Does anyone have any information with regard to the optional 1 year internship for medical technology? I believe this can be bypassed prior to taking the ascp exam. But how can I gain the information\lab techniques etc to pass the exam without doing the internship? thanks in advance.
medical technology internship inquiry
- Thread starter Jonass00
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you dont have clinical practicums throughout the program ????
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Not quite how it works.
for ASCP certification (Medical Laboratory Scientist, formerly known as Medical Technologist) there are 4 routes you can take to qualify to take the exam and get certified.
The route you seem to be thinking of is the fourth one which requires a Bachelors with certain course requirements, plus 5 years of on the job experience in a clinical lab (which is presumably where'd you'd learn the board material), two years of which need to be under the supervision of a board certified pathologist or board certified MLS. for specifics see here under the MLS section: http://www.ascp.org/FunctionalNavig...etCertified/TechnologistCertification.aspx#mt
As someone who had a biology degree with chem minor first and lab experience, who then got the MLS degree I would say your best course of action is to do the 1 yr. internship. You'll be hard-pressed to get that qualifying 5 years done somewhere since most places won't hire you without the MLS degree & even if you do the board exam is going to cover a lot of stuff you aren't going to have been exposed to ever and isn't intuitive from book learning.
Also, knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have felt comfortable doing this job with just a bio degree. There is a noticeable difference in the people with just a bio degree. Doing the lab techniques is fine for them, but you need to know why they work and when they aren't valid and what patient disease factors can screw up results and how to account for them.
for ASCP certification (Medical Laboratory Scientist, formerly known as Medical Technologist) there are 4 routes you can take to qualify to take the exam and get certified.
The route you seem to be thinking of is the fourth one which requires a Bachelors with certain course requirements, plus 5 years of on the job experience in a clinical lab (which is presumably where'd you'd learn the board material), two years of which need to be under the supervision of a board certified pathologist or board certified MLS. for specifics see here under the MLS section: http://www.ascp.org/FunctionalNavig...etCertified/TechnologistCertification.aspx#mt
As someone who had a biology degree with chem minor first and lab experience, who then got the MLS degree I would say your best course of action is to do the 1 yr. internship. You'll be hard-pressed to get that qualifying 5 years done somewhere since most places won't hire you without the MLS degree & even if you do the board exam is going to cover a lot of stuff you aren't going to have been exposed to ever and isn't intuitive from book learning.
Also, knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have felt comfortable doing this job with just a bio degree. There is a noticeable difference in the people with just a bio degree. Doing the lab techniques is fine for them, but you need to know why they work and when they aren't valid and what patient disease factors can screw up results and how to account for them.
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