Clinical Laboratory Assistant

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CORE JOB SUMMARY
The Clinical Laboratory Assistant 2 performs a variety of routine duties in assisting technical and professional personnel in clinical and research laboratories. An employee in this position provides broad support for the laboratory operations.

CORE JOB FUNCTIONS
1. Identifies, handles, and accessions patient samples requiring laboratory testing.
2. Transports specimens and communicates test results timely and accurately.
3. Maintains required laboratory files and logs system in a neat and accurate manner.
4. Performs specimen processing, such as centrifugation, aliquoting, and volume measurement.
5. Maintains adequate inventory level as per protocol.
6. Participates in the performance improvement processes for the department.
7. Maintains assigned work area in a clean and orderly condition.
8. Maintains confidentiality of all patient information according to federal and state guidelines and regulations.
9. Generates patient reports and forwarding them to the proper departments/physicians.
10. Investigates and responds to all inquiries or problems related to referral testing; Answers all inquiries made by the Reference Lab and resolves problem associated with improper or inadequate samples. Answers all inquiries made by physicians or patient unit personnel related to specimen requirements.
11. Maintains adequate inventory levels as per protocol and rotates previous stock when it applies
12. Checks packing slips, verifies number of items received, documents, and gives copy to supervisor/designee.
13. Serves as a lead/Back-up when Supervisor is unavailable.
14. Adheres to University and unit-level policies and procedures and safeguards University assets.

This list of duties and responsibilities is not intended to be all-inclusive and may be expanded to include other duties or responsibilities as necessary.

CORE QUALIFICATIONS
Education:
High School Diploma or equivalent/relevant experience, certification or license

Experience:
Minimum 2 years of relevant experience required

Certification and Licensing:
Refer to department description for applicable certification requirements

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Skill in completing assignments accurately and with attention to detail.
• Ability to analyze, organize and prioritize work under pressure while meeting deadlines.
• Ability to process and handle confidential information with discretion.
• Ability to work evenings, nights, and weekends as necessary.
• Commitment to the University’s core values.
• Ability to work independently and/or in a collaborative environment.

DEPARTMENT ADDENDUM

Department Specific Functions

I. Specimen Receipt and Accessioning:

• Responsible for the receipt of samples, accessioning of cases and labeling of container and cassettes before distribution to technical areas.
• Responsible for the timely and accurate processing of test orders using standard protocol.

• Receives samples, organizes and accessions cases.
• Enters complete and accurate test orders into LIS – CoPath.
• Generates specimen labels and accurately labels specimens.
• Generates specimen cassettes and accurately prepares cases to be distributed to the gross room.

II. Case distribution to pathologists

• Responsible for checking QGenda on a daily basis and distributing cases to pathologists according to service subspecialty.
• Responsible for filling distribution log throughout the day as cases are distributed

  III. Preparation of slides, blocks and documents for assembly of cases

• Use processing logs’ information to make slides for each cassette that is being processed
• Clean blocks as they come out of the embedding stations and organize them in numerical order for microtomists 
• File blocks and slides as necessary throughout the day
• Match working drafts with requisitions to have all documents ready for the assembly of cases.

IV. Filing and Log Systems

• Maintains accurate records of requisitions, accessioning logs and transport logs.

V. Assists in the maintenance of operable systems by changing paper, labels and/or printer ribbons as necessary.    

 VI. Inventory and Supplies

      Maintains adequate inventory levels and rotates previous stock.

• Receives, unpacks, dates and stores supplies.
• Checks packing slips, verifies number of items received,  gives copy of packing slips to supervisor.

VII. Processing Machines

• Responsible for the daily change/rotation of reagents on all processing machines in the histology laboratory.
• Responsible for the timely and accurate completion of maintenance logs for all processing machines.
• Responsible for receiving cassettes, scanning into the LIS and the timely loading of cassettes onto the processor runs

VIII. Responsible for helping in the cleaning of blocks in the embedding area.

• Cleans blocks by melting the paraffin around them and organizes cases in numerical order
• Matching paperwork and for assembly of cases:
• Responsible for matching the necessary paperwork for assembly of cases.
• Matches gross description documents with request forms
• Responsible for scanning all blocks loaded on processor machines.
• Scans blocks using the SMART system before loading processing machines.

IX.   Miscellaneous  Laboratory Activities

• Keeps lab clean, neat, and organized. Performs housekeeping duties to remove clutter

• Removes empty boxes and recyclable material and disposes of them as per standard operating procedures.   Prepares biohazard containers for use and then disposal.
• Informs supervisor if equipment needs service

X.    Participates in the Performance Improvement of the department by documenting all problems and complaints in the internal QA log.

XI.      Participates in required educational program, including safety, infection control, etc.

XII.     Follows unit specific safety and infection control standards.

The University of Miami offers competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, tuition remission and more.

UHealth-University of Miami Health System, South Florida's only university-based health system, provides leading-edge patient care powered by the ground breaking research and medical education at the Miller School of Medicine. As an academic medical center, we are proud to serve South Florida, Latin America and the Caribbean. Our physicians represent more than 100 specialties and sub-specialties, and have more than one million patient encounters each year. Our tradition of excellence has earned worldwide recognition for outstanding teaching, research and patient care. We're the challenge you've been looking for.

The University of Miami is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants and employees are protected from discrimination based on certain categories protected by Federal law.

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