The Laboratory
St. Elizabeth's laboratory is modern, cheerful and efficient with state of the art instrumentation. Three pathologists, a large staff of medical technologists and other professional personnel provide 24 hour service for the hospital and community. Over a million laboratory tests are done at the medical center each year. The laboratory also operates several community phlebotomy centers as part of its outreach program.
The laboratory classroom is utilized by students for formal lectures and by the staff for continuing education. Reference materials, including audiovisual aids and computers are available in the laboratory and medical library.
The Program
The School of Medical Technology is accredited by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS).
Students from affiliated colleges/universities may receive credit for courses completed at the medical center.
The school has the resources to handle a maximum of four students per year.
Training is primarily based at St. Elizabeth South in Edgewood. A clinical affiliation is also held with the Tri-Health laboratory in Cincinnati. Students may perform a complete rotation at the clinical site. Students are exposed to a broad range of techniques, instrumentation and instructors.
Program Goals and Objectives:
Goals
Upon completion of the SEMC Program, the medical technologist will:
- Be proficient in performing the full range of clinical laboratory tests in areas of hematology, clinical chemistry, immunohematology, microbiology, serology/immunology, coagulation, and other emerging diagnostics
- Play a role in the development and evaluation of test systems and interpretive problem solving
- Be responsible in areas of analysis and clinical decision making, regulatory compliance, education, quality assurance and performance improvement wherever laboratory testing is researched, developed, or performed
- Possess basic knowledge, skill and relevant experience in communication and interaction with other healthcare members, external relations, customer service and patients
- Possess basic knowledge, skill and relevant experience of financial operations, marketing, and human resource management of the clinical laboratory to enable cost-effective, high quality, value added laboratory services
- Possess basic knowledge, skill and relevant experience in information management to enable effective, timely, accurate, and cost-effective reporting of laboratory generated information
- Possess basic knowledge, skill and relevant experience for research/design practices sufficient to evaluate published studies as an informed consumer
Objectives
Within each discipline, specific course related objectives will be addressed. Overall program objectives are outlined below:
- develop and establish procedures for collecting, processing, and analyzing biological specimens and other substances
- perform analytical tests of body fluids, cells, and other substances
- integrate and relate data generated by the various clinical laboratory departments while making decisions regarding possible discrepancies
- confirm abnormal results, verifying quality control procedures, executing quality control procedures, and developing solutions to problems concerning the generation of laboratory data
- make decisions concerning the results of quality control and quality assurance measures, and instituting proper procedures to maintain accuracy and precision
- establish and perform preventive and corrective maintenance of equipment and instruments as well as identifying appropriate sources for repairs
- develop, evaluate, and select new techniques, instruments and methods in terms of their usefulness and practicality within the context of a given laboratory’s personnel, equipment, space, and budgetary resources
- demonstrate professional conduct and interpersonal skills with patients, laboratory personnel, other health care professionals, and the public
- establish and maintain continuing education as a function of growth and maintenance of professional competence
- provide leadership in education other health personnel and the community
- exercise principles of management, safety, and supervision
- apply principles of educational methodology
- apply principles of current information systems
The twelve month program includes three weeks of hospital/school orientation and clinical rotations as follows:
|
Clinical Chemistry-Eight Weeks
Qualitative and quantitative analysis of blood and other body fluids for chemical constituents such as proteins, carbohydrates, enzymes, electrolytes, and therapeutic drugs. A wide range of sophisticated instrumentation is utilized. |
|
|
|
Urinalysis – Two Weeks
Information and experience in the physical, chemical and microscopic analysis of urine.
|
|
Microbiology – Twelve Weeks
Basic principles of medical bacteriology, mycology, virology, parasitology, and mycobacteriology are covered. Experience in safely culturing and identifying microorganisms and conducting antibiotic sensitivity testing is provided.
|
|
Hematology – Eleven Weeks
Development of skills needed to perform manual cell counts, electronic cell counting and hemoglobinometry. The function of coagulation factors and the differentiation of blood and bone marrow cells are studied.
|
|
Immunohematology – Seven Weeks
Theory and performance of procedures related to the selection of donors, antigen and antibody identification, compatibility testing, blood processing and component therapy. Experience in pre-natal and post-natal testing is also provided.
Molecular Techniques - One Week
Includes molecular theory and real-time polymerase chain reaction. (RT-PCR)
|
|
Serology – Three Weeks
Theory and performance of precipitation, agglutination, complement fixation, hemagglutination inhibition testing and fluorescent microscopy for the diagnosis or diseases such as syphilis, infectious mononucleosis and rheumatoid arthritis.
|
Student hours are 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday, unless otherwise noted by the department.
The students spend five days a week rotating through the various laboratory departments and the accompanying student labs. During this time, they observe and perform procedures under the supervision of a technologist. Students gradually perfect their technical skills, learn to make decisions concerning the accuracy of test function and correlate clinical findings to patient status.
All of this learning is reinforced through the lectures in each department.
Instruction in basic management and education principles is also provided. The curriculum is constantly updated and revised in order to keep pace with the technology and the changing role of the medical technologist.
Written, oral and practical examinations are given at frequent intervals both in the classroom and clinical areas. Performance evaluations are completed by the staff at the end of each section.
At the end of the year of training, a final comprehensive examination is given to each student. This test is a tool used to prepare the student for the Medical Technology Certification Examination and to help monitor the effectiveness of the training the student has received.
>>Return to Top of Page>>
Phlebotomy Training
As part of the Med Tech program, students will be trained to obtain blood specimens through venipuncture, arterial and capillary skin puncture. After basic phlebotomy techniques are introduced during orientation, students work to develop their skills by performing phlebotomy Monday through Friday for the first three months of the program.
Individuals with prior phlebotomy experience may be excused for this activity if they have the approval of the program director.
