Are you a fit?
Do you enjoy science? Would you like to be a part of a team that provides physicians with the test results that they rely on to diagnosis and treat patients? As a Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT), you help patients without ever seeing their faces; instead you see their blood, urine, stool, semen, mucus and cells. You manage specimens through state-of-the-art instrumentation, as well manual reads of slides and more! Consistency and accuracy are key in this role. Medical Laboratory Technicians can work in many settings, including outpatient medical clinics and hospitals. MLTs can work as generalists, in all areas of a lab, or they can specialize in a specific discipline.
Description
MLTs perform laboratory tests and procedures, mostly comprising microscopic, bacteriological, hematological, immunologic and chemical diagnostic tests and analyses on samples of tissue, blood, urine, stool, synovial fluid and semen, among others. They look for critical clues to the absence, presence and extent of the causes and progression of diseases through accurate and efficient lab tests. Physicians and other specialists use the results technicians obtain from tests to make appropriate diagnoses and create treatment plans. Other duties and responsibilities of MLTs include:
- Forwarding test results to physicians
- Keeping accurate records of test results
- Collecting, preparing and storing specimens
- Examining and approving samples other professionals collect
- Ensuring optimum integrity, quantity and type of test samples
- Preparing lab reagents and standard solutions for tests
- Maintaining a clean and safe working environment
- Standardizing test procedures to ensure consistency, reliability and usefulness of results
- Calibrating equipment, developing standard operating procedures and determining correct reference ranges for tests
- Using automated equipment and computerized lab instruments to perform several tests simultaneously
- Analyze bodily fluids, such as tissues samples, blood, and urine
- Examine blood samples for use in transfusions to look at blood type and compatibility
- Calibrate and sterilize medical lab equipment
