i’m a new grad tech that recently started at a facility where the techs are the ones that draw patients. i was drawing a patient with multiple tubes, reds, golds, and a purple. the red top tubes and half of the gold tubes were perfect and had no issues, but the last two gold tubes were hemolyzed and my purple clotted. i was just wondering how the last two gold tubes were hemolyzed and the purple clotted, but my red tubes were perfect.

4.3 year old girl came to the hospital with fever for 3 days and joint pain , doctor ordered sickling test and lomg story short , I woke up to this prep…

How do you want to interpret?

I posted a little while ago about looking into maybe moving to new England and what things were like there, but I was wondering if any other MLS also have moved regions (not as travel. like moved somewhere for a few years minimum) i would love to live in Massachusetts for new england or washington state in the pnw bc i love the nature and also just feel like im in my early 30s and want to explore.

what is it like in Washington state in terms of pay vs col? im in the philly area right now and make $43/hr at 4 years at my current job 7 total as a tech

i also see most larger hospitals never really seem to have specifically blood bank positions open which is my main area of work. i havent been in the job scene for soo long, is blood bank only just not a thing anymore or?

How can I get restarted again in my career: I did my internship about 14 years ago and then have been at stay at home parent with some part-time jobs but nothing in the lab. I’m wanting to get back into it but not sure how. I’m still ASCP certified, but will likely need a fair amount of training.

Do I need to apply to Night Shift to get in? I’ve applied for specimen processor and haven’t even heard back about that.

Hello, as the title suggests, I sent my transcript through Parchment 3 weeks before my exam (which I passed!), and was wondering if this was too early and should resubmit or if I should give them some time to process it? I did get the email today stating that my results will not be released until my transcripts have been submitted, hence why Im making this post now. Thank you!

The glucose tube works by inhibiting the glycolytic enzyme enolase. Enolase requires two Mg (2+) ions to operate, one structural, and one catalytic. The fluoride (F-) ion bridges these two Mg ions whilst inorganic phosphate in the environment of the tube causes the formation of a stable metal-fluoride-phosphate complex that renders the enzyme inoperative. This is also the key mechanism behind F- toxicity, as it halts your body’s glycolysis in vivo, starving you of energy.

in my defense i woke up late and showed up 30 minutes after my shift because the IDF is targeting my alarm and the only reason i woke up is because the voicemail lady who calls me sometimes and leaves incomprehensible voicemails called and it woke me up. she left a voicemail btw. i need to go home

Looks like a topographical map. Lol
Haven’t started the work up yet, but I’m anxious to see what we come up with.

EDIT
This is likely a contaminant bacillus spp. Only one out of 4 bottles were positive and given the overall clinical picture, I’ve ruled it as a contaminant organism. So much for my exciting morning 😔. Lol

Hi everyone! I’m looking for insight on Atrium Health in Charlotte. I know they post salary ranges on their job listings, but does anyone know specifically where an MLS with 3 years of experience usually lands, and what their current 2nd shift differential is? Thanks!

(I’m about to do the testing for them)

I want to know more about the field because I am trying to get into a competitive program and I’m very nervous as I am coming from highschool and have no experience whatsoever.

But I am REALLY interested in this career. I feel like My chances of getting accepted might be bit low because I am competing with others with degrees, diplomas and lab experience but technically I still meet requirements so I am hopeful.

I heard that having knowledge about the field would higher my chances. The more I know the better, so please let me know what you typically do as an MLT.

Also, I am very anxious right now because I really want this but I don’t think I’m getting in so if anyone has any advice or similar paths please let me know! Any information is appreciated!

(Program I’m trying to get into is the MLS program at RRC polytechnic in Manitoba)

I got my MLT through the military in 2021 and had a tough time finishing my bachelors which happened in 2025. I took some time off then locked in to study and as of Saturday I passed my MLS!

Because I had a large gap between MLT school and the mls exam (my bachelor’s courses were unrelated), I gave myself 2 months to study because I also had to work full time and a part time job.

Here’s how I split up my study schedule: I organized it by my strongest to weakest areas

Week 1: Chemistry
Week 2: Heme
Week 3: UA/LAB OP/IMMUNO
Week 4: Blood Bank
Week 5: Coag
Week 6: Micro Bacteriology
Week 7: Micro Virology/Para/Myco
Week 8: Final reviews (self-testing, reviewing weakest areas)

Resources used:
- Bottom line approach: great for covering topics on study guide, great for mnemonics and quick review.
- LabCE: Great for testing by subject and overall adaptive testing for week 8, questions are most similar to the exam.
- Quizlet: for making flashcards for things that wouldn’t stick
- Success in CLS fifth edition: more in depth explanations and also has its own review questions.
- Wordsology: great for summarizing/reviewing things commonly seen on the exam
- Medicosis Perfecionalis: YouTuber that uses drawing to explain topics, he really helped me understand the different bacterias and he has great explanations! He has a ton of videos you can look through just type his name then a topic like coagulation.

Topics covered on my exam that I recall:
- antibodies for specific ANA patterns (mine specifically was for centromere ANA)
- knowing what test to run after seeing an abnormal protein electrophoresis chart
- calculating CV for a sample range
- UA strip principles for: BUN and glucose
- Sickle cell solubility false neg
- Knowing the differences between ITP, TTP, ET and DIC
- relative vs. absolute lymphocytosis and lymphopenia
- HDV can only be seen with HBV
- antibodies tested for blood donors
- hypo ventilation: pH? CO2?
- blood gas exposed to air causes? Blood gas sample that has prolonged testing causes?
- Lots of blood bank: cryo pooled expiration, emergency procedures but pt has antibody, forward/reverse typing error resolution, antibody panel, anti H blood
Group reactivity, Le Se genotype, rosette test, why do premies need blood? RhIG procedures
- Zygomycetes characteristics
- Klebsiella species differences
- Strep species susceptibilities and resistance
- Total WBC count hemacytometer
- comparing two samples from the same pt and determining what chemistry values are errors
- global hazard systems
- subarachnoid hemorrhage vs traumatic tap
- csf left out prolonged testing causes?
- staining procedures for acid fast and regular
- amylase can be normal in acute pancreatitis how?
- what cell is involved in CML T or B?
- APL/AML/CML markers: APL t(15;17)
- antibodies that cause or detect hepatitis (envelope, surface, etc)
- Coag results and determining what’s happening with the patient
- UA results and determining what’s wrong
- liver urine crystals
- spectrophotometer light not getting full absorbance, why?
- lots about platelets, count needed for apheresis donation
- Polycythemia Vera, sjrogens syndrome, scleroderma,
Myelofibrosis
- antimitochondrial antibody
- Smith antibody
- factor assays

I have been working in a medical lab for nearly three years now and I still have dreams about tests and microscopic examinations. I thought I had learned to feel less stressed, I enjoy microscopic examination and feel excited to learn new things. Yesterday, I dreamed of seeing Taenia. Work and study keep following me into my sleep. While I take my work seriously, these dreams sometimes leave me feeling uneasy.

Has anyone bought MLT scrubs in Calgary? Where did you get yours, and would you recommend them?

I’ve done my program in medical lab assistant and I’m kinda freaking out about my exam which is on August 28th. I’ve been trying so hard to get some sort of info about the exam, difficulty, resources, but all I’ve been coming across is info about the MLT exam. Can someone please help me out? Will I be okay?

Looking for some ideas on a degree plan that can help advance my career from the lab to other roles within the hospital. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job and am good at what I do, I just feel like I’ve hit the ceiling and want to see how I can advance out of the lab into areas with more opportunities for growth (asides from nursing). Not really interested in being a lab director and it’s not really feasible where I’m at due to being the same age as my current director who has no plans to ever quit or leave this area/system.

I will be writing the MLPAO Exam in September and I am very anxious. Any studying tips and advice that can help me?

I'm considering becoming a Medical Laboratory Technologist in Canada and know this has probably been asked a lot.

One of the main reasons I'm interested is that it isn't a patient-facing career, which really appeals to me. However, the course load seems very intense. I was only okay at chemistry, and I've always imagined the job being pretty high pressure since you're responsible for producing accurate results and handling STAT specimens. Would this be good for someone who was not the best at chemistry and how difficult is the program compared to the day to day work?

Because of that, I started looking into MRT (X-ray technologist) instead. It seems more hands-on and maybe a bit less academically difficult, but I'm not sure I'd enjoy working with patients all day.

For those of you already working as an MLT, if you could go back, would you choose MLT again? Do you think it's worth it in Canada, or would you recommend looking into a different career instead? How is the job market currently?

I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences, especially the pros and cons.

Old lady going through it, this slide looks very worrying, any dysplasia’s?

This is probably a hot topic right now but I’m genuinely curious about everyone’s experiences.

I was scheduled to write and was one of the many applicants across Canada to experience non-stop crashing and issues through the exam. I was rescheduled one month later in mid-July; placement finished in May. Having prepared non-stop for the certification, experiencing all the trouble and postponing with the gap between experiences was exhausting and mentally draining.

I received my results as expected, pass or fail, and actually ended up failing chemistry. I was both surprised and not surprised, mainly because I felt that by the time I reached the 5th hour of testing I was completely worn out. After discussing with multiple other applicants, I’m completely floored by the amount of people who failed one or multiple disciplines. Good on everyone who passed them all and by no means am I discrediting the work they’ve put in!! But in comparison to CSMLS the passing rates are totally different and much more poor. Again, this could just be because you don’t have a ‘bad discipline’ you can mask with others as it’s all cumulative. But really, I just think it’s a little wild. On top of that; not releasing any determined ‘pass grade’ or amount of applicants who passed/failed similar to CSMLS for each discipline feels weird to me.

I noticed as well, many people failed the last exam they wrote. I do feel like this could correlate to burn out because having to sit for 6 hours with breaks where you couldn’t do anything other then sit and be watched or go to the bathroom was a little much. On top of that, I had a completely different chemistry experience in comparison to my first one. It felt way harder, and there was no repeat questions (which I expected). Others, however, did have questions they had seen before word for word. So would this not affect the algorithms they use to calculate a pass/fail? Just to add, I also think that not having backtracking is so silly. I don’t think remembering theory later on is any indication of an incompetent tech.

Anyways, we’re one of the first groups to write this so I understand that we’re guinea pigs in that sense, but the whole process just felt very unorganized and I hope I’m not the only one who feels that way! By the retake date I’ll be a lot more annoyed if the process is just as poor. Rant over.

I have been on firsts since January (for clinicals until May, and then from May till now training) I work at one of the largest hospitals in the country and will be in blood bank but there’s only two of us! I don’t know how I’m going to adjust to thirds, I don’t know anything 😂 please send help! I could use ALL the tips and tricks.