a committee that
advised the BOR due to complaints about ASCP's "dictatorial tactics," such as the rule that "under no
circumstances" should a medical technician practice or instruct without the direct supervision of a
licensed doctor or pathologist. The Code of Ethics was drafted in a fashion that provided pathologists
the authority to administer punishments and regulate the labor pool. In 1937, California became the
first state to implement licensing based on legislation after ASCP rejected it.

To ensure that MTs are "educated," rather than "trained," criteria were raised to two years of liberal
arts college in 1938. By 1946, nurses were no longer allowed to training programs because they had
ambiguous education. As high as doctoral degrees, specialization and certification were first established
in 1948. The number of accredited schools increased from 250 in 1943 to 650 in 1958. In 1962, the
three-year college entrance requirement proposed by the AMA became law. When this happens, the
goals of MT programs would change to "To inoculate within the student an inquisitive mind... beyond
the demands typically necessary for just acquiring theory and technical methods."
\The National Committee for Careers in Medical Technology was established by ASCP, ASMT, and CAP to
enhance recruiting since women had more job possibilities in fields dominated by males (with greater
salary and recognition). School enrolment expanded by 28% between 1953 and 1959, while school
enrollment rose by 56%. The number of pupils has increased, but this has been tempered by low
exposure among high school students and little prospects for promotion. The Allied Health
Professionals Training Act of 1966 was the first national legislation to grant funds to expand career
prospects, and in 1973, ASMT started formally establishing a career ladder.

MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY
Disease was considered as a mystery in early medical diagnosis. It was once thought that illness was
brought on by the body's harmful interactions with the environment. Hippocrates, known as the "father
of medicine," who wrote the Hippocratic Oath, and Galen, a Greek physician and philosopher, initiated a
crude and qualitative evaluation of disorder by measuring of bodily fluids in connection to seasons
between the years 300 BC and 180 AD. The goal of these ancient Greek doctors' work was to improve
their patients' quality of life.

One of the bodily fluids that was tested was urine. Hippocrates promoted the practice of tasting urine
and came to the conclusion that the presence of bubbles, blood, and pus in urine indicated kidney
disease and other chronic ailments. Galen recognized a link between fluid consumption and urine
volume and referred to diabetes as "diarrhea of urine." The technique of "water casting" (also known as
uroscopy) for medical diagnosis was common in medieval Europe. Patients provided beautiful flasks to
submit their pee samples in. Physicians who neglected to analyze the urine received public beatings. The
earliest literature describing the properties of urine was written about 900 AD.

Medicine and medical technology progressed from these earliest written texts because of the high
death rate brought on by famines and other ailments. Performing physical examinations of patients was
not permitted for medical professionals to do until the beginning of the 11th century. As a result, they
only used the patient's explanation of their symptoms and their own observations. Mechanical methods
and cadaver dissection were employed during the 18th century to offer a more objective and precise
diagnosis and to comprehend the internal organs of the body. The use of machines by doctors for
diagnosis started in the 19th century such as medicine. These tools included the sphygmomanometer
developed by Jules Herisson to measure blood pressure and the spirometer by John Hutchinson to
gauge the lungs' vital capacity.

The diagnosis of diabetes, anemia, and other diseases also relied heavily on the use of chemistry.
Around this time, diphtheria, and syphilis were prevalent. The transition from general practice to
specialization was sped up by the appearance of mechanical and chemical technologies. This shift was
caused by an increase in both the patient population and the body of medical knowledge, which
generalists could no longer handle. More Complex apparatus and equipment utilized in medical
treatment needed technical know-how, leading to cooperation arrangements among professionals in
diverse professions. Hospitals so arranged their medical services. In order to diagnose and treat patients
in this setting, a lot of data was needed. Information technology was required due to these large
amounts of patient data. Data specialists and medical technicians are required also went up. In
actuality, non-physicians made over 80% of the medical workforce in 1969. In actuality, non-physicians
made over 80% of the medical workforce in 1969. The necessity for technicians to be skilled in using
technology was driven by growth. Patients were also required to receive education on the tests
conducted on them.

Face-to-face interactions between patients and doctors were replaced by technology as a result of
doctors' increased reliance on it for diagnostic evaluations rather than on patients' subjective
descriptions of their symptoms. The end outcome of all of them was a reduction in the doctor-patient
bond in exchange for improved diagnostic accuracy. Thermometers, stethoscopes, microscopes,
ophthalmoscopes, laryngoscopes, and X-ray machines are just a few of the medical technology advances
that have made it possible for doctors to study body parts that were previously only visible in cadavers.

Chemical professionals set up laboratories in the middle of the 1800s for the analysis of medicinal
samples. By the middle of the 20th century, technical laboratories under the control of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were being employed in the US for medical diagnostics.
Improvements in the fundamental sciences and the incorporation of new scientific and technology
discoveries (such as electrical measuring methods, sensor development), The advancements in medical
technology (such as nuclear medicine and diagnostic ultrasonography) were notable. Various surgical
techniques have been impacted by medical technology as well.

New medical innovations like the electron microscope, new medical imaging technologies, and
prosthetic devices were made possible by the continued fusion of science and technology. The
observation of minuscule cells, including cancerous cells, was made possible by the electron microscope.
Tomography and magnetic resonance imaging were developed as a result of the use of computers in
medical research (MRI). Artificial heart valves, for example, or any prosthetic. As a result of these
discoveries, blood arteries, functioning electromechanical limbs, and reconstructive skeletal joints were
also created. Robotics, keyhole surgery, genetic engineering, and telemedicine are examples of ongoing
medical technology advancements (information technology). Life expectancy has grown and the quality
of life has improved because to medical advances. The conventional concepts of life and death,
however, have been reexamined as a result of this advancement.
 THE HISTORY OF MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY IN UNITED STATES
The founding of the first clinical laboratory and the development of the area of medical technology
expanded thanks to the expansion of laboratory practice. To emphasize the usefulness of clinical labs,
the William Pepper Laboratory of Clinical Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania was established in
1895. John Kolmer urged the creation of a procedure for national certification of medical technicians in
1918. The first official training program in medical technology was described in Kolmer's book The
Demand for and Training of Laboratory Technicians. Additionally, a statute mandating that all hospitals
and other institutions maintain a fully-equipped laboratory suitable for routine testing and hire a full-
time laboratory technician was passed by the Pennsylvania state assembly the same year. A head
physician oversaw the operational divisions of clinical labs at major hospitals in 1920. At that time,
clinical laboratories were divided into 4 to 5 sections, including radiography, clinical pathology,
bacteriology, microbiology, and serology. As clinical labs grew increasingly important in the
administration of laboratory testing, the demand for technicians and technologists who could support
physicians increased.

The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) was established in 1922 with the intention of
fostering collaboration between medical professionals and clinical pathologists and upholding the
position of clinical pathologists. A code of ethics for technicians and technologists was also developed by
ASCP, which states that these allied health professionals should operate under the direction of a doctor
and should abstain from giving oral or written diagnoses or counseling doctors on how to treat patients.
The American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science, which was first established as a subset of ASCP and
was formerly known as the American Society for Medical Technologists, contributed to the acceptance
of non-physician clinical laboratory scientists as independent professionals. Medical technologists in the
United States searched in the 1950s for government's professional acknowledgement of their
educational credentials through licensing statutes.
 THE HISTORY OF MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY IN THE PHILIPPINES
In the latter half of the 16th century, Manila became the capital of the Spanish Empire. To accommodate
military patients, the first hospital the Spaniards founded in 1565—Hospital Real in Cebu—was
transferred to Manila. Along with the occupiers, members of religious organizations constructed top
educational and healthcare facilities for the underprivileged. The Franciscans constructed the San Lazaro
Hospital for the needy and lepers in 1578. In 1596, For impoverished Spaniards, Hospital de San Juan de
Dios was established. The Hospital de San Jose was established in Cavite in 1641.

In 1871, the first colleges of pharmacy and medicine were created at the University of Santo Tomas,
which was founded by the Dominicans in 1611. Journals of science and medicine, such as the Boletin de
Medicina de Manila (1886), the Revista Farmaceutica de Filipinas (1893), and the Cronicas de Ciencias
Medicas (1895), were also published with the founding of both medical and educational institutions
(Anderson, 2006). In order to produce and distribute vaccine lymph, the central board of vaccination
had 122 regular by 1898, Manila and other large cities had vacunadores (Anderson, 2007; Planta, 2017;
Tiglao, 1998). To offer healthcare services, provincial medical officers were appointed in 1876
everywhere throughout the nation. The creation of the Board of Health and other subsequent events
expansion of charity that began in 1883 was completed in 1886. The Laboratorio Municipal de Manila
was founded by the Spanish government in 1887 for the laboratory testing of food, water, and clinical
samples; nevertheless, the laboratory was not well utilized in the investigation of epidemics (Anderson,
2007; Cardona et al., 2015). General Antonio Luna, a hero of the Philippine war and a chemical specialist
employed at this facility, made advances in forensics, water testing, and studying the environment
(Nakpil, 2008; Vallejo, 2010). Health care and public health institutions were thriving in the nation's
main cities at the time of the end of Spanish control. The Spanish, who were regarded as experts in
medicine, began looking into the microbiological origins of illnesses around the end of the 19th century.
The 1899–1902 Philippine–American War.

However, caused a breakdown in medical and healthcare progress made during Spanish colonial
authority. The Americans replaced the Spanish healthcare system with public health organizations based
on military medical care systems. Lt. Col. Henry Lipincott, who served as the Division of the Pacific and
Eighth Army Corps' head physician, turned the Spanish Military Hospital into the First Reserve Hospital
in 1898 after Manila had fallen. Since the hospital's director suffered typhoid fever when it initially
opened, the diagnostic laboratory was not used to its full potential. Richard P. Strong, his successor,
used the facility for various laboratory tasks as well as autopsies and the examination of blood,
excrement, and urine (Anderson, 2006; Planta, 2017).

The Philippine Commission, an agency of the US government, created a Bureau by 1901 under Philippine
Commission Act No. 156, of Government Laboratories (Anderson, 2006; Planta, 2017). A science library,
chemical division, and serum laboratory for vaccine manufacture were all part of the Bureau, which had
its headquarters at Ermita's Calle Herran (Pedro Gil), Manila. The biology lab is set up to research and
develop approaches for identifying, managing, and preventing illnesses in both humans and animals.
The chemical lab looked into the makeup of food, plants, and minerals. The first head of the bureau,
Paul Freer, made sure that the biological laboratory would have sufficient supplies and tools, including
incubators, sterilizers, microscopes, microtomes, stains, glassware, and chemicals. The primary lab had
two levels and was separated into two wings, with microscope tables near windows in the biological
wing's rooms. The spaces were enough for normal laboratory work as well as procedures like heating,
distilling, and filtration. There was a chemical worktable with gas, water, and vacuums in each biological
chamber. A hood with a flue that reached the attic was installed on the other wall. All of the floors of
the biological wing had refrigerating boxes and Bunsen burner-heated incubators (Anderson, 2006;
Freer, 1902). The National Institutes of Health of the University of the Philippines-Manila currently
resides there after the structure was tragically destroyed during World War II.

The Bureau of Science was founded for medical personnel interested in a career in laboratory research
with the restructuring of the Bureau of Government Laboratories in 1905. (Anderson 2006; Planta,
2017). Before the Army Board for the Study of Tropical Diseases was abolished in 1914, the Bureau
collaborated with it. The Board's primary interest was researching the physiology of white foreigners in
tropical climes, but the Bureau also paid close attention to pathology. The Philippine General Hospital
(PGH) and the University of the Philippines collaborated closely with the Bureau of Science. The nation's
active center for scientific education and research emerged at that point. The biological laboratory of
the Bureau carefully examined samples that came from all throughout the nation. Every day, scientists
would study more than a hundred samples of body fluids to identify the racial bases of diseases through
a map of the archipelago's pathological terrain. Over 7000 fecal samples were delivered to the lab in
1909 specimens, 900 urine specimens, and 700 blood specimens. In connection with the influx of
various illnesses including cholera, malaria, leprosy, TB, and dysentery, the Bureau's medical research
and laboratory studies were mostly focused on microbiology.

The civilian Board of Health created by the United States government at the conclusion of the
Philippine-American War. United States became the Bureau of Health (Planta, 2017). It was reorganized
in 1915 to become the Philippine Health Service, but by 1933 it had changed back to the Bureau of
Health. In June 1927, the College of Public Health at the University of the Philippines officially launched
its Certificate in Public Health program with the intention of properly educating the medical officers of
the Philippine Health Service.

Just ten hours after bombing Pearl Harbor on December 8, 1941, Japan launched an aerial assault and
ground invasion against the entire city of Manila. Massive casualties were caused with the start of the
Second World War. In the midst of this chaos, the US Army's Medical Laboratory unit supplied medical
services using the available laboratory supplies, additional laboratory tests, and epidemiological and
sanitary inspections investigations. It was also required to do routine water assessments, analysis of
food supplies, the delivery of unique solutions and reagents, culture medium, and the examination of
epidemics and epizootia. Additional tasks included post-mortem examinations, pathological specimen
preservation for the US Army Medical Department (WW2 US Medical), and special serological,
bacteriological, pathological, and chemical examinations. (Research Centre, 2018).

On June 18, 1942, the 3d Medical Laboratory was the first laboratory unit to be allocated in the South
West Pacific Area (SWPA) (SWPA). After that, in 1944, when US forces arrived in Leyte, the 3rd, 5th, and
8th medical laboratories as well as the 19th medical general laboratory were transferred to the West
Pacific Area. The 26th and 27th Medical Laboratories as well as the 363rd Medical Composite
Detachment were added to the list. These medical units were not merged but deployed separately as
small detachments or mobile laboratory sections to military bases in different islands. Leyte was the
operating location for the 3rd Medical Laboratory, the 19th Medical General Laboratory, and the 363rd
Medical Composite Detachment. The 26th Medical Laboratory ran in Lingayen Gulf (the only laboratory
in Luzon for six months after the US invasion) and the 27th Medical Laboratory ran in Tacloban (January
9, 1945).

The 6th Infantry Division of the US Army built the first clinical laboratory in the Philippines at Quiricada
St., Sta. Cruz, Manila. Its current name is the Manila Public Health Laboratory (Cardona et al., 2015;
Moraleta, 2012; Rabor, 2016; Suba & Milanez, 2017). The laboratory was transferred to the National
Department of Health when the US troops withdrew in June 1945, and it remained closed until it was
reactivated in Dr. Mariano Icasiano, who was the Manila City Health Officer at the time, assisted Dr. Pio
de Roda in October of the same year.

Dr. Pio de Roda and others established the public health laboratory in Manila after Dr. Prudencia Sta. For
potential lab employees, Ana conducted a training program. Dr. Sta Ana was then requested to create a
six-month official curriculum for the training program, complete with a certificate for the learners. They
were eventually joined by Dr. Tirso Briones (Moraleta, 2012). A four-year Bachelor of Science in Medical
Technology curriculum was approved by the Bureau of Private Education in 1954, which put an end to
the training program. During that same year, Under the direction of Mrs. Willa Hedrick, Dr. Elvin
Hedrick's wife, the Manila Sanitarium and Hospital (MSH) established the country's first school of
medical technology. It wasn't long before MSH began its Loma Linda University-affiliated medical
internship and residency training program.

The School of Medical Technology at MSH was incorporated by the Philippine Union College (PUC) in
Baesa, Caloocan City in 1954. Only the building housing its clinical section remained with MSH. The
program for medical technology's first graduate was Dr. Jesse Umali. Later on, he earned his doctorate
in medicine from the Far Eastern successful OB-GYN in the US (Puno, 2014; Rabor, 2016). Graduated
from Florida International University (FEU). The Medical Technology course was first provided as an
option for pharmacy students at University of Santo Tomas in 1957. The Medical Technology program in
UST wasn't acknowledged as an official one until 1961. (Cardona et al., 2015).