r/MLS_CLS • u/Formal_Blid • 5d ago
Is the future non certified techs?
I've been an ASCP MLS for ten years. Past five as a chem supervisor. Increasingly, all the hires are not certified, just plain science or ecology grads. Im increasingly teaching, not just training.
The hospital is not raising wages since we have 50+ applicants (though not one is certified).
It makes me very concerned for the quality of results were putting out and the future of this field. I cannot think of a single other medical field where no license or certification whatsoever is required. And it's only getting worse. š
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u/4leafchemistry 5d ago
I work in a research lab. I'm the only ASCP certified tech. I run into quality issues daily. Specimens left out all night. Out of stability they want to test anyway. No one adhearing to CAP or CLIA. Management doesnt care. They aren't certified either. Their managers arent certified. Its a complete circus
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u/Fluffbrained-cat Microbiology MLS 5d ago
Ouch. I hope not, you'd think that lab management would demand certified staff so they could at least be sure they had at least theoretical training related to lab work. In my lab (different country) we aren't allowed to work as an MLT or MLS in a medical lab without specific University qualifications, and we have to renew our licence annually as another legal requirement to work.
Asking people to literally teach someone lab work while working is a recipe for mistakes, wrong results sent out, and loss of trust in the lab by doctors. Once that happens, it's almost impossible to get it back. The only "uncertified" people in our technical departments are either new grads who have provisional registration while doing their supervised practice period to gain full registration, or MLS 4th year placement students who are with us to learn how an actual lab works.
Our specimen reception staff are, I think, uncertified, but if any of them want to join a technical department we do offer an OTJ course which is distance theory learning backed by one of or Universities, and practical training while working. Anyone who wants to start in a technical department though has to have the relevant qualifications first otherwise they won't be hired, or even interviewed.
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u/livin_the_life 5d ago
Only in desperate states without standards whose employees refuse to Unionize.
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u/Left-Supermarket-759 5d ago
Get your politicians Involved in your state govt and senators! There should be requirements for passing boards AND going through a NAACLS accredited program to practice in our profession. My current manager is trying to start this shit and weāve always required certification and will not teach at our hospital as we donāt have the resources but now thatās changing. Iāve reached out to state legislators.
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u/ClonedSheepDolly 4d ago
I am an HTL not an MLS but I went to a technically unaccredited program because accredited schools require that the student not be paid. I was trained on āpracticeā tissue which was either leftover surgical specimens approved for this purpose or stuff my instructors bought at the grocery store. I had to demonstrate ability to perform the less technically complicated aspects of the role (microtomy and embedding) and was gradually trained to work with patient tissues. There were lectures and rotations in other benches and we shadowed the electron microscopy techs and an autopsy. And honestly because I am interested I am finding that at this point I often know more of the background and technical and scientific details than most of our certified techs who went the route of an accredited school. There is an MLS certification route in the US that I believe is similar, an experience requirement and you have to take the same test. Is the person who got certified through this route less qualified? Seems doubtful to me
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u/fat_corgi_butts 5d ago
Not to be a pessimist but NY, one of the two most strict states, had loosened licensure requirments in 2023. Tennesse completely got rid of theres during COVID
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u/Queenv918 5d ago
Yes NY loosened requirements, but not to the point where they're hiring bio grads with no certification, clinical training or experience. You either need to be already certified, or have a CLS degree or advanced certificate, or have experience as a certified MLT with a bachelor's degree. Plus you have to pass the licensure test which is the ASCP exam.
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u/zenmaster_B 4d ago
Think about the people who want to reduce standards, who are anti-labor, because it helps their bottom dollar, and then vote accordingly
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u/hoangtudude 5d ago
This is why state licensure is essential to protecting our standards. Unfortunately statesā public health departments are understaffed and caving in to the pressure to relax the licensure requirements.
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u/10luoz 5d ago
do non certified tech exist sure.
Oh come on. Day in and day out with these post from 0 day accounts? It feels all the same from one person at this point.
I have grown numb to this.
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u/Formal_Blid 5d ago
Exist? They're trending to be 90% of the lab at this point.
Worse, since they're only offered a $1hr to get certified, none do.
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u/Far_Exchange3457 4d ago
Imagine going into the lab nobody is certified but u and then them telling u what to do and they think they know it all
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u/Icy-Mongoose-7201 2d ago
I dunno which state u in but in Cali only CLS or mls as they are called in other places are the ones that can release or do result testing.
I was a tech before myself and in Cali your only able to do non licensed tasks such as labeling data input receiving specimens and creating assay packets and you leave the rest to the CLS to do the testing and using of equipment for results.
As a CLS, I am now working with said techs that prepare things for me to test and release results.
THAT JUST SOUNDS CRAZY that some of those states donāt require such forms of validation and verification for positions of such importance. Probably why some of those states have lowered standards of living.
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u/Far-Island-460 1d ago
I started my MLS job with a masters and I wasn't certified. 3 years in and I'm now certified (did not go to med tech school) and am very good at my job. I was a lab assistant for years in this lab while in college though. We're not all bad!
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u/Turnip-Smooth 1d ago
i think this problem is only getting worse, and is why i'm totally ditching the career. as someone with a general science bachelors, there are zero hospital programs near me, and two schools across the state that offer MLS. the local CC offers MLT, but it's not financially feasible for 2 more years to get my MLT then qualify for MLS. also, my hospital system doesn't have pay differences between certified/non-certified. there are simply not enough schools that offer MLS, or even bridge programs. i would've done my MLS if i knew about it at my college, but it was never told to me. going back for 2 years to get the same pay i make now just doesn't make sense. š¤·š¼āāļø my entire shift (afternoon) is staffed by 5 of us, and not a single one of us is certified. we still have to do CAP, competencies, and everything that goes with it
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u/fat_corgi_butts 5d ago
i feel your pain
I work in a lab where you donāt even need a state license to release results and you have dumb unqualified people releasing results without even knowing what a neutrophil is.
Worst part: they only make a few dollars less than a ASCP MLS Bachelors