A Connecticut-based lab manager has penned a children’s book to inspire kids to become laboratory scientists.
By Chris Wolski
Summary: A Connecticut-based lab manager uses her creativity to inspire kids to pursue careers in laboratory science through her book “I Want to Be a Laboratory Scientist!”
Takeaways:
- Kelli Garcia wrote her book to explain her job to her children and highlight laboratory science careers.
- The book aims to address the laboratorian workforce shortage by capturing children’s imaginations.
- Garcia hopes her book will inspire children and inform parents about the critical role of laboratory scientists in health care.
Imagination is a powerful tool. A Connecticut-based lab manager is using hers to encourage kids to pursue a career in laboratory science.
The book, I Want to Be a Laboratory Scientist!, was born out of a practical need to explain her job to her own kids—as author Kelli Garcia, M(ASCP), related to CLP in a recent conversation. But it just may serve a greater purpose: helping to alleviate the laboratorian workforce shortage.
With an ongoing, yearly deficit of 20,000 to 25,000 new laboratorians, the industry is currently experiencing an overall shortage of about 7%1. However, this problem is predicted to grow, not shrink unless radical steps are taken. Among those is capturing kids’ scientific imaginations to inspire them to become laboratory scientists.
In her Q&A with CLP, Garcia, who is microbiology supervisor at Hartford’s St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, explains what inspired the book, how she hopes it will help change attitudes and understanding about laboratory science, what inspired her to pursue her own laboratory career, and her next literary steps.
Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
CLP: What was your inspiration for writing “I Want to Be a Laboratory Scientist!”?
Kelli Garcia: I wrote this book to explain to my daughters what I do at work. Most people think that when you say you work at a hospital, or you wear scrubs that you are either a nurse or doctor. I wanted my girls and other children to know that there are other careers in science/medicine. It’s also difficult to explain what we do to not only adults but children as well. I used this book as a guide to not only explain but show what happens in microbiology. I also noticed that there are so many “I want to be” books out, but nothing about working in a laboratory, so I thought why not?
CLP: Who is the book aimed at and what’s it about?
Garcia: The book is aimed at children 6-8 years old but can also be shared with younger children. It’s about a little girl, Kori, who is working on her “bring a parent to school” presentation and wants to know what her mom does for work. She is guided on the process of what a microbiologist does from the moment specimen are brought to the lab to resulting and communicating with the doctor. She learns that not everyone is treated the same when or if they are sick.
CLP: How do you hope it’ll change kid’s—and maybe their parent’s—viewpoints about laboratory science?
Garcia: I hope that will give children another career choice. Not everyone wants to be a doctor or nurse, but still wants to help in another way. I think that this book will show them you can still be in medicine helping people but behind the scenes, as an unsung hero. As for parents, I think it will help them to understand what goes on to get the most accurate results and why sometimes it takes longer to hear back from their doctor. It will also make them aware that laboratory science is a rewarding career, but also show that it’s not just doctors and nurses that are involved in their treatment.
CLP: Do you hope it’ll stir kids’ imaginations to want to be a laboratory scientist when they grow up?
Garcia: I do! Laboratory science is not a well-known career and each year there are less and less students entering programs. That’s because few people know about it. We decide to study biology or chemistry because we choose pre-med as a career field. Then as we progress, we change our minds and now have a science degree with no idea where to find a job. If this was a more well talked about career, not only in schools at an early age, but also in colleges I think we wouldn’t be struggling with open positions/shortages, lack of understanding the field, etc. There are currently 19 universities that offer medical laboratory science programs, with about 5,000 new grads each year and about 24,000 jobs available. More knowledge about the field will help us be successful in-patient care.
CLP: What or who inspired you to become a laboratory scientist? And how did that keep you engaged and interested?
Garcia: So, I was inspired by my first job in college. I was pre-med, and then realized that I didn’t want to be in school any longer to become a doctor. I started working in a pathology lab, and really enjoyed the processing and seeing all the work done behind the scenes. Once I graduated, I investigated jobs I could do with my biology degree and it was very limited, and one of my coworkers told me to investigate laboratory science. I did some research, found a 2-year program online, and did it.
What kept me engaged and interested is, microbiology is like solving a puzzle, you have patient history, specimen, and growth of something that shouldn’t be there causing an infection. Trying to figure out the organism is the exciting part, because, once you solve that, the rest falls into place. I specialized in microbiology for two reasons, first, I’m not big on automation, I can barely get my phone to act right, and, second, microbiology is special—those techs love the bugs! It may always be the same work but, once in a while, you identify something that you have never seen before and it’s exciting. It’s also nice to know about antibiotics and treatment when family or friends have questions.
CLP: You’ve done something really creative to promote laboratory science. What are some things that laboratorians could do to help inspire young people to become interested and stay interested in laboratory science or science in general?
Garcia: I think we can promote ourselves through fairs, visiting schools, allowing tours to see what we do. Science itself is such a broad field, but we need people to advocate for it. As laboratory scientists, if we have small children, we can share what we do with their teachers and other educators. We can show different things that can be done, and I think this book is a start.
CLP: Do you have any plans for a sequel or another science-related book? If so, what would it be about?
Garcia: I do have plans for more books, but I want to see how this one does first. I would like to stay on the same path of laboratory science.
CLP: Is the book available now and how can laboratorians and parents get it?
Garcia: Yes the book is available now. It can be purchased on Amazon, Walmart, and Barnes and Noble
Chris Wolski is chief editor of CLP.
Reference
“The Causes and Potential Solutions for the Current Shortage of Clinical Laboratory Technologists.” Fitzgerald, Brian. CLP. September 22, 2022. https://clpmag.com/lab-management/education/the-causes-and-potential-solutions-for-the-current-shortage-of-clinical-laboratory-technologists/
Very excited about this book! Where can we follow the author on social media?