Clinical Laboratory Scientist

Position Overview

Under minimal supervision, the Medical Laboratory Scientist / Medical Technologist applies advanced technical skills and seasoned judgment to perform a full range of sample test analyses and laboratory services independently in a hospital-based setting. This role involves full responsibility for technical laboratory operations, complex problem-solving (including transfusion medicine and microbiology), procedural development in CLSI format, quality control oversight, staff training, and regulatory compliance.

• Coverage: Requires shift work, night, and weekend call to ensure 24-hour laboratory coverage.
• Patient Population: Serves pediatric, adolescent, adult, and geriatric patients.

Key Responsibilities

Testing & Technical Performance

• Perform all levels of laboratory testing, including CLIA-defined high-complexity testing across microbiology, transfusion medicine, molecular biology, and infectious disease safety.
• Evaluate, interpret, and report accurate test results while ensuring sample suitability.
• Identify and resolve inconsistencies in patient results, troubleshooting complex technical issues in collaboration with MLTs and Laboratory Support Technicians (LSTs).
• Assess result validity independently before release to healthcare providers.

Quality Control & Compliance

• Establish and maintain departmental Quality Control (QC) programs, defining acceptable performance parameters across all testing phases.
• Maintain instruments and equipment, review Levey-Jennings (LJ) charts, and implement remedial actions when test systems deviate from established standards.
• Write departmental procedures in CLSI format and coordinate manual updates and reviews.
• Support regulatory readiness and compliance for CAP, CLIA, and Joint Commission standards; assist with departmental Process Improvement (PI) initiatives.

Consultation, Leadership & Operations

• Provide test utilization and basic interpretation guidance to medical and nursing staff (referring advanced clinical questions to the Laboratory Medical Director).
• Provide LIS consultation and educate staff on acceptable laboratory medicine practices.
• Direct, assign tasks to, and review the work of MLTs and LSTs.
• Train new staff, laboratory students, and existing personnel on new methodologies; assist management with staff competency evaluations.
• Coordinate inventory levels to ensure adequate supply availability.

Qualifications & Requirements

Education

• Degree: Bachelor's degree in Medical Technology or a related field required. (Progressively responsible work experience or training may be substituted on a year-for-year basis).
• Minimum Requirement: High School Diploma or equivalent required.

Certifications & Licenses

• Professional Certification: Medical Laboratory Scientist / Medical Technologist certification via ASCP, AMT, or equivalent national credentialing agency required.
• Competency: Clinical Competency Assessment required within 3 months of hire and re-certified every three years.

Experience

• Minimum of one (1) year of progressive clinical laboratory experience, OR one (1) year of hospital internship following degree completion.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Knowledge: CLIA high-complexity testing standards; LIS operations and laboratory software; equipment operation/maintenance; comprehensive quality control processes; CAP, Joint Commission, and CLIA regulatory guidelines.
• Skills: Strong written and oral communication; effective technical troubleshooting; establishing cooperative working relationships.
• Abilities: Ability to work independently, make critical diagnostic judgments, train and mentor staff, maintain continuing education, and manage competing priorities under tight timelines.