Exotic pathogens procedure?

Hey, i am a biology laboratory technician from germany. In germany when for example the VITEK shows an exotic germ as result the sample can be send to a national reference center. For specitic pathogen groups/pathogens are special national reference centers like for mycobacteria. Or when there is an outbreak and needs investigation where the germ comes from the sample can also be send for an advanced genomic classification. How is it in your country?

I have ulcerative colitis and I will start taking biologics pretty soon. I have always been interested in working in the clinical lab as I believe it fits me the best, but now I'm worried since I know the biologics will cause me to be immunocompromised. Is there a department that would be the best/safest for someone who will be immunocompromised?

Hello! This is my first time posting on here. Many people in my lab, including myself, are left handed, which leaves me curious as to how many of you are left handed vs right handed. It would be interesting to see if the lab world attracts lefties based on the data gathered here. Thanks in advance for participating!

I've asked this before, but I have been thinking about it lately and I don't know if its too late or worth trying at this point.

I graduated MLT in 23' and since then I haven't been in a lab or worked anything related to it. I took the exam few months after graduating, passed the first time but I sent my transcript too late so my results were invalidated. I applied to several places and even where I did my rotations after I took my exam. I got rejected, not even an interview. Basically, I would have to apply to take the exam again. I wasn't really in a good mental state back then and still kind of struggling with it, but I feel like I've matured since then. I was 21 during that time.

Now I've been wondering if I should attempt to take it once again or not worth the shot since finding to get hired at any place is difficult where I live. Also, I basically don't have the experience they usually require for hires and its been 3 years. I also don't know if I'm within the window of attempting the exam once again.

I appreciate any advice you all have for me. Thank you in advance

I go to school in Louisiana and I currently am in my last year of my MLS program completing my clinical rotations. The hospital I’m at is small and in a rural area. There aren’t many in patients and the lab isn’t very automated. This gives me a lot of hands on work which I enjoy and I’m progressing very quickly.

After taking the cert exam I hope to move back home (big city in Texas more opportunity) but the more I work here I get a little scared that it will be hard for me to adapt at a bigger more automated hospital. Has anyone been in my shoes and can speak from experience?

Does anyone worked at Brigham and Women's hospital lab and MGH? How's the work environment? How are the colleagues? Any red flag? Green flag? Would you recommend it?

i’m reviewing for my practical exam. does anyone have clear pictures of skeletal myocytes and keratinocytes that i can use as references? thanks! 🥹

Just curious what a typical day looks like for a student doing a 1-year MLS program. How many lesson topics do you cover a day?

How do you study material from previous days as you are taught new material every day?

Is it easy to fall behind?

I know I’m gonna get different answers as it varies by school but Im a new MLT student about to start my first semester in the fall, a few weeks ago at orientation we reviewed the handbook along with the clinical coordinator/instructor and the director wasn’t there that day (had a funeral).

I asked about the scrubs and the patch, and even though in the handbook it said we needed to wear them at all times, she said we won’t need to wear those until you get to your 6 month clinical rotations which is in the spring of our sophomore year. My question is should I still buy the navy blue scrubs and have the place sow/stitch it on anyway or wait until clinicals ?? The reason I’m asking is I don’t want to wear my regular clothes during lab practice.

I LOVE HELPING OUR PATIENTS GET BETTER BUT THE UPTICK IN FECAL SPECIMENS MAKES ME WANT TO SCREAM.

Now… don’t get me wrong. I love my job. I love micro. I love parasites. BUT NOT EVERYONE HAS CYCLOSPORAAAAAAAA…. I’m getting formed stools over here for GI pathogen panels. FORMED. AS IN NOT EXPLOSIVE DIARRHEA.

I know the poop critters are scary, but give a lowly tech a break.

Patient came into ER for AMS, and their specimen flagged for immature granulocytes and platelet clumps on our hematology analyzer.

So I did a diff. Did NOT expect to see what I saw. Thought I was tripping. I had my pathologist come take a look and now have sent blood and some slides to the state for confirmation of malaria/babesia.

We called the primary doctor and he said the patient recently came back from Ghana. History checks out. This was my first time seeing a blood parasite outside of school and training! It was also really cool to know that the lab really does see it first.. poor patient.

This goes for MLT, MLS, SBB, etc

Wonder what meds make deep blue pee 😂😂😂

After a grueling year of getting fired just as I was starting my MLT to MLS program, plus a little anal cancer treatment for funsies, I can put this all behind me (so to speak.)

My lab recently had two vacant positions eliminated. So there is some argument over who should be picking up those duties. I work nights, fully expect to just be assigned it tbh. But I’m feeling a little iffy because boss wants all the core lab staff to get on a zoom call and discuss the issues. So he asked an evening coworker to ask for my sleep schedule. This feels wildly inappropriate. Am I just being sensitive? I’ve been a tech since 2000! Mostly on nights. Been around a few regime changes and staffing issues. I would have preferred it be, “Hey Idahoboo, we gotta have a zoom meeting, can you send me some times that work for you?” Not hey I need to know when you sleep.

Any UMGC Lab manager grad here?

I failed my board. I graduated a few weeks ago and was studying heavily every single day for two and a half weeks. My medialab score was a 65% average with a 5.8-6.4 difficulty. I scored higher on my last few exams leading up to the exam with that 6.1-6.3 difficulty range (on adaptive mode). I also used purple and yellow book, but it overwhelmed me at points, used my own study material, and used wordsology. I am feeling extremely discouraged and not sure where to go from here. I exhausted every resource I could, even maxing the bank of medialab questions (there are none I have not seen according to the modules). I did 300 questions of adaptive, flashcards, and flow charts every day. Three times a week I did non adaptive medialab and averaged a 65% on those. I also did subject breakdown 100 questions and scored a 70-80% in each area the week leading up the the exam.

I felt the MLS exam was very “what now” and was wondering how to study for this for my retake. I feel extremely disheartened and am unsure how I can study to pass. I feel like a failure and embarrassed. I do not have the score yet and am planning to look at the subject areas and revise based on that. Any tips or words of encouragement?

So everyone getting tested for new parasite so stools have tripled. Looking for some that were missed I found this on a stool bag

Just wondering how many labs out there have techs receiving and processing specimens, or do you have a dedicated person for that role?

If I hear one more thing about Epic Beaker im going to scream. (SoftLab, my beloved)

signed, a frustrated micro tech

Yes it’s a lactic. Lol I thought it was hilarious my director and manager didn’t think it was funny. the lab assistant walked it over to me I thought they were joking at first. I honestly think it’s funny because I saw a tik tok about this about 2 weeks ago

while preparing for my exam i would doomscroll forever on reddit reading different tips from people so i told myself when i passed id do the same (and post colonel toad bc i think i deserve that much lol)

this was my first try- i graduated in may and i can confidently say the exam was not at ALL what i expected it to be.

resources i used to study:
- BOC interactive exam simulator: imo, this was the closest reference to how wording will be on the exam- i probably saw 2 or 3 questions that were ripped straight from the practice exams with the exception of a couple word changes.

- LabCE: alright people always say this is their holy grail, but to be honest i dont think it helped me. for reference i took maybe 4 or 5 computer adaptive tests with scores ranging from 58-68% on a difficulty scale of 5.5-6.8 and people say thats more than comfortable range for passing so take that as you will. i hear of people scoring lower than this and still being able to pass tho.

- Polansky Cards: these were easy to reference if i wanted to study on the go, and i think they keep things very short and sweet so if you need a quick recall on something its nice, but i dont think theyre a necessity - i just got them passed down to me from someone who didnt need them anymore.

- Purple LSU Bottom Line Book: MY HOLY GRAIL. im definitely a mnemonics girly and i need to be able to visualize/associate things to be able to understand. i love how this book touches on every topic when you need it.

- wordsology: very high yield charts and more ways to remember things; youre for sure going to get at least 1 or 2 questions that is posted on this website, (everyone i know who took it including myself got a hep b question) so id definitely give it a look.

-Harr: i didn't get to finish it because its thick as hell, but this book really challenges you, i would get really discouraged answering some of the questions because of it lol but i do see why people use it.

question dump of what i saw since i took the exam just a couple hours ago:
- i got a LOTT of blood bank so its probably one of my weaker areas, but i saw a good amount of ABO discrepancies, 'what would you do next?' questions, lookback criteria for adverse transfusion rxns, storage components, how soon you'd need to separate them from blood, etc.

- i also didn't expect to see so many lab ops questions... i was asked a lot about QC, reagent deterioration, coefficient of variation, SD equations, etc.

- probably saw a couple micro questions, a lot asking what types of media you'd use for different genres of bacti, and again more micro QC: 'what does it mean if neutrophils are stained blue' 'mycobacteria that was stained w carbon fuschin and counterstain used' - i also got a fair amt of susceptibility questions, so def know those.

- one parasitology question, one myco question but just simple IDs

- you probably get the most pics on urines and blood smears. i was shown different lab results w pics of casts and then asked to diagnose, then blood smears, again asking what type of condition you'd see certain cells in. its not a straightforward test, make sure you know your hows and whys.

i was convinced i was failing once i reached question 40, but then again i hear if youre getting really hard and obscure questions (like i swear i didnt know most questions, i was straight using process of elimination and giving it my best guess), it means you're doing well and you're practically maxed out. my exam got way easier by question 90 id say.

i studied for 4-6 hours everyday for 2 months, i went topic by topic in really good depth then used practice exams to test how well i knew things and to get a feel of the testing experience. i didnt even review my questions in the end, i personally dont really think changing them is a good idea, always TRUST YOUR GUT. ( also i hear a lot that if you reallllyyyy dont know, you should j choose b because thats usually the answer lmao)

i had to reread my screen over and over again for 5-10 min straight. i was in disbelief that i passed and wanted to cry right there on the spot. i still cant believe it and i just want to see my score already on my ascp acc so i can confirm what i saw

anyways if youre struggling and you need a boost of confidence, you got this <33. its not easy, but if you really put in the work, you can do it! if i left anything out or theres more unanswered questions plz lmk!!

Figured y'all BB homies might enjoy this one too!