Clinical Laboratory Assistant 2

University of Miami•Miami, FL

About The Position

The Clinical Laboratory Assistant 2 supports routine operations in clinical and research laboratories by assisting technical and professional personnel. In the Bone Marrow Processing and Accessioning Laboratory, the role focuses on accessioning bone marrow and related specimens, ensuring accurate identification and order entry, preserving specimen integrity, coordinating specimen routing, and resolving accessioning issues. The position also supports quality assurance, staff training, data integrity, and collaboration among laboratory, clinical, and procedural teams.

Requirements

High school diploma or equivalent/relevant experience, certification, or license.
At least 2 years of relevant experience.
Ability to learn new procedures, technologies, and protocols and adapt to changing priorities and work demands.
Ability to work collaboratively and contribute to a team environment.
Proficiency with office software, technology, and relevant computer applications.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

Identify, handle, and accession patient samples requiring laboratory testing.
Transport specimens and communicate test results in a timely and accurate manner.
Maintain laboratory files and logs neatly and accurately.
Process specimens, including centrifugation, aliquoting, and volume measurement.
Maintain adequate inventory levels, rotate stock when applicable, and verify received items against packing slips.
Participate in departmental performance improvement processes.
Keep the assigned work area clean and orderly.
Protect patient confidentiality in accordance with federal and state guidelines and regulations.
Generate patient reports and forward them to the appropriate departments or physicians.
Investigate and respond to referral-testing inquiries and resolve problems involving improper or inadequate samples.
Serve as lead or backup when the supervisor is unavailable.
Follow University and unit-level policies and procedures and safeguard University assets.
Accession bone marrow aspirates, core biopsies, clot sections, touch preparations, and ancillary specimens for flow cytometry, cytogenetics, and molecular testing.
Verify two patient identifiers and confirm specimen identification, labeling, container integrity, fixatives, and transport conditions.
Enter and verify test orders in the Laboratory Information System (LIS) and CoPath, ensuring consistency with clinical orders and specimen types.
Route specimens to Hematopathology, Flow Cytometry, Cytogenetics, Molecular Diagnostics, and Histology as required.
Monitor time-sensitive handling requirements to preserve bone marrow specimen viability.
Resolve discrepancies involving missing orders, labeling errors, specimen quantity, or collection defects, and escalate specimen issues to clinicians, nurses, and procedural areas.
Maintain quality control for bone marrow accessioning workflows and carry out corrective actions for mislabeling, near misses, and non-conformances as directed by the supervisor.
Assist with training new staff, workload distribution, productivity expectations, and cross-training.
Maintain accurate and timely LIS and CoPath data, including patient demographics, provider information, specimen source and type, and test orders and priorities.
Support downtime procedures and recovery processes.
Coordinate with accessioning, pathologists, residents and fellows, Histology, Cytology, Flow, Cytogenetics, Molecular laboratories, nursing units, procedural suites, operating rooms, and clinics.