Clinical Laboratory Technician

 

Program Description

Rapid advances in research will continue to increase both the number and the complexity of clinical laboratory tests performed. Federal regulations and New York State licensure now require more highly-trained personnel who must meet the minimum educational standard of the associate degree. Consequently, the demand for trained clinical laboratory technicians has been increasing and is expected to continue growing in both local and national arenas.

The modern clinical laboratory technician applies knowledge from the physical and biological sciences to detect and manage diseases. The program to train clinical laboratory technicians emphasizes the development of laboratory skills and characteristics essential to the health care worker. The use of state-of-the-art equipment in the analysis of blood and body fluids, as well as computerized patient data entry systems, allows the students to gain the skills necessary to perform effectively on the Board of Certification Licensure examination.

The Clinical Laboratory  Technician (CLT) curriculum encompasses a concentration of medical laboratory courses along with courses in the liberal arts, social sciences, sciences, and mathematics. Lectures in the clinical laboratory area include studies in hematology, clinical chemistry, coagulation, analysis of urine and other body fluids, immunology, serology, blood banking, and microbiology. Troubleshooting and quality control procedures are integrated into the program. College laboratories provide a simulated medical setting that allows students to analyze clinical specimens using manual and automated methodologies. In the lab courses, students will use computers for data retrieval, record updating, and printing reports.

During their senior year, students complete laboratory rotations at affiliated clinical sites including Oshei Children’s Hospital and Flint Road Laboratories, Sisters of Charity Hospital, Mercy Hospital of Buffalo, Kenmore Mercy Hospital, Mount St. Mary’s Hospital, Lockport Memorial Hospital, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Erie County Public Health Laboratories, X-Cell laboratory, OmniSeq, KSL Diagnostics, KedPlasma, and Erie County Medical Center. Additional enrichment rotations include the American Red Cross and ConnectLife. The students may perform clinical laboratory procedures at the affiliated hospitals under the direct supervision of laboratory technologists. Students may not perform paid work during scheduled clinical sessions. Students must be available for their entire assigned rotation shift as clinical rotation may be scheduled during evening hours.

Upon successful program completion, graduates are encouraged to take the American Society of Clinical Pathologists (ASCP) Board of Certification (BOC) Licensure examination. Graduates passing the BOC examination will fulfill the requirements for licensure in New York State and will be nationally certified. Graduates of the CLT Program perform consistently at or above the national average on BOC examinations. The granting of the CLT Associate in Applied Science degree is not contingent upon the student passing any type of external certification or licensure examination.

CLT graduates are employed as clinical laboratory technicians in private, clinical, or hospital laboratories and research institutions. Alumni of the program have also found employment as phlebotomists, quality control technicians in the food industry, and in biological, pharmaceutical, and chemical laboratories. Other graduates transfer to four-year institutions to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in Clinical Laboratory Science, as well as other medical fields such as nursing, pre-medicine, and physician assistants.

 

Accelerated Program

Students entering the program with a BS degree in Biology, Chemistry, or a closely related field may be eligible for the one-year Accelerated Clinical Laboratory Technician Program.

Program Format:

  • Online didactic coursework
  • Evening laboratory classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays
  • Saturday lab sessions
  • Courses delivered in half-semester blocks for focused and efficient progression


This accelerated pathway is ideal for students who already possess a strong scientific background and want a faster route to licensure and employment as a CLT.

 

Program Details

Campus: North
Regents Math
Regents Biology
Regents Chemistry


Pre-Admission Recommendations:
High School Average of 85%
Computer Skills
College Level Math, Biology and Chemistry

Admission Criteria includes:
- A high school degree or HSE (High School Equivalency)
- Overall high school average of 85% within the last five years
- An 85% final grade in high school general biology and chemistry
- Two letters of recommendation
- Attestation that the applicant can perform all of the essential functions
- Completion of the virtual assignment found in the application
- A minimum placement test result at the Math 143 and English 110 level
- A minimum college GPA of 2.7 within the last 5 years
- Completion of all required developmental English courses
- Completion of developmental math courses
- Completion of high school biology or Biology 107 and high school chemistry or chemistry with a lab (CH 010/011), achieving a minimum grade of "C" in both within the last five (5) years.

Essential Functions:
In order for the student to perform the essential functions of the clinical laboratory science profession, the following technical standards are required of students entering the CLT Associate in Applied Science Program.

Essential Movement Requirements for the CLT student:

  1. Move freely and safely about a laboratory
  2. Reach bench tops and shelves, patients lying in hospital beds or patients seated in specimen collection furniture.
  3. Travel to numerous clinical laboratory sites for practical experience.
  4. Perform moderately taxing continuous physical work, often requiring prolonged sitting, over several hours.
  5. Maneuver phlebotomy and culture acquisition equipment to safely collect valid laboratory specimens from patients.
  6. Control laboratory equipment and adjust instruments to perform laboratory procedures.
  7. Use an electronic keyboard to operate laboratory instruments and to calculate, evaluate and transmit laboratory results

 

Essential Communications requirements for the program in CLT:

  1. Read and comprehend technical and professional materials 
  2. Follow verbal and written instructions in order to correctly and independently perform laboratory test procedures.
  3. Clearly instruct patients prior to specimen collection
  4. Effectively, confidently, and sensitively converse with patients regarding laboratory tests.
  5. Communicate with faculty members, fellow students, staff and other health care professionals verbally and in a recorded format (writing, typing, graphic or telecommunication).
  6. Independently prepare papers, prepare laboratory reports, and take paper, computer and laboratory practical examinations.

 

Essential Intellectual requirements for the program in CLT:

  1. Possess these intellectual skills: comprehension, measurement, mathematical calculation, reasoning, integration, analysis, comparison, self-expression, and criticism.
  2. Be able to exercise sufficient judgment to recognize and correct performance deviations.

 

Essential Behavioral requirements for the program in CLT:

  1. Be able to manage the use of time and be able to systematize actions in order to complete professional and technical tasks within realistic constraints.
  2. Possess the emotional health necessary to effectively employ intellect and exercise appropriate judgment.
  3. Be able to provide professional and technical services while experiencing the stresses of task-related uncertainty, emergent demands, and a distracting environment.
  4. Be flexible and creative and adapt to professional and technical change.
  5. Recognize potentially hazardous materials, equipment, and situations, and proceed safely in order to minimize risk of injury to patients, self and nearby individuals.
  6. Adapt to working with unpleasant biologicals.
  7. Support and promote the activities of fellow students and of health care professionals.  Promotion of peers helps furnish a team approach to learning, task completion, problem solving and patient care.
  8. Be honest, compassionate, ethical and responsible.  The student must be forthright about errors or uncertainty.  The student must be able to critically evaluate own performance, accept constructive criticism and look for ways to improve.  The student must be able to evaluate the performance of fellow students and tactfully offer constructive comments.

 

Health Science Report Form
A Health Science Division Health Report Form is required to be submitted before students complete ML 111 coursework to ensure that matriculated students are in good physical and mental health and capable of completing the program requirements.  The Health Report Form includes a physical examination and an immunization report. In addition to the college immunization requirements, the SUNY system highly recommends that students handling fluids that have been recognized by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as directly linked to the transmission of HBV/or HIV (blood, blood products, body fluids, etc.) be vaccinated against HBV. Additionally, students need to be tested annually for TB (PPD test) and must have a tetanus vaccination within the last 10 years. Students must also have documentation of either history of Varicella (chicken pox); two dates of VZV immunizations; or VZV titer levels. Futhermore, the NYS Department of Health mandates all students scheduled for clinical rotations must receive the Influenza vaccine and requires that unvaccinated persons wear a surgical mask at all times while in areas where patients may be present. The immunization record is required to be complete and current in order for students to participate in clinical laboratories and clinical rotations. The college reserves the right to deny progression in the CLT Program when students have not updated or submit incomplete health report forms.

 


SUNY Erie Community College Clinical Laboratory Technician curriculum and its program of study meets the educational requirements set by the Board of Regents in New York state to award an Associate in Applied Science Degree with a major in Clinical Laboratory Technician. We are accredited by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS), and our graduates are eligible to take the American Society of Clinical Pathologists (ASCP) Board of Certification (BOC) exam. Practice as a certified clinical laboratory technician and the use of the title “certified clinical laboratory technician” in New York State requires licensure, unless otherwise exempt under the law. New York State Education Department (NYSED) accepts the American Society for Clinical Pathology Board of Certification Examination requirement for NYS licensure. To be licensed as a certified clinical laboratory technician in New York State you must meet all requirements including: be of good moral character; be at least 18 years of age; meet education requirements; and meet examination requirements. To meet education requirements, you must document that you have received an Associate’s or higher degree for certified clinical laboratory technician (or a related title) from a program registered by the Department as licensure qualifying at the time of graduation (A list of licensure‐qualifying programs can be found on
the Inventory of Registered Programs under “CLIN LAB TECHN”). To meet examination requirements, you must pass the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Board of Certification’s examination for Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT) for licensure as a Certified Clinical Laboratory Technician. New York State will now also accept ASCP MLT international exams (ASCPi).

https://www.op.nysed.gov/clinical-laboratory-technicians

Certification Rates

 

For students who graduated between 7/1/22-6/30/23

For students who graduated between 7/1/23-6/30/24

For students who graduated between 7/1/24-6/30/25

A) Total # Graduates

14

9

6

B) # who sat for the exam within first year of graduation

13

9

6

C) # passed the exam within the first year of graduation

13

9

6

*Yearly Certification Pass Rate Percentage: (C/B) x 100

100%

100%

100%

 

Graduation Rates

 

For students who graduated between 7/1/22-6/30/23

For students who graduated between 7/1/23-6/30/24

For students who graduated between 7/1/24-6/30/25

A) # who began the "final half" of the program

14

10

6

B) ## who began the "final half" of the program but subsequently left (voluntarily or involuntarily)

0

0

0

C) # who began the "final half" of the program but are currently enrolled

0

0

1

D) # who began the "final half" of the program during the given time period and have since graduated

14

10

5

Yearly Attrition Rate Percentage (B/A) x 100

0%

0%

0

Yearly Graduation Rate Percentage (D/A-C) x100

100%

100%

100%

 

Employment Rates

 

For students who graduated between 7/1/22-6/30/23

For students who graduated between 7/1/23-6/30/24

For students who graduated between 7/1/24-6/30/25

A) Total number of graduates

14

 9

6

B) # who found employment (in the field or in a closely related field) and/or continued their education within one year of graduation

13

9

6

C) # who did neither of above

0

0

0

D) # for which you do NOT have any information

1

0

0

Yearly Average Placement Rate Percentage: (B/(B+C)) x 100

100%

100%

100%

 


National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS) 5600 N River Road Suite 720 Rosemont, Illinois 60018 (773) 714-8880 http://www.naacls.org.

NAACLS Accreditation guidelines require that a procedure be established for determining that the applicant's or student's health will permit them to meet the technical standards of the program.

 


Detailed Curriculum and Program Information
For more information:
Jeanie M. Bryant, North Campus
Office B613A
6205 Main Street
Williamsville, NY 14221
270-5219

Dr. Jennifer Fendinger, North Campus
Office B613B
6205 Main Street
Williamsville, NY 14221
(716) 851-1549