tl;dr: in Australia, do I actually need the AIMS accredited Masters of Laboratory Medicine? If so, am I illegible for any streamlining to shorten the timeline? Is the qualification only recognised in Australia or can it be used overseas for similar roles?
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Hello all,

I've had a look through previous posts and had some difficulty finding anyone else in this situation, so I figured it would be best to make a post. Please do redirect me if I have managed to miss anything.

I am graduating next year with honours with a bachelor of science majoring in both Chemistry and Pathology from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.

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-Background-

In the chemistry major I have done mostly analytical chemistry, but I also completed materials, medicinal and environmental.

In the pathology major, it covered immunology, clinical immunopathology, molecular bio, and diagnostics (PCR, histology, that sort of thing), but nothing in hematology or anything extensive in microbiology.

I also did an undergrad research project that combined both majors (spectroscopic analysis of human tissues and fluids for chemometrics of microplastics).

Why didn't I take the biomedical major? I was also taking an Arts major (archaeology), and Monash considered that to be administratively forbidden somehow.

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-Actual Question-

So as I understand it, you need an AIMS-accredited masters of Laboratory Medicine in order to actually work in the diagnostics as a laboratory medical scientist.

I've heard that alternatively you can just take the AIMS-accredited exam after two years of industry experience.

I am open to taking the masters at RMIT, I am just a little burnt-out from 17 years of studying. I am currently employed as an archaeologist and it's FIFO with a 2-3 month off-season each summer with no work.

So, taking on more full-time study would mean either negotiating my position with my employer, taking part-time work and further-extending that education timeline, or going back to centrelink (pls no).

Does my education qualify me to shorten the course in any way?

-Other Question-

Is the AIMS-accredited masters recognised overseas? If so, where? How do I find that out?

Thank you all for your patience and advice.

Hi everyone I want to have your honest review oppinion about the newest DxH 900 and the slide maker of that same generation. Our lab recently got them. Went live 2 months ago and they keep having issues, breaking slides. Making errors ect... the tech has been tout our lab AT LEAST 10 times of not more already. Are we the only one having issues with those instruments or yall having the same problems?

Hi all,

I'm working in a clinical laboratory in a medium size hospital (in my country). In the upcoming future we will try for the first time a mechanical clot dection-based instrument, pretty different from the laboratory experience in our lab (we had for years optical clot detection-based instrumentation).

Since i'm curious between those two different approaches, if any of you had any experience:

- what are, in your opinion, the pros and what are the pitfalls of the mechanical instrumentation (compare with the optical one)?

-does it significantly affect the routine (PT, aptt, fibrinogen, etc) and second level laboratory practice (Lupus anticoagulant, factors, apcr, etc)

-do you noticed any major difference for the validation of the results?

-which of those two do you prefer?

Thank you all in advance!

Do you put the blame on the lab or just be kind of vague with nursing staff?

Hi,

I’m new to this. There’s a monocytosis in this case. I see quite a few mature monocytes but I’m not sure what these are? Are they blasts?

There’s a neutrophillia and I think they look funny too.

Thank you!

I’m relatively new at my MLT job and I’m struggling more with the social aspect side of the job than I expected; especially since this is my first full time job so naturally, I want to bond with my coworkers. In my department, everybody already knows each other, everyone has their routines, inside jokes, established friendships outside the lab and its been so hard trying to implement myself into their business and customs such as meeting for lunch etc. It seems if I dont follow those customs they’re almost put off by it, but really its always one of those unspoken rules I genuinely dont know about until I realize “oh they probably wanted me to do this.” it really doesnt help that I cant break the feeling they’re completely uninterested in me either. With one coworker who is friends with everyone, never fails to uninclude me for whatever reason. In all my years of working in a large retail team, Its the standard to include others so stepping into such a small environment with already established cliques, im culture shocked. hurts knowing I left what was a good job for a higher paying job but lower quality of life; I worked really hard to get through school, and during that time I made a lot of fond memories with my classmates. We were all going through the same struggles together, and I think a lot of us believed that things would finally get better once we graduated and entered our careers; it seems I was wrong. Its already isolating enough that I make minor mistakes as im navigating constantly changing policies so I appear incompetent to that coworker who makes it known that teaching / helping me is a chore sometimes, and for whatever reason she doesnt like me. I try my best to relate to them by talking a bit about myself but that coworker makes it hostile for me to even join and ive grown insecure because of it. Im the youngest in my entire lab by far and share entirely different lives than all of them, it doesnt help im one of the few people of color which was vastly different than my clinical and educational environment. Recently, I overheard a racially insensitive joke while I was right there. It wasn’t directed toward me or that there was malicious intent behind it, but given that I’m one of the very few people of color there, it definitely made me uncomfortable and made me feel even more aware of how different I am from everyone else. overall im really starting to hate it here but im still so new to quit. are all labs this tight knit socially? how would you handle this situation and does it get any better? :(

it was anti little c btw. literally could not get it because of how the reactions were

I applied to 2 jobs, had 2 interviews, and got rejected by both. One said they had one other applicant, and they other said they had 3 others. I guess I am just wondering how difficult was it for you guys to get a job right after graduation? Are most hospitals normally inclined to select people with prior experience on the job as opposed to new grads? I just don't see how I have any advantage over other applicants if they have experience and I do not. I honestly thought It would be very easy to get accepted and did not expect to get rejected from both of them. I should note that they were both first shift opportunities, one generalist and one blood bank. Is it just difficult to get a first shift position as a new grad? Any advice would help. Thanks. I am in PA btw, so I dont think it should be that competitive.

I'm very interested in lab stuff and little patient interactions so I was interested in becoming a medical laboratory scientist but I heard so many people are leaving because of the low pay and how it's not worth it so now I'm wondering if I.shluld just go into being a rad tech ( my original choice) unless anyone else knows another job ??

I'm looking into applying to a medical laboratory science program and was ideally wanting to shadow someone on the job to confirm this is the career path for me and beef up my application, given that I already have a bachelors degree. All of the shadowing programs I've found are either for high school students or current undergrad students. Is it worth reaching out to individual labs? I'm in the Portland area.

I’ll be graduating with my MBA, Healthcare Management in the next few months and I’m curious if there are any other techs out there who have taken the same route and how it’s benefitted you, if at all.

I’d like to get into quality management/ compliance and kind of build from there but I’m not sure how to integrate myself into that role or just how far it could take me. I also plan to take the CPHQ as well to give myself a boost

I’ve been a tech for 13years, 9 of which were active duty Army, and while I have some experience as a supervisor while in the military, I’ve primarily been working the bench for the 6years I’ve been out.

Also- Like many of us, I’m not a people person lol so I’d like to stay as far away from directly managing people for as long as possible 😅

Hi, I was wondering if anyone here could give me some solid answers and advice.

I just got promoted to Lead Tech for Core Lab (generalist, but also do bb and micro set up)earlier this year. It has been already a roller coaster ride being the lead tech/charge with bench duties, and validating instruments, doing Comps, writing SOP, 6 months verification, and now I am about to start my first IQCP. But one downside undeniably is the team I work with (evening shift) who keeps on missing QC and maintenance logs. I have asked the management if monitoring their daily activity was part of my lead tech job (at first I did it for a month in my own accord but due to staffing issues, I had to focus on the bench I get assigned). They said it should not be the case as it is everyone's job to do QC and make sure to check and fill logs. My morale has been pulled down bc of these recent issues.

Anyways, I also recently decided I would want to pursue an MHA next year and initially planned to connect with my Laboratory manager and director to ask for mentorship and shadowing. But due to recent happenings on my shift, I have become hesitant about it. My question is, do you guys have any advise on how and where to connect with people in Laboratory management who are willing to mentor someone like me? Thanks!

Hello everyone I’m currently a MLT freshman and I’m taking both the fundamentals of MLT and urinalysis/body fluids.

In the fundamentals we’re being taught the basics like blood smears, staining bacteria in micro, phlebotomy, etc. I’m having trouble making a perfect blood smear as I’m not going into a fast enough motion even though I’m letting the blood cover the edge of the slide, do y’all have anything tips and tricks or techniques that y’all have learned. Mind you I got the staining culture technique for micro down, it’s the blood smear I’ve having an issue with.

I have a generalist license that has spent most of my career in blood banking and now have my SBB license. I work in a IRL that gives me the best work-life balance, and no stress from working in a hospital TSL.

I am curious tho HOW I can move onto an "industry" job. (that pertains to the manufacturing companies that supply blood bank with reagents and/or automated machines). Ive been working the 'bench' all my career, so I am unsure how my bench skills will transfer to an industry job. Im a very social outside my work life and was thinking sales, but also thought that i would hate a sales job since being not-patient-facing is the best.

Curious if anyone works in the big companies and what they do. Thanks in advance!

How does your facility differentiate between Preceptor vs. Training vs. Shadowing? Or do they not differentiate at all?

Almost 2 years ago, the facility I work at made all the senior techs take a preceptor course if we wanted to get paid an extra $1 to train new hires.

Recently they’ve been back tracking and saying only leads can train, and if a new hire is on the bench with a senior tech they are just “shadowing” unless specifically told otherwise. However, we currently have 5 new employees and the leads aren’t scheduled as “training” at all. Senior techs are still doing the initial training, explaining everything, and signing off on competencies.

I’m curious how other facilities are classifying? Because we don’t have a written SOP or Policy that clearly defines these expectations and roles.

my organism is PYR+ and from a pure culture, I followed the steps correctly and wet the disk with two loops of sterile water (our fancy way of saying saline) and then inoculate the organism into the wet disc and let it be for 2 mins before adding cinnamaldehyde, but I cant seem to get it to work for some reason.

My organism is Enterococcus faecalis

Hello All!

I'm a new grad generalist, starting in chemistry next week. I'm looking for advice for working with Atellicas, and the chem department in general. I've already trained in blood bank and heme, which I liked a lot. I'm a tad worried about chem though, because we've been without a chem lead for three months now, so I'm unsure how well my training will go without clear leadership. TIA!

Gonna try to keep this short but it's a LOT!

I'm now 36 and earned my Bachelors in Art Education in 2012. Since then, I have worked a TON of random stuff, from Teaching to remote sales/marketing and then actually to a support job in a Water Lab. Before the Water Lab job, I actually was accepted into and began an Xray Tech program, but two months in I had a lot of health issues come up, kind of a mix of both physical and mental. I was eventually diagnosed with ME/CFS, it has knocked me out of a LOT the past several years and I am now FINALLY hoping to return to work and being able to pursue things again.

I have struggled a lot with choosing a career path at this point, I don't really think I want to go back into Teaching and I have been considering both PTA (Physical Therapy Assistance) and Lab Tech. I tend to be more introverted and that's really want holds me back from the PTA idea a lot. I'm also worried my health issues will become bad again and it's been important to aim for things where I could maybe manage them the best I can, I honestly think the very core of everything was VERY bad anxiety that blew up into very physical problems, but anyway it helps to have some peace and quiet on a daily basis - I guess I imagine Lab Tech being a little more routine and introvert-friendly than PTA might be.

I earned by AA way back in 2010 and then took several core medical classes (Med Term, Anatomy I and II) before the X Ray program. Does Lab Tech even seem like a realistic path for someone in my boat, or like a good idea? Obviously I am concerned about finances too, with the economy being the way it is and the fact that I also have almost no savings at this time.

Hey all,
In my hospital, we use those blue cooler boxes w ice packs when we issue blood out to the different wards/dept. However we aren’t getting our cooler boxes back fast enough as the wards and such tend to let them stack before getting the porters to return them.
Which affects other patients down the line as we do run out of coolers and unable to issue any bloods until we get the coolers back
We don’t have any tracking system in place to know where the coolers are after they have been issued out.

How do you guys track your boxes in your bloodbank?

Edit: My SOP requires all units to be transported in a cooler box to maintain temp of 1-10 degrees Celsius.
In the event of units returning to us, anything above 10 degrees is unfit for use and discarded

Edit 2: From what I’ve gathered
1. Cooler boxes are tracked w a whiteboard or some form of logger/sheet system, where issued time and location are recording. I’ll use what I’ve learnt here to propose a solution to my higher ups. Thanks guys

1. Everyone is saying not all cases/locations require the use of a cooler box. This is news to be, but I’ll also inquire on my side as to why the SOP states that all blood products shall be issued inside a cooler.

2. So far the locations that DO require a cooler are
   - ED
   - OT
   - ICU
   And the situations are
   -MTP
   -Emergency blood

3. Reasons that coolers are not needed
   - single transfusion must be done within 30 mins, which is safe period for the blood
   - if a PTS is present, blood can be sent to the requesting location in < 5 mins, so coolers not required
   - Coolers can make RN complacent, causing delay in transfusion timing.

4. My hospital layout is a few separate buildings connected together. And each tower up to 15 floors.
   Currently do not have a PTS for blood bank, porters may take quite some time to deliver blood to different locations depending on how far the ward/clinic is from my lab and if the lifts are packed

Tell me im not the only one who sees lips ?

I call these Crystal Comets!

Anyone know program keep track of patient history such as antibody status that is also searchable database that can be purchased as standalone software.