THE TRAINER ANALYTIKEREN 1 THE LABORATORY TECHNOLOGIST TEACHES THE DOCTORS OF THE FUTURE Thousands of young medical students have over the years become acquainted with Helle Dyhrfjeld Jensen's professional guidance in the laboratories of the Panum Institute in Copenhagen. Helle is employed as a practical training laboratory technologist, and her task is to guide the students through different practical training exercises in the laboratories. A task which requires good pedagogical and communication skills. My job together with that of my colleagues is to ensure that the students who are otherwise on a very intensive and theoretical course of study come to experience hands-on tuition, which supports the theoretical tuition. We guide them in how we execute different tests on tissue samples, so that they gain an understanding of how it is undertaken in practice. They also become acquainted with equipment which they will very likely meet in their daily working life in the future, says Helle Dyhrfjeld Jensen. The environment was a draw It was not on the cards that Helle would be a trainer when after completing high school she had to decide on her future. She wanted to work with the environment and as she did not find an academic career attractive, she thought of herself as a coming environmental engineer. First the requirement was a laboratory technologist education, so she took it. Afterwards I went travelling and then got a job as a laboratory technologist. Then I had a child and went 14 ER THE TRAIN on a laboratory engineer education where there were greater opportunities for an exciting job, says Helle; after completing her training and education she had several jobs in the private as well as the public sector. An opportunity arose to obtain a position as a practical training laboratory technologist at the then Pharmaceutical College, later to become a part of the University of Copenhagen, and later again Helle was attached to the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen as a practical training laboratory technologist, where today she is also a shop steward for 90 laboratory technologists at the Faculty. Important with practical experience We are two colleagues who run these courses for especially 4th term students. We prepare the tissue samples for the students and provide the set-up, e.g. tissue from ordinary rats and tissue from rats with diabetes, on which the students have to carry out different spectrophotometric measurements. Here they learn that it is not always necessary with long formulas and theoretical explanations, but you can go a long way with ordinary simple arithmetic in laboratory trials, and at the same time they gain practical experience, says Helle. The students also learn about safety and the working environment in a laboratory, and how good laboratory practice is necessary to ensure a professional workflow. The best thing about the job is to see the practical training exercises succeeding and to experience the pleasure of carrying out a successful trial Great satisfaction We have to guide them in the practical work, but gradually we have also got an understanding of the theory behind the trials, so we can supervise around most of the points. There is great satisfaction when the students, who are in a very competitive, academic environment, get an aha moment at the laboratory tables, says Helle Dyhrfjeld Jensen. She admits that not all laboratory technologists are good at facilitating and tuition, and from the start she had not seen herself as a tutor. But I discovered it was good fun and I liked doing it. I have also been on psychology and communication courses subjects which are of benefit to me when teaching as well as being a shop steward, says Helle. The best part is when the students succeed She and her colleagues have the ambition that the students should have the best tuition which it is possible to deliver, and here they also have a role to play. The practical training laboratory technologists feel they are responsible for the students having a positive experience and learning something during their visits to the laboratories, and that they experience that people other than their professors can have a high standard of professionalism and pride in their work. The best thing about the job is seeing that the practical exercises can succeed and experiencing the pleasure of executing a successful trial. It means a lot that my colleagues as well as myself get a good assessment of our courses, even though some of the students are at first a little reticent, and do not quite understand why they should waste time with laboratory work when they could be spending time on theoretical work. But they have also got to work alongside colleagues, and not the least with patients, and consequently it is important that they can function at a workplace and have good, social manners. I think we can give them an insight into this, emphasizes Helle Dyhrfjeld Jensen. The practical exercises in the laboratories take place with 24 students at a time. They are divided up into groups of two and there are two trainers and a practical training laboratory technologists at hand during the practical exercises, so there is time to guide each individual student as much as possible. n 15 MEET 9 SPECIALISTS WHO ARE CREATING THE FUTURE THE DEV ELOPER THE IT SUPER USER DITOR THE QUALITY AU THE TECHNOLOGIST THE COORDINATOR THE LOGISTICIA N THE ANALYST THE TRAINER LABORATORY TECHNOLOGIST EDUCATION THE WORLD CITIZEN CONTENTS A PROFESSION UNDERGOING CHANGE In Dansk Laborant-Forening/HK (DL-F) we know that our profession contains a vast number of exciting job opportunities. 03 Preface: A profession undergoing change 04 The Analyst: Guarantor for consumer safety 06 The Quality Auditor: Ensures that quality THE ANALYST ANALYTIKEREN 1 GUARANTOR GARANT FOR FOR CONSUMER SIKKERHED FORBRUGERNES SAFETY THE ANALYST Eva Jørgensen has been a laboratory technologist since 1989 and has worked at the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration's laboratory in Ringsted since 2006. At that time, she was, together w THE QUALITY AUDITOR ANALYTIKEREN 1 ENSURES THAT GARANT FOR QUALITY IS OF THE FORBRUGERNES SIKKERHED HIGHEST ORDER DITOR THE QUALITY AU When laboratory technologist, Susanne Jeppe sen, is doing her job at Novo Nordisk A/S in Bagsværd it is done for the most part at a desk and in front of a compute IT SUPER USER BRIDGE-BUILDER BETWEEN RESEARCH AND IT DEVELOPMENT Since Mads Molich completed his education as a laboratory technologist in 2006, he has for the most part not had two working days that are the same. Today he works at Novozymes A/S in Bagsværd as a scientific laboratory technologist o THE COORDINATOR FLAIR FOR ORGANISING AND GATHERING KNOWLEDGE THE COORDINATOR As a working environment and emergency and security coordinator Henriette Lerche no longer works in the laboratory. Her workplace is the long corridors and offices at the Niels Bohr Institute at Copenhagen University on THE LOGISTICIAN SAY WHAT YOU NEED AND I'LL GET HOLD OF IT Laboratory technologist Heidi Irming is a buyer at DTU Biosustain, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability (CFB) in Hørsholm. She has recently been extremely busy in connection with the moving of DTU Biosustain to a completely THE TRAINER ANALYTIKEREN 1 THE LABORATORY TECHNOLOGIST TEACHES THE DOCTORS OF THE FUTURE Thousands of young medical students have over the years become acquainted with Helle Dyhrfjeld Jensen's professional guidance in the laboratories of the Panum Institute in Copenhagen. Helle is employed as a pr THE DEVELOPER I LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY Lene Odgaard Kamstrup is a laboratory technologist with the Danish-American company CMC Biologics A/S, CMC, in Søborg. The biotechnology company is a customer-based company. This means that they have many different customers which they undertake develop THE TECHNOLOGIST FROM ALARM CLOCKS TO ROBOTS Inge Lise Stripp Petersen has always enjoyed technology, IT and programming. Since she was little she has taken everything apart from alarm clocks to sewing machines. Today she is a laboratory technologist at Novo Nordisk A/S in the API Bio Analysis depa THE WORLD CITIZEN I participate in weekly Skype meetings with the Indian and Polish development departments ALL-ROUND JOB WITH AN INTER NATIONAL PROFILE Weekly Skype meetings with Indian engineers, visits to factories in Germany, France and India, courses in England and meetings with Japanese cust WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THE GENERAL EDUCATION SYSTEM WORTH KNOWING ABOUT FURTHER EDUCATION & TRAINING In Dansk Laborant-Forening/HK(DL-F) we are working on creating a transparent way through the education system. It can be in relation to mem bers, employers as well as the political system. In Dansk L ABOUT DANSK LABORANTFORENING/HK (DL-F) Dansk Laborant-Forening/HK (DL-F) is a cross-union association in HK. We organize approx. 10,000 members whose primary educational background is laboratory assistant, laboratory technologist, environmental engineer or environmental technologist; they are employ