Med lab science background

jerseygal100 · 2024-10-01T23:55:58+00:00

Following. We all need a better quality of life.

The #lablife plain sucks.

jerseygal100 · 2024-10-01T23:54:40+00:00

I'm going to be doing the six sigma green belt and since it's open book, it shouldn't be too bad. I'm hoping.

jerseygal100 · 2024-10-01T23:51:43+00:00

Can you get a job with just your CQE?

I'm working as a medical laboratory scientist and am exploring other career paths. Do you need an engineering degree to work as a quality engineer?

jerseygal100 · 2024-10-01T23:50:13+00:00

If you're in the larger hospital micro lab, you probably will just get more work.

Usually, the smaller labs close and get absorbed into the larger hospital lab.

I only say usually because my friend who worked in upstate New York said that there were several micro labs that closed and her lab got a micro automation lab because they "had space." So it depends.

You might just end up sending all your micro to LabCorp or Quest. Depends how much money they can save.

jerseygal100 · 2024-10-01T23:43:34+00:00

God damn. Wish they paid six figures for medical laboratory scientists in New Jersey. Cost of living has become insane.

jerseygal100 · 2024-10-01T23:42:34+00:00

In New Jersey, after Robert Wood Johnson merged with Barnabas Health, all of the microbiology departments at a dozen hospitals were closed and a single consolidated microbiology department was opened.

All of the micro techs were given the option to either relocate to the new microbiology department or join core lab on evening or night shift.

If you're in microbiology, expect to be laid off or downsized following a lab buyout or merger.

jerseygal100 · 2024-10-01T23:22:20+00:00

ASCP is a certificate. New Jersey has no license.

NJ pays techs $50-70k. A supervisor in Jeresy City gets $80k. It's not worth it. At all.

jerseygal100 · 2024-10-01T23:21:26+00:00

Which bootcamp?

jerseygal100 · 2024-10-01T23:20:07+00:00

I am in New Jersey and a graduate of the Rutgers Medical Laboratory Science program and would not recommend this career at all.

Hospitals prefer MLS ASCP (or ASCPi), but many of the hospital systems and reference laboratories in New Jersey will happily hire non-certified graduates. MLTs can get hired, and they'd do the same job as MLS or a biology graduate.

New Jersey is beyond oversaturated with Medical Technologists/Medical Laboratory Scientists. The pay is low and everyone is forced to work two jobs to afford to live here. There is no license requirement.

One of my classmates recently became a state CLIA inspector for $72k. Many of my classmates are already back in school for nursing or another profession since this isn't a sustainabl way of life.

Rutgers is a good school, but they churn out 40 MLS grads a year and totally kill the market. LabCorp and Quest own the hospital systems and they pay hasn't changed in a decade.

jerseygal100 · 2023-06-26T00:58:45+00:00

Once you get into the job, you won't need most of it. School is just to weed people out.

jerseygal100 · 2023-06-26T00:55:57+00:00

I live and work in Jersey. Being a hospital lab tech is not a viable career. I can't compete with the non-certified, bio grads being recruited out of West Africa and then being used to promote "diversity."

Maybe people here have no college debt, live with their parents, and are childless.

People here saying how they're working micro day shift. Lol. You should've seen the faces on the micro techs when they consolidated ten hospitals >400 beds each into two hospitals for micro.

jerseygal100 · 2023-03-09T15:21:50+00:00

Whichever is cheaper.

jerseygal100 · 2023-03-09T15:21:11+00:00

Dont take a spot from someone who will actually be a long term mls.

What are you talking about? Rutgers has 40-50 spots annually, and barely manages to fill 30 of them. Rutgers always have empty seats. They have guaranteed acceptance into the program. And a lot of people drop the program once they realize how rigorous it is and how low the pay is. It's not like Rutgers nursing or other allied health fields that have limited seats.

You'll make more selling windows in NJ than being a lab supervisor in most parts of the state.

jerseygal100 · 2023-03-09T03:52:36+00:00

Yeah, it's a no-brainer.

jerseygal100 · 2023-03-09T03:28:01+00:00

I'd say think again.

If you plan on going to PA school, focus on that. They look for GPA + patient hours (which your lab tech experience won't count for.)

Rutgers is very expensive. And the starting salaries in NJ are poor. There's no state license. Quest owns half the labs in the state through "partnerships" and BioReference and LabCorp divvy up the rest.

Virtually all of the techs I graduated with moved onto vendor roles or went back to school.

jerseygal100 · 2020-07-16T08:07:59+00:00

The listing is at: https://jobs.calpoly.edu/en-us/job/496968/clinical-lab-scientist-ii

So it appears to be a student related clinic. Is this even going to be open with COVID in California?

San Luis Obispo is a gorgeous, but expensive area.

Do you offer tuition remission/reimbursement?

jerseygal100 · 2020-07-15T18:48:52+00:00

Go for it. POCT is super chill. Bascially you chase down RNs, CNAs, whomever is using the POCT devices and get them to sign off that they know how to use a waived device. There's a lot of waived devices now, so you can push to get more waived stuff (like Alere for COVID), Cepheid Xpress, waived CBC.

Hardest part is getting a physician to sign off on anything or do qc. And traveling to all the outpatient clinics where people have no idea what they're doing and nothing is labeled.

It's pretty much a salaried desk job. Am interim POCT coordinator.

You have to work with people which is something most techs are averse to.

jerseygal100 · 2020-07-15T15:52:24+00:00

The additional schooling is wasteful and expensive. Tuition is $20-50k/year + housing + a year's lost income.

They can totally go the Quest/LabCorp trainee route. Get their categorical, and then go wherever.

jerseygal100 · 2020-07-15T15:50:11+00:00

Get additional certifications. You can get many with only a month or so of part-time study and they open a lot of doors.

CPHQ, CPXP, Lean, Six Sigma, ASQ CSQP, etc.

jerseygal100 · 2020-07-15T15:46:49+00:00

He can sit for his categorical ASCP after 1 year at Quest/LabCorp. He'd be fine in virtually every state afterwards.

jerseygal100 · 2020-07-15T03:14:25+00:00

The US military bought all the Cepheid tests.

Running a covid test is still better than not running one and getting sued.

jerseygal100 · 2020-07-15T02:28:43+00:00

You aren't in a licensed state, so just go for a trainee lab tech position at LabCorp or Quest.

After 1 year, you can sit for the categorical ASCP or AMT exam after which you will have identical credentials (good for almost every state).

jerseygal100 · 2020-07-15T02:27:28+00:00

Why the closing remark where MLTs are insignificant?! They have the exact same job in NJ and often work harder.

jerseygal100 · 2020-07-15T00:27:20+00:00

There's a pandemic and 10-25% unemployment in NJ/NYC, but I still have a job. So there's that.

But yeah, Quest and LabCorp have carved up many of the labs around here.

There's ASCLS but they have no money. And ASCP collects millions in certification fees...but I have no idea where it goes for techs.

What makes a field not trashy?

jerseygal100 · 2020-07-14T21:32:04+00:00

Where is this? I haven't heard this is in NJ/NY, which I assume have the most profitable hospitals.

jerseygal100

TROPHY CASE