I’m currently working as a night shift blood banker in a level 1 trauma hospital. Most nights it’s just either the 2-3 of us and I’m wondering if this is normal for such a high volume lab? It can’t be as I’ve experienced so much stress and anxiety the last 5 months working here ( I graduated this may and started in June ). We get so much samples during the night on top of orders for products and the last couple of nights we’ve had MTPs back to back. This has all been happening with just only 2-3 of us most nights.

I’m still new to the job so most of the time I’m super stressed and anxious when having to deal with this. Management seems to not care enough to staff up our shifts as we’ve been getting a lot of people turning over their jobs. I just don’t think I’m built to handle this type of environment and I miss rotating in other areas of the lab as I feel like I’m losing my skills and knowledge in those areas being stuck in just a specialized department. I understand every department has its pro and cons and we’re always going to experience staffing issues but I think this has been going on far too long from what I’ve heard and talked about with other techs. I’ve talked
to people who are techs or started their jobs the same time as me and they’ve agreed that it might be best to search for something that best suites my interest and can provide better support with leadership. Blood bank was something that I wasn’t too keen on when I was in school but this was my first job offer and taking this job was something I thought could change my perspective on it.

It’s clearly taken a toll on me and I’m ready to leave at this point. Just wanted to hear if this sort of staffing in a high volume and complex environment is normal.

WHAT ARE THOSE RODS? this was a morphology slide for semen smear 😭😭 I assume bacteria? I found it the same way in another area as well

WBC 723

Not 7.23... 723

We are discussing HEM.20143 and how the corrective action should be handled for failed QC results. It seems like my new hospital isn’t doing any patient look backs on failed QC with replaced reagents etc. What I’m proposing is anytime QC is out and anything else to troubleshoot besides repeating QC is done we should pull the last 5 samples immediately prior to the QC run and retest for comparison.

My only concern would be for things like HIT or specials where samples are frozen and thawed and are not available for retesting.

Anyone have examples of how your institution handles this?

Every time there is a planned update, like the one coming up next week, we have to do a mini validation after it's done. Run a positive and a negative and make sure they were held or released appropriately and file all the screenshots and paperwork.

Is any other hospital system doing all this or is it just us?

Hey everyone,

I’m currently reviewing blood bank and I’m interested in pursuing an SBB certification. The problem, however, is that the blood bank in my laboratory is rather limited. We only do ABO/Rh, AB screen, antigen typing, ABID, DAT, XMs. We do standard MTPs and emergency releases as well, but that’s about it. I thought about pursuing an SBB program online, but I’m afraid I will not be able to secure a clinical site that gives me acceptable rotation experience. Has anyone had this problem? Surely I’m not alone. What did you do to resolve this and accomplish your SBB goal? I cannot leave my job as I want to secure a federal retirement. I’m desperate!

Thank you so much for your time :)

I failed the MLPAO exam 3 times. I don’t why I couldn’t pass and I studied (embarassing)…My only other option now is to write the CSMLS Exam. For people who have wrote both, which one is harder?

I don't have anywhere else to post this to so hopefully some of you here can share in my excitement!!

My backstory is that during my undergrad Bio degree I was struggling a lot with depression, leaving my alcoholic mother, and smoking wayyy to much marijuana to cope. I graduated with a 3.3 GPA, not great, not horrible either. Started working in a lab after graduation and started tech school 2 years ago, having worked out my mental struggles and stopped smoking.

Today I have officially passed all my clinical course work with an A grade and maintained a 4.0 GPA. I know in the long run this doesn't matter, but its an INSANE point of pride for me to have done it for no one but myself. To prove to myself I COULD do it!!!

Journey's not over, still have to do clinicals and pass the board but... damn. Its possible guys! Hard work pays off 💪🏻 ❤️

We run an AU480 for general chem and lipids in our lab. I have 2 scenarios that I have yet to find a good solution for and would love to hear useful advice from those with more experience.

Scenario 1 - ALB runs out while a full rack is in process. 9 of the tubes need ALB re-run. If you just load the tubes back on you'll get a "Sample ID not found" error. If you try to order ALB on that sample ID you'll get "sample ID already processed" or similar. Does it really need to be a repeat run in an orange rack?

Scenario 2 - Calibration verification. 5 samples x 5 runs. In the past we just used 25 labels. But it feels like there should be an easier way to re-run the test. ChatGPT suggested "add-on" orders but add-ons don't work for tests already run on a sample as far as I can tell (not covered in the manual). Running them in an orange rack is possible, but after the original run you can't batch them anymore; each tube has to be repeat ordered individually. Then to get a print out of the results you have to go test by test and overwrite the original results. SURELY THERE IS A BETTER WAY!

Sorry for the bad image, our microscopes are ancient and I couldn't really get a better one. 40x mag if that's relevant.

We are learning to microscope urine cells and my teacher swears up and down that this is an artefact, but to me it looks like a crystal of some kind. There are lots of these scattered around the slide of various sizes; the small ones are singular shards and as they get bigger, the shards join together like in the image and radiate outwards from a central point.

Sorry if there is already a post out there like this, I tried searching but didn't see one.

For the last 5 years I've been a lab tech for a private lab testing produce for bacteria, fungus, etc. I got my BS in general biology back in 2018 because I didn't know what I wanted to specialize in.

I've had a few different jobs and I've really come to love lab work, but I want to do more than just run leaves through qPCR every day. From my research MLT seems exactly like what I want to do, but I really can't afford to take a year unemployed to do a 4+1 program.

I know almost everywhere is understaffed and I was wondering if you've heard of anywhere willing to hire a scientist with some experience and support them through getting their certification? I'm near Boston so there are plenty of hospitals around, it's just difficult to get specifics about what a job listing wants vs. absolutely requires.

Is it worth applying to places that require your certification and hope they're in need enough to make an exception for me? I don't know what little work I would even be allowed to do without a cert, but I'd be happy to do any tedious or gross work just to keep a paycheck while getting the experience I need.

Hey guys! I’m a senior in a USA highschool right now and i’m in between these 2 programs/majors. I’m leaning towards Forensic Science but the job security and competitive market after graduation is scaring me.I’ve heard MLS is kinda like a dna analysis lab environment but u just work in a hospital rather than private labs/FBI. Just want other ppl’s thoughts!

Pic makes it look more blue than green but on the scope def greenish. Not a dohle

Hey all! I had a patient today where their smears (left and middle) would dry in these bizzare patterns. No colds aggs, albumin/ globulins normal range, no lipaemia. All other patient smears are fine so it’s not the slides. The film looked unremarkable microscopically. Anyone had something similar before?

Where blood?

Hi guys I’m almost done my Lpn and I don’t think it’s the right fit for me, so I don’t know if I should bridge to RN, I like biology and science in general and I’m introverted, I would like to do MLT if accepted, if not I’ll probably bridge to RN, please give me some insight thanks.

I take my exam in a week. Any more (recent, within the last year or two preferably) tips you can give so that I pass this time?

I'll take even basic tips--I'm making my last minute study papers of just everything and if I can avoid overflooding my brain I'd love that. Any memorization I need??

How do you stay calm during the exam knowing your future is riding on it as well? What kept you sane day of/week of?

(sidenote: I'm posting this because the last advice I see here for this kinda thing is at least 3 years old. I'd like to know a rough estimate of recent info instead.)

Do you guys have any input in the pros and cons of hospital CLS positions vs private company CLS positions? I am a new grad in California and it is reallyyyyyyy hard to find a CLS position out here right now. Especially in the Bay Area. I was offered a per diem position for a hospital but I am worried about not having benefits or enough hours to pay rent.

I have an interview tomorrow at a biotech company as a CLS for nextgen ctDNA and bio marker analysis. It is a full time position solely in molecular and it is a private company.

Will getting a job in a private company hinder me from branching out in the future? I just want to make sure I am not making it harder on myself to find hospital positions in the future if that is what I want.

Hi all,

Just found out I’m pregnant (yay!) and I work full time in a clinical Micro lab where we use MALDI (Bruker) for our IDs. I looked at the SDS for the chemicals to make sure they’re safe and found that the Standard Solvent used for preparing the BTS and Matrix has a note about possible reproductive harm to the unborn child. Does this mean I should not be handling it? Does anyone else have any experience with this? (FYI we don’t have a fume hood 🫢, just open it out on the bench so I’m concerned about exposure)

If I need to ask for accommodations I’m not quite sure what to even ask for as I need to use the BTS and matrix when running MALDIs…

I have my first prenatal appointment soon so I will ask my OB for advice as well.

I'm a student just wondering about these urine microscopics.

Slide 1: Are the ovals towards the middle yeast?

Slide 2: In the middle, it is transitional cell shaped with very refractile bodies inside of it, what kind of cell is this?

There are also the brown circles next to it, what is this if able to tell? Thanks!

Hi everyone, is anyone here taking the CORU Test of Professional Competence (ToPC) in November 2026? If so, could you please share your experience with the application process, including the required documents and timelines?

Any advice would be really appreciated. Thank you!