Lab Assistant/Microbiology Technician - Waukesha Memorial - 0.8 FTE, 2nd Shift

ProHealth Care, Inc•Waukesha, WI

4d•Onsite

About The Position

ProHealth Care offers a system-wide laboratory operation with core hospital labs at Waukesha Memorial and Oconomowoc Memorial as well as two clinic-based laboratory sites in Waukesha County. The laboratory performs over 8 million tests annually. Our Lab services operate state of the art facilities and include clinical testing in the areas of Histology, Cytology, Hematology, Coagulation, Clinical Chemistry, Urinalysis, Immunoassay, Microbiology, Transfusion service, EIA, and Molecular Biology. ProHealth Care offers a vibrant outreach program, providing laboratory testing to numerous specialty hospitals, physician offices, nursing home, and assisted living facilities. Our Pathologists and PhDs work closely with lab employees to monitor quality, as well as identify, access, and implement new technology. The Laboratory has certification and accreditation through the College of American Pathologists (CAP), American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLIA).

Requirements

High School Diploma or equivalent required
Completion of approved Phlebotomy or Medical Assistant program preferred
ASCP Phlebotomy Certification preferred

Nice To Haves

Ideal Candidate will already be familiar with microbiology lab assistant tasks such as waived rapid tests, moderately complex rapid tests, and culture setup on various media.

Responsibilities

Performs all functions in the Specimen Processing Department to ensure accurate and timely receipt and prompt distribution of specimens in the appropriate departments following established policies and procedures.
Performs all functions in the Microbiology Department to ensure accurate and timely resulting of rapid antigen and molecular testing for infectious diseases.
Accurately and completely labels specimens that are transferred to secondary and tertiary containers according to established laboratory policies and procedures.
Plans and organizes workflow relative to specimen priorities, responding to Stat specimen requests in a timely manner and flagging these specimens for prompt attention by the technical laboratory team to meet clinical needs and assure customer satisfaction.
Assists with loading specimens on analyzers in various departments.
Performs all Microbiology culture set-up including manipulation (grinding) of surgically-collected tissue, cyto-centrifugation of sterile body fluids, selection and inoculation of appropriate media based on culture type and specimen source, and streaking agar plates (growth media) for isolation of microorganisms.
Prepares primary gram smear slides on both Stat and Routine culture specimens.
Packages primary specimens and inoculated culture media for transport to reference lab in accordance with the policies of the reference laboratory.
Monitors quality and function of portable incubators for specimen and culture transport.
Accurately documents all packaged and transported contents in the PHC Lab Information System.
Uses Lab IS reports to capture workload and investigate missing or delayed specimens or missing / delayed lab results.
Documents exceptions to specimen integrity, works closely with the reference laboratory to create the optimal culture-growth environment for irretrievable specimens that are submitted sub-optimally to the laboratory.
Performs and results waived and non-waived laboratory testing procedures in specimen processing and microbiology departments.
Performs and documents Quality Control and takes corrective action including reporting of issues to laboratory leadership.