ULAB 101A - Core General Clinical Lab Technician

Testing utilized in Hematology, Chemistry, Coagulation (Hemostasis), Urinalysis, and Body Fluids (BF) to prepare non-clinical bachelor’s degree students or graduates to begin a career in the clinical laboratory. Modality: Online lectures, D2L quizzes and in person comprehensive final exam. Topics include diagnostic value and interpretation of complete blood count (CBC), white blood cell (WBC) differentials, PT/INR and PTT, routine urinalysis, BF cell counts and differentials, basic chemistry panels, instrument calibration, linearities, quality control (QC), and Westgard rules.

Prerequisite(s): Bachelor of Science with 30 credits of chemistry or biology

Course Learning Outcomes:

Discuss the diagnostic value, normal range and interpretation of CBC with identification of different white blood cells, a PT/INR and PTT, routine urinalysis (UA) with microscopic, body fluid cell count and WBC differential, and basic chemistry profiles including comprehensive, renal, liver, thyroid, lipid, diabetes, and cardiac.
Discuss the difference and necessity of calibration, linearities, QC and Westgard rules.
Identify common interferences that can affect results for testing in the clinical laboratory.

Outline:

CBC and WBC differentials – interpretation, performance and disease states that affect the results.
PT/INR, PTT – Disease states and medication that will affect the results.
UA with microscopic – interpretation, performance, confirmatory testing, and disease states that affect results
BF and WBC differential – Types of body fluids – Purpose of the hemocytometer and cytospin
Chemistry profiles, diagnostics, correlation, and interpretation
Chemistry Instrumentation, methodologies, and middleware
Dilutions, calibrators, controls, and linearities
Levey-Jennings graphs, Westgard rules, standard deviations and basic laboratory calculations
Sample requirements and acceptability
Review and comprehensive final exam – F2F class