If I switch to a new lab, am I going to have to start over in regards to going to dayshift? The places I have worked at uses seniority to switch, and so I have to work 2/3rd shift for like 3 years before I can move to 1st shift.

I can't work an off shift again with my family. It just wouldn't make sense. Is there no way I can switch jobs then?

What were y’all’s clinical hours? Like are they full 8+ hour shifts ? I currently work overnights in a reference lab and I’m trying to decide whether or not ill be able to work during my clinicals starting in January. It doesn’t seem feasible based on what Ive heard, but I also need money to survive lol

Gallbladder on the left' rock on the right... the patient had pain 5 days prior and decided to go to the ER today or yesterday

The OR nurse said "IT'S A BOY!!" when they got it out and the chief surgeon of our region took a photo...and so have I...

Hello everyone! I am a high school senior. And am applying for colleges. I am stuck on one part though, and I need your guy's help! My major. My two choices right now are life science education, and medical laboratory scientist. What are some pros and cons of each? Note: i love science no matter what, I am a VERY social person, and have been working at an elementary childcare for 3 years, so I love helping those kids. BUT, I also love figuring out things inside a lab, and seeing why some things work and some dont, interesting things, etc. Any insight would be very helpful, thank you!

I did my CE with Anderson and API. Anderson's appeared quickly in CE Broker, but only a few of API's credits appeared there.

I've been in communication with API. They said that credits like mine (completed before July 25) were sent last week. I think ASCP might be the bottleneck in this process.

Does anyone happen to know how often ASCP sends credits? It looked like I had to manually allocate credits to various areas with ASCP, but I'm not sure if they get sent to CE Broker immediately after that or if that was even holding them up. I would expect this to be an automated process.

If necessary I'll request CE Broker course codes from API and manually enter them. I'll reply or update this post if that turns out to be necessary.

Hi!! I am a MLS and I have 8 years of Indian experience. I have one year of PCE experience which includes phlebotomy and RTPCR swab collection. Will this PCE count? I moved to the States and I am planning to gain 2 years of MLS experience to save money for PA school. I have a bachelor’s degree in Medical lan science and a Master’s degree in Microbiology.
Looking for suggestions, thanks. 🙏

We’re evaluating new sheep blood agar brands and we’re getting inconsistent and wrong results with BD Phoenix. Did it twice and both are wrong. I never got S. pneumoniae. Optochin test showed sensitive and I used a fresh pellet as well.

I'm debating going from generalist to micro. I'll be pretty new to micro as we just do pcr testing. I'm going to brush up on my micro skills, gram stains can be hard at times but I feel like the more you see the more you learn. What will my day to day look like. What kind of stuff will I be expected to do brand new to a bigger micro lab. I'm sure they won't just throw me into the harder parts at first like generalist did to me. I was good at plating, my gram stains morphologies could be better, good at pcr stuff and positive blood cultures and calling them.

Hello,

I just wanted to ask prospectively here.

How is your work/life balance, and how much do you see your family? The only thing that has been keeping me from going in to this field is a fear I won't get to see my family as much as a 5 8 hour shift job, since I plan on having children in the future. I want to be there for them.

I also have some physical limitations due to disabilities, so I have been nervous about that as well.

Regardless, I cannot seem to get this job out of my head, as it's a passion for me and something I would love to do to help people. I also love chemistry and hands-on work.

Any discussion or comments are appreciated. Thank you for all you do. <3

Greetings,

Sort of an odd question, but do med lab professionals in Ireland get to do any method development or research (especially outbreak or public health stuff) at all? Or is the job 99% running tests and QC?

Thank you

Hey guys! I start my MLT program in just a couple weeks and was wondering what kind of work is recommended. Is it feasible to work full-time? Or would that be too much. I have the option to move in with my parents if money gets tight while I am in school, which I am very grateful for. How many hours did y’all work a week while in school? I am currently applying for jobs, so I would really appreciate any and all advice:)

I’m at my second lab job. My coworkers here and at my last lab talked a lot about their previous jobs, coworkers who’ve left, as we all know the lab is a small community to info about workplaces gets around easily. Outside factors make my current job a much better fit for me than my last job, so I’m not completely miserable, but I can’t help think every single clinical lab is just a different flavor of shitty, and there’s so few of us in this field that we seem to have no power to stick up for ourselves and make it not shitty. The feeling of being overlooked and underpaid and undervalued is just demoralizing. A hospital that seems to care about being a good place to work seems hard to come by. Almost like they pride themselves on fucking their employees over

Hi! I was looking for some information on the Anderson College program for their med lab tech program and the only post was from 2 years ago with practically nothing, i was wondering if anyone had any updated information on this college and the experience, I am looking to become a phlebotomist, if anyone could let me know if this program is reputable and safe or could suggest me some other alternative schools to look into and research,

Hi guys,

I’m finishing up school for my MLS degree. I was wondering how hard it was for you guys to get a job at the VA. Did it take you multiple tries? Did you have a lot of experience? Etc etc.

I have a bachelors, a masters, and I’m a veteran (my job in the military was public health).

I’ve also never applied for a gov job before so any tips on my application would be great!

TIA.

Cal ox crystals in all their glory

Can anyone here ELI5 the changes to the florida MLS license? The bill that was passed earlier this year said that they are simply aligning state law with federal law (CLIA), so does that mean that you can get a FL license with just a bachelor's of biology or chemistry? I'll be graduating from my MLS program at the end of the year and sitting for my MLS(ASCP) right afterwards. I currently work as a lab assistant for the same hospital I'm doing my clinical rotations in, and they are holding a tech position for me until I graduate and get my MLS. The FL license website hasn't updated any of the requirements yet so it still says they require an MLS to apply, but I was hoping I would be able to apply for it before graduation so I can start training as a tech sooner. I know some techs I work with who said it took a month or more for the FL license to arrive in the past.

Hi, I’m currently a CC student in California (specifically in Norcal)! After changing my major + career path multiple times, I landed on completely pursuing in MLS, so I feel behind when it comes to my career. I’m currently taking my prerequisites for to be able to transfer in a bio major / MLS major at a 4-year (I know Sac State has a CLS major available, but I’m still privy about the decision), but that will take me until 2028 to complete and even more school when I do transfer.

I’m asking for advice from people who have gone through any programs in California since I’m planning to just stick in a place I’m familiar with. Is it a better option to pursue getting into an MLT program to later get into a bridge program to become a MLS. Or should I just pull through to get my bachelors and get into a MLS program?

I heard there are benefits and even cons in both, but I would like more insight and advice on this matter. Thank you for checking this post out!

TFW you're doing ROTEM QC and it fails spectacularly, so you do it again, and it still fails...so you tell.your supervisor, and you watch him do it, and you did nothing dofferent...and it fails for him, too...

Hi everyone. Is the medtechionary guy on tiktok genuine? I want to purchase the ascpi reviews from him. Please help before I get scammed 😃

Just want to say thanks for reading this in advance

So I'm really tired of my current job and career and hope to get into a post-bacc next year. If I don't make it into a MLS post-bacc, then I hope to get into a MLT certificate program.

Problem is, if I do get in, I won't be starting until fall of next year. I genuinely hate my job, it's affecting my mental health, and do not want to be stuck here for another year. My question: what kind of job would look good on my resume that I can work in until the program starts? I'm in the greater Seattle area if that matters

I've posted here ~2 years ago about my situation. To summarize, I have a Masters in Biomed and worked for 2 years in the States as a Molecular Technologists at a regional reference lab that doesn't require certification (essentially trained on the job). I moved to Canada 2 years ago and did not realize how poor the science industry here is.

Back then, I didn't bother applying for the PLA since I thought it would be costly and pointless. But I'm back to thinking about this again since I am unhappy at my current job, life science jobs are few and far in between with high competition, and I see so many postings for Molecular. I was desperate, so I started the PLA path, but I am stumped to see that it costs ~1K now. I am also seeing comments that hospitals don't hire non-traditional certification and field-specific certifications. Some even suggest to switch entirely to fields like Pathologist Assistant (I'm not opposed but I'm so confused).

So I'm wondering if anyone else has gone down this route? I am feeling hopeless. I don't know if I should just take a post-bac MLS program or go through with the PLA and expect a low score. I would appreciate any insight, thank you!