FAQs with Christian Hospital lab professionals

In recognition of National Laboratory Professionals Week, Christian Hospital lab employees answer some FAQs about their jobs.  

If this vital work sounds right for you, learn more about laboratory career options at Christian Hospital and BJC here and in the video below.

What kind of education do you need?

There are several career options in the laboratory with varying education requirements: 

• Phlebotomist: Often an entry level position collecting specimens from patients (drawing blood) and receiving specimens in the lab. Requires a high school diploma. Many phlebotomists are students of medical technology or nursing. 
• Medical laboratory technician: Requires a two-year degree in applied science from an accredited MLT program. Clinical rotations and national board of registry exam are also required. 
• Medical technologist: Requires a four-year degree from an accredited MLT program. Clinical rotations and national board of registry exam are also required. This level of education allows for careers in lab management as well. 
• Cytotechnologist: Requires a four-year degree in cytotechnology and board of registry exam. 
• Histotechnologist: Requires a two-year degree from accredited program in histology with clinical rotations and board of registry exam. 
• Pathologist: Requires a four-year degree, four years medical school, five years specialty training, registry exams, board of certification in anatomical and clinical sciences, a medical license and sub-specialty exams. A pathologist is the medical director of the laboratory.

Are you a nurse? Don’t doctors and nurses run their own tests, like on TV?

Nursing requires a completely different set of skills than laboratory work, as nurses provide care directly to a patient. Laboratorians have a strong science background specific to the testing we are trained to do. 

While some tests can be performed in an office setting (e.g., simple tests with a low risk for an incorrect result, like a pregnancy or rapid strep test), most moderate to high-complexity testing must be performed by licensed personnel and requires certification and inspections in a laboratory setting.

Why do you need so much blood? Why are the tubes different?

Very often, your provider orders more than one test, and these tests have different collection and stability requirements, based on lab methodologies. The different color tubes represent an additive (anticoagulant), or sometimes no additive, specific to a particular test methodology. Here’s a guide to some of the colors you may see:

Lavender: Typically used for complete blood counts when cells need to be observed.

Light blue: Used for coagulation (clotting) tests.

Mint green and gold: Used for most chemistry, immunology testing. They are different though, as the mint green tube has an additive and is used for tests requiring plasma. The gold has no additive and is used for tests on serum. 

Pink: Specialty tube for blood bank testing (blood type and crossmatch). 

Dark blue: Specialty tube for heavy metal tests.

Gray, yellow, red, mottled red, dark green, etc.: Specialty tubes for other special tests. 

What is it like working in the BJC labs?