Medical laboratory workers play a crucial role in the health care system but are often hidden from public view. Unlike many previous histories of Canadian health care, Labour in the Laboratory offers an intimate portrait of the women (and a few men) who laboured at the bench. In a detailed analysis of local hospital records, membership records, newspapers, professional health care journals, and other sources, Peter Twohig shows that the history of health care looks different when seen from the perspective of workers other than physicians or nurses.

Labour in the Laboratory is also about the ways in which health care work has been organized. Twohig reveals that many health care workers fulfilled multiple roles, challenging traditional ideas of professional boundaries and exclusive control over particular tasks. Using evidence from the Maritime provinces, he challenges assumptions about health care work and hospital development throughout Canada and beyond.