STANDARD COMPETENCIES:

 

 I.      List and describe the various departments of a clinical laboratory.

 II.     Identify and distinguish the various healthcare regulatory agencies.

 III.    List laboratory personnel and the professional organizations for clinical laboratory scientists. Compare and contrast the work-related roles and education requirements for laboratory personnel.

 IV.     Paraphrase, comply with, and communicate the basic principles of medical ethics to others.

 V.      Paraphrase, comply with, and communicate the basic principles of laboratory safety to others.

 VI.     Demonstrate personal lab safety skills.

 VII.    Paraphrase, comply with, and communicate the principle of standard precautions to others.

 VIII.   Summarize the components necessary to a laboratory¿s quality assurance program.

 IX.     List, describe, and differentiate between common anticoagulants and additives used to preserve blood specimens.

 X       Explain specimen collection procedures and specimen requirements for laboratory testing.

 XI.     Calculate weight, volume, length, and temperature using the metric system.

 XII.    Explain and demonstrate the operation of various laboratory instruments including microscopes, centrifuges, and balances.

 XIII.   Demonstrate mastery of fundamental lab skills including (but not limited to): the performance of Gram stains, urinalysis, ABO blood typing, and manual hematocrits; streaking for bacterial isolation; pipeting; preparing, staining and interpreting peripheral blood smears.

 TOPICAL OUTLINE:

 

 I.      Introduction to the Clinical Laboratory

         A.      Laboratory departments

         B.      Regulatory agencies

         C.      Laboratory personnel and professional organizations

         D.      Medical ethics

 II.     Safety in the Clinical Laboratory

         A.      Laboratory safety manual

         B.      Safety standards and governmental agencies

         C.      Laboratory hazards

 III.    Laboratory Quality Assurance

         A.      Quality assurance standards

         B.      Reporting results

 IV.     Collecting and Processing Laboratory Specimens

         A.      General specimen requirements

         B.      Standard precautions

         C.      Blood collection

 V.      Systems of Laboratory Measurement

         A.      The metric system

         B.      Laboratory measurement systems and equipment

         C.      Pipets/pipeting

         D.      Laboratory reagent preparation

 VI.     Urinalysis/Microscopy

         A.      Parts of a microscope

         B.      Use and care of microscopes

         C.      Renal anatomy and physiology

         D.      Physical properties of urine

         E.      Constituents in urine sediment

         F.      Chemical tests on urine

         G.      Microscopice examination of urine

         H.      Pathophysiology

 VII.    Microbiology/Parasitology

         A.      Microorganisms and infectious diseases

         B.      Normal flora

         C.      Gram stain procedure

         D.      Media and streaking for isolation

         E.      Antimicrobial susceptibility testing

         F.      Parasites in blood and stool

 VIII.   Immunology/Cytogenetics

         A.      Antigens and antibodies

         B.      Immunity

         C.      Immunological testing

         D.      DNA; Genes; Chromosomes

         E.      Cell division

         F.      Karyotypes

 IX.     Immunohematology

         A.      Antigens and antibodies

         B.      Inheritance of blood groups

         C.      ABO blood group system

         D.      Rh blood group system

 X       Hematology/Coagulation

         A.      Composition of blood

         B.      Complete Blood Count (CBC)

         C.      Hemoglobin/Hematocrit

         D.      Peripheral blood smears

         E.      Platelets and their role in coagulation

         F.      Coagulation tests

 XI.     Chemistry

         A.      Chemical analysis of common elements in blood and body fluids

         B.      Instrumentation

 XII.    Cytology/Histology

         A.      Specimen types

         B.      Specimen preparation

         C.      Stains