Salford Students mark Pathology Week with a visit to NHS Lab

National Pathology Week is an annual event that shines the spotlight on pathologists and laboratory scientists focusing on how they make a vital contribution to the healthcare of patients.  First-year undergraduate students from the University of Salford visited the NHS lab to explore how biomedical scientists can support clinicians in patient diagnosis and care.  The students visited different departments including Haematology, Biochemistry, Virology and Bacteriology and were given the opportunity to ask questions about future career paths. 

Tahmina Hussain, Lecturer in Biomedical Science at the University of Salford organised the tour and said: “ I am passionate about the employability of our students with visits like this giving them a unique opportunity to gain an insight into working life.  It provides budding biomedical scientists with a unique chance to see what a difference that they can make in a patient's life and how their hard work is an important part of the laboratory process.”

Heba Toumeh, a student on the visit added: "The best thing that I enjoyed on our tour is the microbiology lab. I was impressed by all the equipment and how they work. I asked a lot of questions including how to plan for my placement year and which type of work I want to do after my graduation.I  saw first-hand the importance of accuracy in our work and how  cooperation with all departments help patients get prescribed the appropriate medication."

Sara A Kassam also attended the tour and said: "I loved the tours as they helped me see each principle I have read about and studied in practice. Biomedical Scientists work particularly hard behind the scenes, which was pretty evident with the number of samples coming through to the lab for testing. It helped me discover what is entailed within a typical day of a biomedical scientist, from processing samples to testing them using advanced equipment to liaising with medics in the hospital to ensure the results are conveyed appropriately and that an appropriate diagnosis is determined. I believe these tours would be particularly helpful towards the end of the first year as they get students thinking about the career path they might want to pursue.”

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