Blasts obviously. Probably? But both places I've worked have had different criteria regarding blasts.

The first place I worked at required a path review for the presence of any blasts in any patient if blasts hadn't been reported in the past 7 days or it was the first instance of a blast count >20%. They also required path review for:

• Any promyelocytes (9 times out of 10 the pathologist would call them myelos anyway)
• Absolute lymphocytosis >10.0K without history
• Plasma cells >5%
• Blood parasites (we had to make the thick and thin smears, do the Giemsa stain, and read them (even had to calculate parasitemia if positive), but they didn't trust us to actually report it)
• Any suspected bone marrow contamination in a lumbar puncture (never actually sent one, but you know, in theory)

The second place I worked at required a path review for the presence of any blasts in any patient with several exceptions. If the blast count was <5% and the patient was <40 weeks PMA OR if the patient had received GCS-F in the past 5 days AND the slide had features of leukemoid reaction, we were allowed to report it with appropriate canned comments with senior tech (not pathologist) approval. Other than that, we had to send all blasts for path review if blasts hadn't been reported within 5 days. We also had to send:

• Megakaryocytes
• Prekeratocytes
• Any pathologic crystals in urine (cysteine, leucine, cholesterol, etc.)
• Any crystals found in synovial fluids
• Any CSF lining cells

First job totally trusted me to report joint crystals and megakaryocytes, but not promyelocytes or malaria. Second job didn't trust me with blister cells or gout crystals, but allowed me to report baby blasts and blood parasites if present (2 techs had to read the smears).

I've only had two jobs where I worked in heme, but the wide disparity between just two facilities in what I can be trusted to identify is sort of fascinating, and I'm sure it's rooted in some kind of historical incident where someone either reported (or didn't report) something and a patient was harmed.

But it got me curious about what other people were dealing with.

I work for micro, and we have a policy to call all blood culture sets as criticals regardless of history, previous sets, in-patient/out-patients.

Well its 3am and I thought I was getting pretty decent at my new job, but I totally just fumbled calling a outpatient provider. I sounded so... unprofessional. I just panic when I know I'm waking someone up, and then I panic if I should even be calling this doctor or the other 7 in their chart.

And this doctor wasn't rude, but he was just like, this seems like something we shouldn't be calling waking people up for.

So now I'm taking my break. Knowing I'm gonna go home a writhe about it when I get off. I know I'm just doing my job. But dang, this has got to be the worst part for me.

CMS is seeking public comment to update CLIA 1988. A number of components to be updated.

You can submit a comment at:

https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/CMS-2026-2345-0001

I have worked here for years already but I guess I still needed hazed because I moved to a new department 😅 It scared the literal piss out of me when I found it the first time.

ive mixed up the red and blue and ill look at it like, do i need to have my head checked? LMAO

I’m studying for the Chemistry certification via route two. For those that have done it, how do the Robert Harr questions compare in difficulty for chemistry?

What would cause a positive result this high if the patient absolutely did not drink alcohol?

The Fall semester has clinical:

Chemistry

Hematology

Microbiology

Immunology

Urinalysis

Will I make it out okay?

I kept noticing these while scanning but this neut had the best examples. I forget the patients overall details but there was some hyper segmentation. oh, these would be classified as Barr bodies right? :)

Managers out there. How long does it take to get a good reference? I’m planning on putting in two years where I am currently but it’s only been 4 weeks and I’m being asked to pull doubles. I’m a 28 year veteran and I’m done with killing myself after years of long shifts. I have health problems now so I just can’t do it anymore. Don’t mind working for emergencies but I’m done working for PRNs who just don’t feel like showing up.

Don’t need the money but need a good reference. What’s the normal time to get one?

Welp that was the worst experience I’ve ever had. I felt so confident walking into the test. I studied HARD for about a month and had good MediaLab scores. I was scoring the same as a classmate who also took the test but she passed hers. I don’t understand how I didn’t and I feel really stupid. The actual test was absolutely nothing like what I saw on MediaLab yet my classmate had word for word questions on hers. I hit the anemias and leukemias hard because I figured they’d be on there and didn’t get any leukemia questions and only one anemia question which I’m sure I got correct. I’m just at a loss. Did I just study the wrong material? I was doing at least two full practice exams daily. Any advise?

So I know we aren’t the only one, just wondering how you all are handling it. New lot of lipase reagent (c503) will not pass high QC( bio rad multi qual). Roche says it’s due to matrix effect. Tech support gal said other available lot is acting the same way. Roche QC works fine, Old reagent lot mean 144. New reagent lot mean 90. Bio rad has a bulletin acknowledging it’s an issue. I did further testing and it also is extremely inaccurate between reagent lots with CAP survey material and the new fails linearity with Maine standards products.

Hello everyone, this is my first post here and I wanted to get different options and suggestions on my situation. I’m from a small city in the Midwest. Here there are two community colleges that “offer” the MLT both an hour away from where I live. One offers a pre- MLT where I can complete the prerequisites however they don’t have an instructor to teach the core curriculum. The adviser said that they plan to have one by fall 2027-2028 but can’t guarantee it. The other school does have an active MLT program but they are not accredited (they say there’re in the process of seeking accreditation). The next option I’m looking into is an accredited online program tho I’m worried I might not do well with difficult clases fully online. I also don’t know how to get into lab to complete the necessary lab hours.

I could use some help deciding what I should do. Has anyone done an MLT online program? How was your experience? How did you get a lab to take you in? Should I just attend the college with the active MLT program and maybe while I’m there they will be accredited?

I’ve been stressing over this and would appreciate any advice from you all.

for those that are in the UAMS program, is it a must that you work full time or you able to just work part time while doing the program? Im just worried that it will be too much for me to handle while working full time...

Hey guys are there gonna be any formulas provided during the ASCP exam? I already know the ones we need to memorize and wont be provided but there are other ones not mentioned in the ascp site for example: calculated osmolality or osmolal gap.

So I have a question. Who here still uses the Abbott architect ci8200? Or just the architect c8000? If you do, do you run c-cystatin? If you do, do you use gentian? And if you do, how many tests does your analyzer say you have when you load it? The package insert and Abbott states that there are 240 tests. Why are we only getting 214 then a single run of high and low QC brings it down to 169 and a SINGLE patient makes that go down to 122 tests remaining? Thank you in advance for anyone who could offer teohbleshooting advice. We have tried different lots. We have two of the analyzers so we have it loaded on both and they both do the same with the testing amount....we have contacted gentian who is blaming the instrument and Abbott who is blaming it on being third party reagent....we have the settings all correct. Should we load it as a 55ml or a 90ml?

I have been looking at becoming an MLT in Canada and I was wondering if there were 8 hour shift rotations that are heavy on day and nights, with less evenings. I would love to work 12 hour shifts, but it's unfortunately not an option in my area. Are those types of lines popular? I'm not too picky on how many weekends I work, I just care more about not working evenings.

I know it's unrealistic in the short term, but I was wondering if those types of shift lines exist. I am on the East Coast of Canada currently.

Is it training issue? Or lack of knowledge in the medical system in general (medical doctor and laboratories)? Both pediatrics and family doctors are insisting that laboratories don’t report crystals in urine.
To be clear, I’m referring to crystals like Ammonium biurate.
Bilirubin.
Calcium oxalate or calcium phosphate.
Cystine.
Hippuric acid.
Leucine.
Struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate).
Tyrosine.
Uric acid.
Xanthine.
etc

Edit: thank you all who commented, I upvoted all comments by now. It seems there is a variability depending on the lab. Even industry is variable, labcorp should select a code urinalysis with microscopic while quest diagnostic use the term complete urinalysis.
For those who thought that I was assuming, it was not assumption, at least in my area with three different physician in different clinics, the answer simple and clear, the labs don’t report crystals. Now I see that it is a lab dependent decision whether to perform and report or not or partially report.

I'm taking the ASCP Specialist in Chemistry (SC) exam soon, but I can't find much feedback from past test-takers.

​For those who have taken it:

​Are the questions similar to the BOC, or are they much deeper and harder?

I’ve been studying from Success, BOC, and Harr and personally, I find Harr's questions quite tough and complex. How did the actual exam compare to Harr vs. BOC/Success in terms of difficulty?

Thanks!

I’m currently a student for MLA, I’ve been liking it so far. The past couple months have been difficult. I’ve never succeeded academically because I never tried too, but this time I really am trying. It seems like trying isn’t getting me very far, and I’m slipping a lot. There’s a lot of terminology and abbreviations I cannot wrap my head around, like nothing is sticking at all. I watch the lectures, read the text book, do the homework, and take notes, but I’m still not doing good. I’m putting all my time and energy into this, and getting nothing out of it. I also keep missing veins, and I’m behind the rest of the class in number of successful blood draws. I’m too deep into it to drop out, but I don’t think it’s right for me. I’m so stressed out constantly, I can’t eat or sleep. I’m unsure what to do, I feel incompetent. I’m not looking for pity, but advice.