After 35 years in the field of cytology, the author reflects on their career progression from starting as a preparatory technologist with no experience to taking on various roles with increasing responsibility including managerial, educational, and quality assurance duties. The author notes they were fortunate to be able to work nights to balance raising children with a high-volume workload, consistently demonstrating high quality screening and productivity without supervision. Currently, the author adheres to company policies and aims to help all departments and individuals to prioritize efficient patient care and quality results.

1. General background
35 year in the field of cytology - where did the time go? It is still a career I am thankful to be
in every day. It is a good thing that I have adopted what seems to be my family's philosophy
of continual learning throughout life (my father learned to text at 92!), I have been a part of
the golden years of an emerging science of cellular cancer screening to transitioning to
molecular diagnostics and cafeteria patient care.
With my first field related job, I truly began at the bottom. I started as a preparatory
technologist after completing my program because there were no cytotechnologist
positions available in the Seattle area. This allowed me to develop technical skills in a large
variety of hospital specimens as well as processing all gynecological specimens for the day.
Later experience included microphotography for Tumor Board, budgeting, lab
supplies, client services and in-house educational lectures. Managerial experience was
diverse with, at one time, supervising a staff of 15 technologists along with 6
processing/data entry personnel. Additionally, I assisted with training Harborview
cytotechnology students that came to our lab for 2 week internships. I aided an individual
who finally passed the registry exam after 3 tries, and retrained out-of-practice
technologists and those having weak diagnostic skills. Along with routine peer reviews, I
was asked by a Medical Director to be present in difficult employee situations where there
were confrontations between staff and the supervisor and to assist with lay-offs. I was
Safety Committee Chairperson for numerous years.
My years of raising children were fortunate in that, the high volume of paps at the
time allowed me to work nights. My monthly stats and summaries continued to show a
pattern of high quality screening and productivity proving my ability to work without any
supervision.
In more recent years, I have always maintained the support for my Supervisor and
adhere to company policy - even as it changed with the merger. I choose to be helpful to all
departments and individuals in order to have an efficient workflow for the whole lab. To
me, the patient truly comes first with the quality of the results never being compromised.
Give 100% everyday as I was taught by my mentor, Mary Arai. I will continue to do so.