General

Considerations
of the Course
Objectives
At the end of the period, the students are expected to:

1. Discuss the history of medical technology on a

global context.

2. Discuss the history of medical technology in the

United States.

3. Discuss the history of medical technology in the

Philippines.
 Objectives
At the end of the period, the students are expected to:

4. Identify important personalities that played a

significant role in t he prog re ss of m e di cal
technology profession.

5. Discuss the historical milestones in Medical

Technology
Overview of MT – Course concept

•What is Medical Technology?

• Also known as clinical laboratory science or

laboratory medicine

• Application of diagnostic, preventive and

therapeutic medicine to monitor and improve the
management of health conditions
 Anne Fagelson

• Medical technology is the

branch of medicine
concerned with the
performance of
laboratory
determinations and
analyses used in the
diagnosis and treatment
of disease and the
maintenance of health.
Walters • Medical technology is the health
professions concerned with
performing laboratory analyses
in view of obtaining
information necessary in the
diagnosis and treatment of
diseases as well as in the
maintenance of good health.
 • Medical
technology is the
application of the
principles of
natural, physical
and biological
sciences in
laboratory
procedures to aid
in the diagnosis
and treatment of
Ruth Heinemann diseases.
RA 5527 = PMT Act of 1969
= approved on June 21,
1969

examination of tissues, secretion and excretion of the human

body and body fluids by various electronic, chemical,
microscopic and other medical laboratory procedures or
techniques either manual or automated

= aid the physician in the diagnosis, study and

treatment of disease and in the promotion of health
in general.
Medical
Technology
• Interdisciplinary
• Trains in:
• Hematology
• Clinical Chemistry
• Medical
Microbiology
• Clinical Microscopy
• Immunology
• Serology
• General pathology
Historical Notes
• Ebers Papyrus (1500)
• Oldest preserved Egyptian compilation of
medical texts
• 110-page long scroll
• 20 meters long
•Contains chapters on contraception,
pregnancy, eye and skin problems, surgery,
burns and intestinal diseases and parasites
•book of Ebers Papyrus: describes the treatment of
hookworm disease and infection transmissible to
human
Vivian Herrick
•She is a medical technologist who traced the
beginning of medical technology when
intestinal parasite such as Taenia and Ascaris
were first identified (1500 B.C.).
•Urinalysis – oldest lab
procedure
•Greeks – poured urine on
ground when it attracts
insects = patient diagnosed
with boils

•Hippocrates – Father of
Medicine
•Advocated the use of mind
and senses as diagnostic
tools
•He described four humors
or body fluids in the
human body
• Four humors or body fluids as source of
person’s disposition (frame of mind) and
disease:
* balance = healthy
* deficit or excess = disease or
disabilities

A. blood
B. phlegm
C. yellow bile
D. black bile
Four Humors and Blood Sedimentation
• The four humours were based upon the observation
of blood clotting
• Blood is drawn in a glass container and left
undisturbed for about an hour.

• Four different layers can be seen.

• Black bile: dark clot at the bottom
• Blood: Above the clot is a layer
of RBC
• Phlegm: Above is a whitish layer
of WBC =now called the buffy coat)
• Yellow Bile: The top layer is clear
yellow serum
•Central Hippocratic doctrine of humoral
pathology
•All diseases were due to the disorder of
these four humors or body fluids
•Appearance of bubbles on the surface of
urine = kidney disease and chronic illness

*Rufus of Ephesus (50 AD)

*Made the first description of hematuria
*Due to inability of the kidneys to filter
blood
Middle Ages
• Uroscopy – diagnosis by visual examination of urine.
(water casting method-flask)
• Urine flask – symbol of medieval medicine
• Isaac Judeus (Jewish physician and philosopher)
• Kitab al Baul (Body of Urine)
• Detailed concepts of urine formation, urine
sediments and urine characteristics in relation
to diseases
• Formulated rules for the use of urine in patients’
diagnosis
• One of the founders of the origins of nephrology
•Jerusalem Code of 1090
•Failure of physicians to
examine patient’s urine
was punishable by public
beatings

•Zaccharias Janssen and his

father Hans – invented
microscope (1590s)
•Ruth Williams (Medieval period: 1096-1438)
ØBelieved that MT began from this period
as supported by the fact that urinalysis was
a fad.

• Hindu Doctors
ØMade the ‟scientific observation” that the
urine of certain individuals attracted to ants
– such urine have a sweetish taste.
•Anne Fagelson(14th Century)
ØB e l i e v e d t h a t M T s t a r t e d w h e n a
prominent Italian doctor at the University
of Bologna employed Alessandra Gillani to
perform different task in the lab.
o she died due to lab acquired infection

•15th Century
•Discovery of the different dyes such as the
aniline dyes used in staining
microorganisms.
•Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632)
•Saw bacteria and classified them according
to shapes
•Described blood cells, muscle fibers,
spermatozoa and protozoa
•Father of Microbiology
• Athanasius Kircher (1646)
• Greatest of the early
microscopists
• Blood of patients with
plagues contained
“worms”

• Marcello Malpighi, Italian

microscopist (1628-1694)
• His contributions to
embryology and anatomy
made him known as the
“Founding father of
modern Anatomic
Pathology”
•Jean Baptiste van Helmont
(1577-1644)
ØIntroduced the gravimetric
analysis of urine by weighing
a number of 24-hr urine
specimens

•Richard Lower (1631-1691)

ØInvestigated and showed that
blood transfusion from one
animal to another is possible
•Frederick Dekkers
(1694)
ØObserved that
proteins in the urine
precipitated when
boiled with acetic
acid

ØUseful diagnostic
indicator of
proteinuria
• William Hewson
(1739–1774)
ØDiscovered that
plasma could be
separated from blood
cells when blood clots
ØCoagulable lymph –
could be precipitated
from the plasma upon
application of
temperature higher
than 50°C
ØCoagulable lymph =
fibrinogen
19th Century – Era of
Public Health

•Water treatment

•Pasteurization of milk

•Improvement of hygiene
•Rudolf Virchow
(1847)
•recognized as the
father of
microscopic
pathology
•Founder of Archives
(collection of
records) of
Pathology in Berlin
•Herman von Fehling
(1848)
• German Chemist
•Develop and
Performed the first
qualitative glucose
test for urine
• John Snow (1854) – studied
cholera outbreak in London and
brought the situation under
control
• How? Due to contaminated
water in the Broad Street
pump
•Louis Pasteur (1861) –
studied aerobic and
anaerobic bacteria
•(1867) Pasterurization at
55-60°C can prevent wine
spoiling
•Developed anthrax
vaccine (1881)
• Robert Koch (1843 – 1910)
• provided experimental steps (Koch’s postulates)
used to prove that a specific microbe causes a
specific disease.
Mid- 1800s
•Laboratory tests for the ff were introduced
•Tb, cholera, typhoid and diphtheria
•Guys Hospital – first hospital laboratory in
Britain
•University of Michigan Hospital – first
clinical laboratory set up in US
 The History of Medical
Technology in the United
States
late 19th century
• emergence of Clinical Laboratories in the
US started

• Dr. William H. Welch

• established a laboratory at Bellevue
Hospital Medical College (1878)
• He gave the first lab course in pathology
ever offered in an American Medical
School
• Became the 1st professor of Pathology at
John Hopkins University (1885)
• Dr. William Osler
• opened the 1st clin.lab. in 1896 at the John
Hopkins Hospital
• in this lab., “routine exams” was
performed & special test for blood
malarial parasites identification.

• Clin Lab also opened at the University of

Pennsylvania (William Pepper Laboratory)‫‏‬
• 1908
• Dr. James C. Todd
wrote:
“Clinical Diagnosis: A
Manual of Laboratory
Methods”

“Clinical Diagnosis and

Management by
Laboratory Methods”
• Edited by John
Bernard Henrys
• fundamental
source in the
practice of lab
medicine
State Legislature of Pennsylvania (1915)
• required all hospital to have
adequate lab and employ
• a full time laboratory technician

World War I
• Impt factor in the growth of clin lab
& created a great
• Demand for clinical laboratory
technicians
• Assistants were taught to do some
tests by the practicing physicians
1923
• University of Minnesota, issued a
course bulletin entitled “Courses
in Medical Technology for Clinical
and Laboratory Technicians”
• 1st to offer a degree level program
in 1923

1936
• The American Board of Pathology was
established
World War II marked a great effect on Laboratory Medicine

RESULT: development of :
• use of blood for transfusion = closed system blood
collection
• instrumentation was advanced
• automation in the laboratory
• Quality control programs

Laboratory Medicine moved up into an era of sophistication.

 History of
Medical
Technology
in the
Philippines
World War II in 1939-1945
• Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl harbor was invaded by
Japan then invaded the Philippines after 3
days causing US to flare up.
• Effects: Sickness and death were rampant

1944
• US bases were built in Leyte
• US brought members of health care team to
the Philippines to resolve health problems
of soldiers and Filipinos
•6th Infantry Division of US Army
•Established the 26th Medical Laboratory of
the 6th US Army and introduced medical
technology in the Philippines
•First clinical laboratory in the Philippines
•Located at 208 Quiricada Street, Sta. Cruz
Manila

•Now known as the Public Health

Laboratory, a division of the Manila Health
Department
February 1944
•highschool graduates were provided with one
year training to work as laboratory
technicians

June 1945
•staff of 6th US Army left the facility
•Clinical laboratory was endorsed to the
National Department of Health
Dr. Pio de Roda
•Filipino doctor and a dislocated staff of the 26
Medical Laboratory

•preserved the remains of the laboratory with

the help of Dr. Mariano Icasiano
• first City Health Officer of Manila

•The laboratory was later named Manila Public

Health Laboratory
1947
•A training program for individual aspiring to
become lab workers was offered by Dr. Pio de
Roda, in collaboration with Dr. Prudencia Sta.
Ana.

•Trainees were mostly high school graduates

and paramedical graduates.
•Dr. Pio de Roda instructed Dr. Sta. Ana to
prepare a formal syllabus of the training
program.

1954
•The training began using a syllabus and it was
to last for 6 months.
•After a short while Dr. Briones joined the two.

•The training program did not last long.

Formal
Medical
Technology
Education in
the
Philippines
•Dr. Willa Hilgert Hedrick

•Founder Of Medical Technology Education in

the Philippines

•An American medical practitioner and a

missionary of the 7th Day Adventist Church in
the
•Dr. Willa Hilgert Hedrick
•established the first Medical Technology
School in the Philippines together with Dr.
Reuben Manalaysay, Rev. Warren

•with the help of Mrs. Antoinette McKelvey:

prepared the course curriculum and
established the first complete laboratory in
m i c r o b i o l o g y, p a r a s i t o l o g y , a n d
histopathology at Manila Sanitarium Hospital
1956
•Mr. Jesse Umali: first student to graduate from the
Philippine Union College (1954)
• First to offer a 4-year BSMT through its sister
establishment, Manila Sanitarium Hospital

1957-1958
•UST offered an elective course in pharmacy
leading to a bachelor of science in medical
technology
•Dr. Antonio Gabriel and Dr. Gustavo Reyes of
the Faculty of Pharmacy
•Rev. Lorenzo Rodriguez decided to offer it as a
course.
•June 14, 1961 – full recognition of the 4-year
BSMT course.
•Mrs. Purificacion Sunico-Suaco undertook
feasibility study for the offering of BSMT course.
•The first batch graduated in 1962

•The University of the Philippines offered a

similar course:
•BS in Public Health

•Postgraduate courses:
•MSMT (UST, PWU,SPC)
•Non thesis MPH -1 year (UP,DMSF)
“If you want to understand
today, you have to search
yesterday.”
Pearl Buck