Details About the MLT Program

Details about the MLT Program TABLE OF CONTENTS

Teaching LECTURE ...... 2 Lecture Classes MLT 210 Intro to MLT ...... 2 MLT 211 Intro to Lab Procedures...... 2 MLT 230 Clin Chem ...... 2 MLT 236 Clin Hematology ...... 2 MLT 243 Clin Immuno ...... 3 MLT 232 Clinical Micro ...... 3 MLT 235 Clinical Urinalysis ...... 4 PHLB 240 Phlebotomy ...... 4

PRACTICUMS Before Practicums (after lectures are done, before paperwork submitted) ...... 5 Overview ...... 5 What to expect for practicums ...... 6 CPR ...... 7 Liability insurance ...... 7 Health center clearance form (physical/medical release ) ...... 8 Background Check ...... 8 Professional behavior release ...... 9 Request to Interview form ...... 9 What to expect ...... 9 During Practicums (after paperwork submitted) ...... 10 How many hours per week are the practicums? ...... 11 Signing up for the practicums ...... 11 Interview appointment email ...... 12 Interview tips ...... 12 If you are not accepted ...... 13 Check list of skills to learn ...... 14 Grading of the practicums ...... 14 Information about the St Jude, Fullerton site ...... 15 After Practicums ...... 16 Applying for the MLT License ...... 16 Applying for the National Board Exam ...... 17 Documentation Required ...... 17 Application Link ...... 17 Scheduling the Exam ...... 17 Studying for the Exam ...... 17 What to bring on Exam Day ...... 18 Results and Certificate ...... 18 Student explains the time this process takes ...... 18

1 National Boards Study Tips ...... 19 Lecture classes Don’t rent your textbooks, buy them, and keep them. Do not sell them back. You will use them for the practicums and for your job afterwards. Dr. Chu’s practicum exams are based on the textbooks used for the lectures. When emailing, use proper English and grammar. This is especially important when you are emailing your instructor, the Dean, the Department Chair, the Program Director, or your clinical site. Your professionalism is being judged by how well you communicate in writing. Also make sure your handwriting is very easy to read. Every number and letter must be carefully written when you work in a laboratory, so practice now.

All of the syllabi have an Academic Integrity paragraph that states we have a policy of zero tolerance for cheating because it violates the professional behavior code for the Health Sciences. A student caught cheating, even on one test, will not be allowed to continue with the MLT program. Someone who is dishonest in the Health Profession is likely to cover up mistakes instead of admitting them, which can endanger patient lives. There is also a Three Strikes rule, which means you can only get less than a C three times. If you get a D or an F or a W for a total of three times, and after that, you are expelled from the MLT program and you cannot re-enter the program later. That means you can flunk a class twice and flunk another class once; anything more than that, and you are expelled. Or flunk one class more than three times. Or if you flunk one class and withdraw from other classes twice with a W, you cannot flunk or withdraw again. Also note that in the MLT program, the lowest passing grade is 75%. A grade of 74% is a D.

MLT 210 Intro to MLT (1 unit) In the Fall, this class runs on Monday nights (6-7:50pm) for the first 8 weeks of the semester. In addition to offering 210 in the summer (Monday 5-8pm for 6 weeks, June 15-July 15) we have to also offer it every Fall—it is part of our regular schedule. Students can take it either before they enter the program, or in their first semester of the program. Because it is as it is primarily informational, and may help them decide if this is a career they would like, it has no pre-reqs. Taking it before entry into the MLT Program helps alleviate the ‘load’ of the first semester— remember, they may have GE courses to complete in addition to the required courses. This class is lecture only.

MLT 211 Intro to Lab Procedures (1 unit) This class runs on Monday nights (6-7:50 pm) for the second 8 weeks of the semester. 211 is only offered in the Fall—that MUST be limited to 25 students per section because of the size of the lab—if we have more student who need it, we can add another section. It is offered 2nd 8 weeks so we will know if we need a 2nd section. In Fall, we will also know how many new admissions will need it and can schedule accordingly. This class is lecture for the first hour, with some lab activities during the second hour. Students do not need to be enrolled in the MLT program to take this class.

2 MLT 230 Clin Chem (5 units) This class runs 16 weeks, on Tuesday s and Thursday s (6-8:50 pm). It might be all lecture, or the instructor might have some lab activities. This course is unique, so no course substitutions allowed, unless perhaps if they did the same class in another MLT program.

MLT 236 Clin Hematology (3 units) This class runs 16 weeks, on Wednesdays (6-7:50 pm). Lecture for the first hour, lab activity during the second hour. If there are more students than can fit in the lab, if we cannot open another section, split the class into 2 groups. One group has a 30 minute lab activity first, then the second group. Have Group A go first on alternate weeks, and Group B go first on the other weeks. This course is unique, so no course substitutions allowed, unless perhaps if they did the same class in another MLT program.

SPRING

MLT 243 Clin Immuno (3 units) This class runs for 16 weeks, on either Tuesday or Thursday nights (6-7:50). Students who have taken an immunology class will ask to substitute it for this class. However, this class is unique, and there are no other classes that can substitute for it, unless perhaps it is a CLINICAL immunology class from another MLT program. Clinical Immunology and Immunology are different classes. Clinical focuses on what media is used for immunological tests. Also, the full name of this class is Clinical Immunology/Hematology, which is a class no one else offers, so nothing will substitute for it. There are currently only 3 lab activities: blood typing, how to use a spectrophotometer, and ELISA kit. On those days, lecture will be for the first hour, and the lab activity during the second hour. If there are more students than can fit in the lab, split the class into 2 groups. One group has a 30 minute lab activity first, then the second group. Have Group A go first on alternate weeks, and Group B go first on the other weeks.

MLT 232 Clinical Micro (3 units) This class runs for 16 weeks, usually on Wednesday nights (6-8:50 pm) This course is unique, so no course substitutions allowed, unless perhaps if they did the same class in another MLT program. Lecture for the first hour, lab activity during the second hour. If there are more students than can fit in the lab, if we cannot open another section, split the class into 2 groups. One group has a 30 minute lab activity first, then the second group. Have Group A go first on alternate weeks, and Group B go first on the other weeks. Lab 1: Microscopes Lab 2: Streak Plate Technique Lab 3: Gram Stain Lab 4: Catalase, Oxidase, Indole, and Staph Tex Lab 5: Antibiotic sensitivity Lab 6: Rapid ID for Anaerobes (using Enterotubes) Small World Initiative (SWI) Currently, we also have our clinical microbiology students participate in Yale University’s Small World Initiative, which is a project where students obtain a soil sample from their back yard, bring it

3 in, plate it to grow out the bacteria, then pick colonies to place on a plate streaked with E. coli or other pathogens that cause nosocomial infections for which we don’t have any good antibiotics. Those soil colonies that produce a clear zone are sent to National University, where their microbiology and CLS students do the next steps in the project (Electrophoresis and genetic analysis). The sample can then be sent to Yale, who can isolate the substance being produced by the soil bacteria that kills the nosocomial bacteria, so antibiotics can be made from it. Our students can then add to their resume the fact that they have participated in research with Yale University.

MLT 235 Clinical Urinalysis (1 unit) This class runs on Monday nights 6-7:50, during the second 8 weeks of the semester only. Lecture is during the first hour, and there are lab activities during the second hour of five of the classes. Lab 1: Safety, Physical examination of urine Lab 2: Chemical Part A (dipstick) and Chemical Part B (Clinitek instrument) Lab 3: Microscopic exam and complete UA Lab 4: Spinal Fluids and Body Fluids Lab 5: Amniotic Fluid demo and Fecal occult blood

SUMMER

MLT 210 Intro to MLT (1 unit) This class is offered in the summer right after the MLT application deadline (June 1-12). Class starts around June 15, runs for 6 weeks, 3 hours on Monday nights. Students can sign up before they are even accepted to the program, so they can make sure they like the field, and to lighten their fall course load.

PHLB 240 Phlebotomy Class (4 units) Only students enrolled in the MLT program may sign up for this course. Students may take this course at another school and substitute it for this class, as long as they obtain a phlebotomy license from the State of California. Phlebotomy class is Saturdays 9am-4pm, and runs for 8 weeks from around June 6 - Aug 1. Lecture is 5 hours and lab is 3 hours each day. The students have to complete all the same paperwork for the phlebotomy practicum as they do for the MLT practicums, including the background check, CPR, liability insurance, Health Clearance (you must get all the vaccines that are required for the MLT practicums, not just the TB test like the phlebotomy course description says), and Professional Behavior form. Our school MLT webpage has the links to the documents you need to fill out the paperwork. You should complete this paperwork during the first week of class, and give this paperwork to the phlebotomy instructor. When signing up for the phlebotomy insurance, choose “phlebotomy” from the drop down menu on the insurance company website. Do not choose “MLT”.

The students start by using dummy arms, then they draw blood on each other. After completion of this class, the student must complete 60 hours of phlebotomy training at a clinical site, including 50 venipunctures and 10 skin punctures. There are not enough sites to get all students in the subsequent Fall semester, so it might take a year or longer to fulfil this requirement. The first

4 student is sent while class is still in session. Then one student is sent about every 3 weeks. Some students might take 9 months before their name comes up. The Phlebotomy instructor is in charge of placing the students at the sites. After that, you take a State test to get your license, which is good for 2 years. The license required is either CPT level 1 or 2. You must take 6 hours a year of online continuing medical education courses (or onsite somewhere) to maintain their license. The paperwork must be done ideally prior to first class. The instructor does allow a week extension. However, given that this is a short summer session, he would prefer everything is done ahead of time. He will start sending students to clinical sites during the second week of class. These are the sites we have:

Western medical Center -- Santa Ana Western medical Center -- Anaheim Hoag --- Newport possibly Irvine PIL -- outpatient lab in Santa Ana Possibly Mission Hospital Saddleback Medical Center

CLASS TO TAKE WITH AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION (not Red Cross) Healthcare Provider CPR; coarse is 4 hours and costs about $50 (license will be good for 2 years and then it must be renewed by taking a shorter course)

PRACTICUMS

BEFORE STARTING PRACTICUMS (after lectures are done, before papers have been submitted)

OVERVIEW After the above classes are completed, and the phlebotomy license and CPR card are submitted to the HS Office and a copy emailed to the Department Chair, and the student has cleared a background check (cost is $43), health clearance (including updated immunizations), and has purchased liability insurance (about $21 per year), students will then be placed on the Practicum Readiness list to be set up for interviews for the following rotations at clinical sites. MLT 242 (Clinical Chemistry Practicum) MLT 244 (Clinical Hematology/Coagulation Practicum) MLT 252 (Clinical Microbiology Practicum) MLT 253 (Clinical Immunology Practicum)

Since there are not enough sites for all the students, it might take a year or more to start these rotations. Some students are not accepted by any sites, even after three interviews. This is often caused from lack of adequate English skills. Students are advised to take courses such as Conversational English.

5 After the practicums, the student applies for an MLT license, then they sign up to take the National Board Exam.

What to expect for the practicums Each practicum is 200 hours except immune is only 150 hours. Each practicum is 5 weeks except immuno is only 4 weeks, so that adds up to 19 weeks.

Recommended: If you sign up for 2 practicums the first semester (chem and heme) and 2 practicum the second semester (micro and immune), the practicums are usually 8 hours a day (usually 6am- 3pm), 3 days a week (M-F). Talk to the site where you are accepted to see if they will let you go fewer hours per day and more days a week if that is your preference to accommodate your place of employment. Your practicum hours have to add up to 24 hours per week to complete the required hours by the end of the semester.

If you sign up for 3 practicums the first semester and 1 practicum the second semester, the practicums will be 8 hours a day (usually 6am-3pm), 5 days a week (M-F).

To get on the list to be interviewed for a clinical site for the practicums, I will have a lottery for all the students who started the MLT program in the same semester as you. That will let you know your number on the wait list. NOTE: If you do not pass all your classes with a C, you will be dropped to the bottom of the practicum readiness list. Once all of your grades for all the MLT courses are showing on your transcripts, there are six documents you need to submit. If you have a phlebotomy license, I will need a copy. There is one site (Anaheim Medical) that requires a phlebotomy license. The other sites do not, but you need to have completed a phlebotomy course. 1) CPR card 2) Phlebotomy license (if you have one) 3) Liability Insurance 4) Health Clearance 5) Background Check 6) Professional Behavior Form 7) Request Form to Interview

Please scan each document (or take a picture with your cell phone if you do not have a scanner). When you scan those papers, please NAME them like this: Last Name, First Name, CPR Last Name, First Name, Phlebotomy Last Name, First Name, Insurance Last Name, First Name, Health Last Name, First Name, Behavior Last Name, First Name, Request

Note that there is no document to submit for the Background Check, just email me to let me know what date is was completed. I will check the results online.

6 Here is where to find the forms on the MLT website: Packet to be completed for Practicums/Clinical Rotations Requirement Letter for Clearance for Clinicals Request Form to Interview Background Check for Clinicals (link is external) Insurance Coverage (liability) (link is external) Physical/Medical Release Professional Behaviors Release

CPR Go online to find an American Heart Association CPR class (NOT Red Cross). Select the course for “Health Care Professionals”. It is about 4 hours and costs about $50. CPR cards are good for 2 years. They must not expire during your practicums, so renew it now if it is going to expire this year.

Liability Insurance (Costs $21, good for one year) There are two different liability insurance policies. One is for phlebotomy clinical rotations. The other is for the other clinical rotations (Chem, Hematology, Micro, Immuno). This is NOT health insurance. It is special liability insurance so that if the student is injured at the site, the student’s insurance will pay and the hospital cannot be sued. The instructions on where to get this policy is on the MLT website, which takes you to this link: https://www.hpso.com/quick-quote/page1.jsf You can apply online or print the application and mail or fax to the insurance company.

If you previously signed up for insurance for phlebotomy, and now you want insurance for MLT, you must get a new policy, even though your phlebotomy insurance is still in effect. Go back to the same website, but make sure you select a new form for MLT, otherwise they will just add on another year of phlebotomy insurance and it is a nightmare to get that changed.

You have to tell the insurance company what date you want the policy to start, and you cannot get the insurance more than 30 days ahead of its start date. So if you tell the insurance company to start coverage on June 1, you can get the policy on May 1. However, you can have the coverage start several months before your practicums start since the insurance is good for one year and you only need coverage for 8 months.

Health Center Clearance Form (Physical/Medical Release) The Admissions Office and I cannot accept any of your personal medical records, including immunizations. You must make an appointment with the Student Health Center to submit your medical records, and they will send the Admissions Office a Health Center Clearance Form. I will get it from there.

If you are not an enrolled student at Saddleback, you can’t do a Health Clearance at the Student Center because you need to first pay the $19 application fee to become a current Saddleback student, then sign up for the practicum class, then pay for the class AND pay for the optional Student Health fee. THEN you can go to the Health Center to get the clearance form signed off for the physical

7 exam. In the meantime, look over your immunization record to see what shots you might have had in the past that are expiring. Your shots must not expire until after you complete all the practicums.

All of your completed papers are turned in to the HS Office EXCEPT your Physical/Medical release form. For that form, make an appointment at the Saddleback College Student Health Center. You can either have a physical exam with your own doctor, or make arrangements to have it done at the Student Health Center. In either case, bring the form after the doctor signs it to the Student Health Center FIRST. The health center will go over it, sign it, and send a clearance form to the HS Office. You cannot take your medical records to the HS Office because they contain confidential information, so they cannot accept it. The HS Office will only accept the clearance form from the Saddleback Student Health Center. NOTE: Your physical exam by a doctor (whether it is your own doctor or the Student Health Center) is only good for one year. If it is older than that, you will have to get another physical exam. NOTE: If you were not able to get matched with a clinical site last year, and you have finished taking all your classes at Saddleback, you will need to re-apply to Saddleback College, pay the $19 application fee, and then you can use the Saddleback Student Health Center to complete your physical exam form.

Background Check (Costs $43, good for 6 months) www.certifiedbackground.com Download this document from the MLT webpage Background Check for Clinicals and follow the instructions on how to properly do a background check and then just email me when it has been completed; no other info is needed from the student about it. Then, I will go online to look up the students’ info after they tell me they have completed the background check. If the student does not clear the background check (will not clear if there are any arrests with convictions in the last 7 years, misdemeanor or felony), the Dean will be notified, and student will need to be notified that they cannot continue the program until the problem is cleared up, which might take up to 7 years. Background check is good for 6 months. If you will be starting the practicum after that time period, you must get a new one. Professional behavior Release Download it from the MLT website. Sign it, scan it, and email it back to me

Request to Interview Form Download it from the MLT website. Fill it out, sign it, scan it, and email it back to me.

WHAT TO EXPECT Don’t get the documents done (except CPR and Phlebotomy) until you are in the next group to be called for interviews, since those documents expire faster. CPR and Phlebotomy don’t expire for 2 years.

There are about 36 students that started the program at the same time as you. The first 12 on the practicum readiness list need to submit all those documents by the time Dr. Chu starts to make the

8 calls to schedule interviews at the clinical site. If they are not done, she will take the next person after you who does have their paperwork done, and you will get bumped down by one. All those papers are taken with you to the interview, so if any of the papers are not done, the site will decline you.

Out of your class of 36 students, about 25% start their practicums this Fall, 25% start next Spring, 25% start next summer, and 25% start a year from this Fall. The order of priority is based on the lottery. Remember to contact me or the HS Office if your contact information changes (especially your email address).

Note that some students never get placed, even after three semesters of interviews, usually because their English is not good enough. We advise you to take a Conversational English class of some sort to improve your language skills. Also, do not dress in jeans and T-shirts for these interviews. Wear nicer business clothing. It is up to the clinical site to decide who they want to work with.

The reason it is hard to find sites is that our MLT students have to be trained by a CLS person, and there is a shortage of CLS people. Hospitals don’t like using their few CLS people to train a MLT student, especially since the hospital is not compensated in any way.

We invite you to come to a Discussion Forum on Monday, May ____, from 5-6pm in room HS- 128, right before the Urinalysis Class starts. Dr. Chu and I will be there to explain the practicums in more detail and answer any of your questions.

If you want to move yourself up on the list (you still have to get all your grades except immuno done, plus the paperwork), you could ask around at hospitals near you to see if they would be interested in letting you do your rotations there. If you find us a new program that is then approved by the State, and if that site accepts you, then that is your golden ticket to start your practicum faster than it would have been otherwise. So if you or a friend works at a hospital that is not already on our list, ask their Lab Director if they are interested in being one of our affiliate sites. If so, let me know, I will tell Dr. Chu, and she will explain the process to them. It takes 2-3 months from the time you tell us about the site to the time you can start your practicum with them. Lab Director may write a request a particular student.

We can only place 7-8 students in the summer instead of 12 because the CLS people that train the MLTs often take a vacation in the summer. Dr. Chu will send about 12 students in for interviews, even though there are only 7-8 spots. The first 12 students on the practicum readiness list who have their paperwork done will be selected to interview. Remember, these practicum rotations are actually classes that you register for through Saddleback, just like taking any other class. If you sign up for practicums, and then are not accepted by any sites, make sure you DROP the class so you do not get an F.

Here are the sites we have so far: The more sites you can find for us to add to this list, the faster we can place everyone in a practicum so the wait might not be so long in the future. 1) East Los Angeles Doctor’s Hospital, Los Angeles 2) Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, Fountain Valley 3) Hoag Hospital, Newport Beach - not enough staff to have students right now

9 4) Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center, Mission Viejo: have not taken students in a while. Might have staffing problems. 5) Pacific Medical Laboratory: Irvine 6) Saddleback Memorial Hospital, Laguna Hills: Not ready until January 2016 due to computer software change and staff training. 7) St. Joseph Hospital, Orange, CA: will start this Fall due to construction in their lab 8) St. Jude Hospital, Fullerton 9) Medical Laboratory Sciences: taking students this summer. 10) Avanti Health System: Has 4 hospitals. They will take 6 students. Each student will rotate through all four places. a. East LA Hospital – 2 students at a time b. Coast Plaza, Norwalk -1 student at a time c. Memorial Hospital, Gardena – 2 students at a time d. Huntington Park Hospital -1 student at a time 11) Western Medical Center: have not taken students, but we have a contract with them. Have not taken MLT but are taking phlebotomy students. 12) Laboratory Associates: trained a couple of our MLT students in the past because those students worked there already. Not sure if they are accepting more MLT students. 13) Physicians Immunodiagnostic Laboratory, Inc, Santa Ana: phlebotomy site only

If you know of a clinical site that is not on our list, and you contact them, and if they are willing to accept you, there is a contract that can be supplied to that laboratory, which Saddleback College also needs to sign, and it can be submitted to the State for approval. Once that paperwork is cleared, you could begin your practicum there. It would also be nice if that facility would like to be permanently added to our list of approved sites, so other students can attend. This will allow us to place more students into a practicum each semester. Please contact me if you have a facility you have spoken to, who would be agreeable to participate in our practicums, so I can make arrangements for the paperwork. We cannot take any veterinarian labs, and no molecular diagnostic labs.

Graduate Student Guest Speaker at the end of the Spring Semester Robert Millwee [email protected] I'm willing to come back every semester and do what I can to prepare them for the practicums

DURING THE PRACTICUMS (after your paperwork is all submitted)

HOW MANY HOURS PER WEEK ARE THE PRACTICUMS? If you take 3 practicums in one semester and the 4th practicums in the next semester, you will need to attend the clinical site for 40 hours a week the first semester, in order to complete the required number of hours per practicum. But if you take 2 practicums in one semester and 2 practicums in the next semester, you do not need to work there 40 hours per week. You could attend the practicum for 24 hours per week (usually 8 hours a day, three days a week) and still get all the hours done within the 16 week semester. That way, you might be able to keep your job while you complete the

10 practicums. However, the SUMMER semester is only 8 weeks, so you sign up for 2 practicums and attend 40 hours a week.

If you are already employed at the site where you do your practicum, understand that your work hours do not count towards your practicum hours. The hours have to be kept separate. You need to complete 200 hours for each practicum, so 400 hours has to be complete by the time the semester is over. If you are sick one day during the Chem practicum, you have to make up those hours during the Chem practicum time. You cannot make up those hours during the Hematology practicum time. It takes 8 months to complete both semesters of practicums. If you take 3 practicums in one semester, you have to work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. If you are also trying to hold down a full time job, that is exhausting. And then the second semester you will just have immunology left, which is 4 weeks. Even though you finish the last practicum in 4 weeks, you still have to wait another 3 months for the semester to be over before you get your letter grade. So it is better to take only 2 practicums at a time and spread the hours out since it takes 2 whole semesters to get your grades anyway.

SIGNING UP FOR THE PRACTICUMS Each practicum (Chem, Heme, Micro, Immuno) is a separate class that you enroll in at Saddleback. You sign up online, and you will get a grade at the end of the semester for each class. Students do NOT enroll in all 4 Practicums—during fall or spring, they enroll in 2-3 of the 4- unit courses and delay the 3 unit course (Immunology practicum) until the following semester. In the summer, students will register for 2 rotations: Clin Hem/Coag/UA Practicum and Clin Chemistry Practicum. They will take micro and immune practicums in the Fall.

INTERVIEW APPOINTMENT EMAIL When you are on the current practicum readiness list, Dr. Chu will be emailing your appointment time for the practicum interview using military time, since that is what laboratories use in real life. So if she says your appointment time is 1000, it means 10 am. In military time, they do not use a colon between the hour and the minutes like this (10:00). Here is a conversion chart you should learn:

Military Time Conversion Chart

Regular Time Military Time Midnight 0000 1:00 a.m. 0100 2:00 a.m. 0200 3:00 a.m. 0300 4:00 a.m. 0400 5:00 a.m. 0500 6:00 a.m. 0600 7:00 a.m. 0700 8:00 a.m. 0800 9:00 a.m. 0900 10:00 a.m. 1000 11:00 a.m. 1100

11 Noon 1200 1:00 p.m. 1300 2:00 p.m. 1400 3:00 p.m. 1500 4:00 p.m. 1600 5:00 p.m. 1700 6:00 p.m. 1800 7:00 p.m. 1900 8:00 p.m. 2000 9:00 p.m. 2100 10:00 p.m. 2200 11:00 p.m. 2300

INTERVIEW TIPS Do not wear jeans and t-shirt. Dress in professional attire. Make sure your resume is cleaned up, and bring that with you. Make sure your resume is cleaned up, and bring that with you. Also bring your background check, liability insurance, CPR card, health clearance form, professional behavior form, and phlebotomy license if you have one. It is not important to have previous lab experience. Any experience working is good, even at a grocery store. They want to see a good work ethic. They will ask you why you want to be a MLT. Do not tell them you want to be a CLS later or they will not take you. They are looking to hire a MLT so they do not want to train you and then lose you when you go for your CLS degree. They might ask you to go down the hall, turn left, go to the first room on the right, look for the white refrigerator, get the purple top tube from the top left shelf, and bring it back. They might ask that just to see if you can follow directions. They will not be asking you detailed questions about microbiology, etc. It is more like a regular job interview. They are also looking for someone who can work well with the current staff.

The practicum interview is just like a job interview. Be on time and dress professionally. At St. Jude, They will ask some simple technical questions, such as what is a normal hematocrit level, what is a PT and PTT test used for? Why should a patient fast before taking blood? They want to know how you relate to others, how you get along with other. They might ask you what was your favorite class? What was your least favorite class? What Department do you want to work in when you are done (for St. Jude, answer Chemistry!). They want to know that you work well on a team. They also might ask your GPA.

Dr. Chu has to send more than one student to interview at each site (State rule). That means that someone below you on the readiness list might get accepted for the position that you interview for, even though you are higher on the list. Also, some sites request that both students show up for the interview at the same time. Try to be the first one they interview. Sometimes, a site will interview two students and select one for the current semester, and the other for the following semester, even though the second student wanted a site in the current semester. We cannot always predict how these situations might turn out. It is up to Dr. Chu if she will offer you another interview somewhere else for the same semester, or if you are stuck with having to wait for the next semester. The sites can sometimes change their start dates based on staff availability. We cannot control these events. Clinical sites have the final say on who they train and when.

12 Sometimes interviews only last a few minutes. They might say “Have you ever worked in a lab before? Do you have any questions for me?” And then the interview is over and they accept you. Others ask more questions.

IF YOU ARE NOT ACCEPTED If you are not accepted at a site and you have already signed up for the course, you MUST drop the course and register again when an opportunity for training comes up. If you do not drop the course, you will receive an F. We do not give “Incomplete” grades to students who are not currently in the practicum rotations as there is no provision for them to complete at a later time. We eventually want to set the enrollment for Practicum to '0' so students can only sign up for the practicum courses using an APC code given by the Program Director after they have been accepted to a site. The Program Director will send you to interviews for three semesters. If you do not get accepted to any of them, you will not be able to continue with the program. If the reason you were not accepted is because your English was not good enough, you will need to take some English classes to improve your interview skills for the next semester.

CHECK LIST OF SKILLS TO LEARN There is a checklist for each practicum They are posted here http://drmagrann.com/MLT/MLT.htm . These check lists are sent to the sites, and the site will edit the list and return it to Dr. Chu. That will be the list that you are trained from. They will show you how to do each item, then you must demonstrate that skill. One site will allow you to observe some CLS skills in their blood bank and immunology because they want you to understand what other lab workers are doing. One site has a high complexity microscopy that you can observe. You are not required to learn anything of that level of complexity.

GRADING OF THE PRACTICUMS After each demonstration of a skill, they give you a score of 1-4, with 2 being average, and the equivalent of a C. We expect that you will always get a 2 (C) on all of the skills. To be given the opportunity to get a higher grade for each practicum, Dr. Chu gives you homework and a test with case studies, which can raise your grade in the class to a B or A. The exam questions are related to what you have learned at the clinical site.

Dr. Chu sends a Chem exam to the site at the end of the Chem practicum. The site gives the test to you and proctors it. If you do well on the test, you can raise your practicum score from a C to a B or A. Then at the end of Heme, you get the Heme test. Same for Micro and Immuno, Bring your own scantron to the site for each exam. There is no study guide. There are lots of case studies, especially in hematology.

Please make a copy of all your exams and homework before you send them to Dr. Chu in case they are lost, so you have a backup copy. Right now we have 100% pass rate, plus 100% pass rate on the Board exam. You also need to keep a time card, which will also go into the packet you send Dr. Chu.

Once you finish the practicum and give Dr. Chu your homework and exam packet, your grade will not be entered into the Saddleback database until the end of the current semester. For example, if

13 your last practicum is immunology starting in January, and you finish in February, your grade will not be entered until May, when the Spring semester is over. You cannot register for the Board exam until after your transcript shows your grade, which will not happen until the end of that semester. You can apply for the Boards and pay the fee, but you do not get your unique ID until they get your complete transcripts. You need that ID to take the Board exam.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE ST JUDE, FULLERTON SITE Their lab is very busy and chaotic. You will be on your feet for 8 hours. You will need to develop a mechanical aptitude because there are many $200,000 machines that run 24/7 which have fluids, reagents, belts that break and need to be replaced. You have to learn to fix them because if they break on a Friday, service is not available on the weekend and you don’t want to be without the machine that long.

Right now, they do not have one person assigned to be your mentor. You are placed with a different person each day. Some of them are nice, some are patient, some are not, and sometimes they are not in a good mood. Some of the older CLS people hate all MLT’s. They think they should not exist. Don’t take it personally. They might change it so that there is one person in charge of you for Chem, another in charge of you for Heme, etc. Everyone there is a scientist, and have been there a long time. The managers are especially good at maintaining accuracy in procedures, etc. Each site will have their own set of ranges that they like to use. Learn where their manuals are to look up their ranges and procedures.

Most labs do not have a selection of worms to look at, but you need to know what they look like for Dr. Chu’s exam, so use internet images to learn. The same is true for the fungi. You might only see one toenail with fungi growing on it that you can look at under a microscope, so study the other fungi online. You can recognize C. difficile by its smell. It has a terrible odor, even through the plastic container and plastic bag a fecal sample comes in. Some tests are only done once a week, so make sure you get to see it. Some tests are only done in the morning. Many tests are automated, but Dr. Chu will ask you questions about the manual methods.

There is nothing that you take home to study. Just learn the job. You will learn things, such as this: Baby boys have a higher hematocrit than an adult male. So when you get a blood sample with high hematocrit, check the age and sex before you flag it as abnormal. You need to learn to look at the whole picture.

Treat your practicum like a job. Be willing to do anything. Help them with dirty tasks like putting the wash bucket away. They will remember you if you refuse to help with the dirty work, and they will not remember all the other work you do. The medical field is a small, interconnected

14 community. Everyone knows everyone in all the hospitals, and you will get a reputation, either good or bad. So make a good impression. Get there 15 minutes early and stay until the final minute. One student lived 2 hours away so she knew she was not going to be employed there after her practicums, but she showed up every day 30 minutes early and stayed the whole time, did whatever was asked of her, and did each task with her utmost effort and attention. She finished her practicums a few years ago, but everyone at St. Jude still talks about her and how great she was, and tells the other students to be like her. That is the kind of reputation you want.

You will function as a lab assistant during the practicum. The hematology rotation will have you make 100 slides a day. During the last 30 minutes of the day, the Lab Director will take you into the office and ask what you learned that day. They want you to be able to catch mislabeled things, notice odd values, make sure the right color blood tube was used, notice if a specimen is sent with fresh ice that has not melted….that means someone just put it on ice. Was it supposed to have been on ice for hours? You have to notice that and make a note since it affects the outcome of the test. Carry around a note pad, and a folder to carry any papers you get, and ask many questions, take lots of notes. The main emphasis at St. Jude is CHEMISTRY. That is their largest department there. They want their MLTs to be well-trained in Chem.

CAP will send a test out to the lab once in a while to see if they diagnose a case properly for quality assurance. Sometimes the site will give you the CAP test when it arrives, and they want you to tell them what you think the answer is. The CAP test might be a slide of a blood smear that shows schizonts inside red blood cells, so the answer is “malaria”.

At the end of the semester, you will get a grade for each practicum, which is a class that shows up on your transcripts. You send your transcript to the State to apply for your license, then you can take the National Board exam. You will know the same day if you passed the Board exam, and you can immediately print out a temporary license. But an MLT can never work at Blood Bank or Hematology in California; only CLS can do that. But in most other states, you can take your CA license and move to another state and you might be able to work in those two fields.

CLS people make about $54 per hour. MLTs make about $25-30 an hour. Everyone starts out working per diem (get paid per hour, but only hired for particular hours on some days). The per diem pay rate is higher because they get no benefits. Eventually they move to full time.

AFTER THE PRACTICUMS When you finish the practicums, MAKE A COPY, and then turn in all paperwork (homework, exams, time sheets, checklists) to Dr. Chu’s box in the HS division office. Make sure you keep a record of your practicum start and end dates at home. Then you must wait until a week after the semester is over, at which time your final grades will be submitted to the school. When Dr. Chu tells me the grades are submitted, I will send you an email asking you to tell me the name and address of the clinical site(s) where you did your practicums, and the start and end date for each practicum. Then I will fill out a verification of completion form that I will mail to Laboratory Field Services (LFS). When I email you to tell you I have sent your form to LFS, then you need to ask Saddleback’s Admissions and Records office to send your official transcripts to LFS at this address:

15 California State Department of Health Services Laboratory Field Services Attn: Personnel Licensing/MLT Program 850 Marina Bay Parkway Bldg P, 1st Floor Richmond, CA 94804

You will then need to go to the LFS website to apply for the MLT license ($230) and then go to the ASCP website to sign up to take the National Board exam ($200) at a facility near you. Details are below.

APPLYING FOR THE MLT LICENSE Application Fee: $230 When your paperwork for Dr. Chu is submitted, you can then submit an application to CDPH LFS to start the process of getting your license. You can pay the $230 application fee, but you will not be given your unique ID from the LFS site until your transcripts are sent to them, and you cannot send them until the end of this semester. As soon as your practicum grades show up on your transcript, you send the transcripts to LFS. The Department Chair also has to separately mail your completion verification form to LFS. After LFS gets both sets of papers, LFS will email you your unique ID, and you can register for your license. The MLT License requires the AS degree in addition to our MLT classes. If you got your AS degree from another school, send that transcript in to LFS as well.

To get your license, click on this link and choose option 2 http://ascp.org/Board-of-Certification/State-Licensure/California-Licensure#tabs-1

APPLYING FOR THE NATIONAL BOARD EXAM Application Fee: $200.00 After you send your transcripts to LFS and get your license from LFS, you can take the National Boards. This exam must be passed within 3 years after completion of all classes and practicum rotations. It takes 150 days to process. 1) For the ASCP MLT-CA exam use this link: http://ascp.org/Board-of-Certification 2) Click on US Certification Download the procedures booklet (bottom of the page). Save that for later. 3) Documentation Required: On the same webpage, click on the tab that says DOCUMENTATION http://ascp.org/Board-of-Certification/GetCertified#tabs-2 Gather your education and work experience documentation Submit all documentation required to establish eligibility to: ASCP Board of Certification 33 W. Monroe St., Suite 1600 Chicago, IL 60603 Documentation needed:  Document and Verify your academic education

16  Document and Verify your work experience (if required)  Document and Verify your training (if required)

4) Click on the Applying Link, read the instructions, and click APPLY. http://ascp.org/Board-of-Certification/GetCertified#tabs-3

5) To schedule your exam http://ascp.org/Board-of-Certification/GetCertified#tabs-5 How frequently are the board exams offered? They run constantly at a testing center. You pick a date and time and location after all your paperwork is done. It's not like they are only offered once a year. The board exams are offered a variety of days it depends on where you want to take it.

6) Study Preparation http://ascp.org/Board-of-Certification/GetCertified#tabs-6

Study Preparation To help you prepare for your certification or qualification examination, the following study materials and exam details are available:

 Exam Content Guidelines  Reading Lists  ASCP Press BOC Study Guide App & Book  Online Practice Tests  Learn about the exam Frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Study Materials and Practice Tests. Books to study for National Board exam BOC Study guide and a Clinical Laboratory Science Review by Robert Harr. The National Board flashcard questions posted on your website look a bit harder than what was actually on the ASPC exam but they are more or less along the lines of what I used to study for it. I used CLS (not MLT) exam resources to study for the exam. I used the following: 1. CLS exam review book: SUCCESS! in Clinical Laboratory Science by Anna P. Ciulla and Donald C. Lehman. ($90 on amazon) 2. This website was nice: http://wordsology.org/ 3. I got a year subscription to LabCE (around $50 I think?) and did A TON of 100 question practice exams on there for both CLS and MLT levels. 4. The Turgeon CLS and the Diagnostic Microbiology textbooks from the Saddleback classes.

7) Exam Day http://ascp.org/Board-of-Certification/GetCertified#tabs-7 Prepare for your examination day. Review Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) method that is used by the BOC. To find out what to bring to examination center, please review What to Bring to the Examination Center.

17 8) Results and Certificate http://ascp.org/Board-of-Certification/GetCertified#tabs-8

Student explains the time this process takes If I recall correctly I finished my practicum rotations May 9th, my grades weren’t submitted until around June 10th because of an issue with missing paperwork from the site I did my rotation at. During that time I was looking on the website for the licensing and the boards to see what I could fill out for the time being.

So rough estimate I would say it took only a few days to a week once she actually submitted the grades. If the MLT AS is your first degree (from saddleback) you actually have to wait for the Degree to be authorized by saddleback, which to my surprise actually took months. I submitted for my degree for the summer of 2014, and it was not finalized by the school Until October of 2014. I had my MLT license before my degree was finalized because I had a previous AA from Saddleback.

I had to sign up for my license before I could sign up for my board exam. On the first page of the board exam there is a spot for you to enter your CA ID number which is a unique number you only get from signing up for your license.

Along with the application, I believe that your official transcripts need to be sent, along with any paperwork that Hency put together, I believe they put together a form of completion that they mail off to the state.

Applying for licensure is done through the LFS/CDPH website. Make sure they select CA MLT. Signing up for your boards is done on the ASCP website I believe the price for both was $230, & $200 respectively.

When you sign up for your boards if all paperwork is in they let you choose a location to take the test there is multiple locations. Once you pick a location they let you pick a day in which to take the test, and it gives you the available times to take the test. The one I went to was a general testing center in Lake Forest. There was other professions there taking their exam also. Nurses, etc.

The exam notifies you with a simple pass or fail once you finish the test. Your actual score is not accessible for a few weeks. The testing center sends the scores electronically, for me there was no paperwork post testing. Once I went in to take my test all my paperwork was in and I was just awaiting passing my test to finish up the process.

Surprisingly and I think since I had all my paperwork in I got my license rather quickly. I took my test July 15th and by August 1st I received an email saying my license had been granted and would be mailed to me within a few days.

18 I only studied for about a month but I carefully scheduled every day leading up to the exam making sure to include memorization exercises, general review days, and practice exams throughout. I think I was pretty efficient. The exam was 80 questions long. Questions are worth different points depending on the difficulty level. You have 80 questions to accumulate at least 400 points that are needed to pass. Maximum score is 999 I believe. - Anthony Weirich

National Boards Study Tips

Know the formula on how to calculate LDL. LDL = (total chol) - HDL + (triglyceride/5)

What did you think of the exam? Okay so first thing you should know is the exam is only 80 questions long and every questions is multiple choice with ABCD. That's it. Only 4 options for every question. Keep in mind 80 questions is not a lot for all the material it is supposed to cover. This means you don't really get that many questions about 1 particular subject. Say you don't remember that much mycology. With only 80 questions you may get only 1 mycology question. If any at all. I didn't get any mycology in my exam. And it is like that for some of the other subjects. I think I got maybe 1 leukemia question, mostly they were anemia questions for hematology for me. And even then there were probably only about 3 anemia questions. It was slightly easier than I expected. Like you, I expected a lot of super detailed questions about specific reagents, fungi, thalassemia, leukemia, urine crystals, bacteria, etc. but no. There were SOME but most of it was a lot simpler. SOME detailed questions but not that many. I went in thinking it was going to be extremely hard because there is SO MUCH material but with only 80 questions and ABCD options it wasn't that bad.

Can you remember some of the questions on the exam? Not exact questions off the top of my head but here were some topics I specifically remember they asked about: DILUTIONS!, iron deficiency anemia, Levey-Jennings charts, hepatitis B serology (HBsAg, anti-HBs, etc.), 2 thalassemia questions, some physiology about kidney, erythropoietin, 1 sickle cell question, 1 tumor marker question, metabolic/respiratory acidosis/alkalosis. CALCULATIONS: RBC indices and the LDL calculation. I didn't get any pH balance equation or creatinine clearance or osmolality calculations but it's probably a good idea to remember them if you can just in case.

What areas should one focus on? Focus on lab operations, chemistry, Heme, and bacteriology. Those are the top 4. Broad strokes but if you can remember more details about each one, the better. SEE ATTACHMENTS (posted on www.drmagrann.com/MLT)

Did they ask specific questions like given biochemical test Indole + , MV +, ODC - what bacteria is it? Do they ask questions like what chemical reagents do you need to add to a Indole test? Mostly general questions but there were a few SUPER detailed ones.

19 Did they ask a lot of questions in blood banking? No blood bank questions at all. None. CA MLTs cannot do blood bank.

How about hematology? Anemias, some about cells themselves.

Did they ask questions on leukemia, diGeorge , lymphomas etc? I think there was like 1 question on leukemia for me

Did they ask questions on the development of a RBC? I think like 1 question yes

Any questions on Clinical chemistry that I should focus on? There was a lot of general clinical chemistry

Are there any study guides that you can recommend? I used CLS (not MLT) exam resources to study for the exam. I used the following:

1. CLS exam review book: SUCCESS! in Clinical Laboratory Science by Anna P. Ciulla and Donald C. Lehman. ($90 on amazon) (I plan on going on to get a CLS so I saw this as like an investment)

2. This website was nice: http://wordsology.org/ (REALLY GOOD ACTUALLY. I actually took the time to memorize a lot of the notes from there and it helped a lot) On the upper right hand corner press "high yield notes" . Then scroll down to microbiology. You have to read everyone's comments and sometimes someone will give you little tips on how to remember things.

3. I got a year subscription to LabCE (around $50 I think?) and did A TON of 100 question practice exams on there for both CLS and MLT levels. (It was very helpful. Another student named Giselle used this website too and is also using it to study for her MLT exam in June.)

4. The Turgeon CLS and the Diagnostic Microbiology textbooks from the Saddleback classes. I only studied for about a month but I carefully scheduled every day leading up to the exam making sure to include memorization exercises, general review days, and practice exams throughout. I think I was pretty efficient. The exam was 80 questions long. I needed to accumulate a score of 400 points to pass the exam and I got 700 so I guess my strategy worked okay for the MLT exam.

Dr. Chu gave us those Final Practice exams for the National boards, did that help? I forgot about those. ahah... Those would have been good but the above is everything I used.

About those multiple choices, was it like; a.1 above b. 2 of the above c. 3 of the above or d. all of the above? I hate those kind of multiple choices! Hah! Me too but no, almost all of them were straight up 4 different ABCD choices as far as I remember.

I loved that one website you sent me on students asking questions about the exam and some helpful hints to memorize different test. Yes! I found that one useful because it condensed a lot of the important information that was likely to be found on the exam.

What kind of dilution problems did they have, were there any serial dilutions? There were a few. I think it asked me what the final concentration would be after you dilute it a certain amount of times. Another was about the dilution factor. Another was how many grams of X to make a Y molar solution. Stuff like that.

20 What was the total score on the exam? I still don't understand if you have only 80 questions, how does the final score end up in the hundreds? Each question is worth different amount of points depending on how hard the question is. Easy questions are worth a few points and the harder questions are worth more points. I don't know how much each question is worth or how they determine the level of difficulty of each question but the goal is to accumulate 400 points by the time you get to the last question. I think if you read the attachments (Posted on www.drmagrann.com/MLT) it will explain in more detail.

Also know that the exam "adapts" as you go along. Meaning you can't go to the next question until you give an answer to the current question but don't worry. You can change your answers to any question at the very end. But in order to move on to the next question you always have to answer the current question. You can't leave any unanswered questions. The following question's difficulty is determined by the answer you put in the last question. You'll keep going like this till you get to the last question. At the end you'll be able to go back and change whatever answers you want. You are able to flag questions as you go along to remind yourself of which ones you specifically want to go back to and look at again.

It covers A LOT of information but it is totally do-able and it never really tries to trick you. I would advise you to keep studying as if you were taking a CLS exam. Keep doing CLS questions if you can and memorize as much as you can before taking the exam. Keep studying hard, ok?

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have more questions or if you want me to be more specific about something!

Take care, Omar Monteon

……………………………………….

The ”Quick review flashcards for Clinical Laboratory Science Examination " by Valerie Dietz Polansy is very good! It covers Microbiology, Hematology, Clinical chemistry. Like I said, the other cards (micromnemonics by Shen) are more of a fun way of learning microbes. The Lippincott cards got great reviews, but I didn't care for this set.

I highly recommend the ASCP BOC app (The first one. Blue logo). It has similar questions. The app is very helpful and convenient to use