Community Healthcare System Offers Laboratory Career Education Program for High School Graduates

Community-Healthcare-System-Offers-Laboratory-Career-Education-Program-for-High-School-GraduatesThe Central Laboratory at the hospitals of Community Healthcare System is offering a new program, called the Clinical Assistant program, designed to help prepare students interested in the healthcare field for a career in Laboratory Services. The goal of the curriculum is to graduate well-qualified, well-educated individuals to meet the present and future demand in the clinical laboratory industry.

The Clinical Assistant program serves as a way for Community Hospital, Munster, St. Catherine Hospital, East Chicago and St. Mary Medical Center, Hobart to cultivate and fill entry level positions with well-qualified candidates in the hospital laboratories. Similarly, to meet the increasing demand for Laboratory Services professionals, Community Healthcare System first started training their own medical laboratory scientists in the spring of 2014.

“With a steady increase in the rate of groundbreaking medical advances, healthcare careers such as the Clinical Laboratory Assistant are expected to increase by 29 percent over the next 10 years,” explained Ethel Urbi, regional director of Laboratory Operations, Community Healthcare System. “As the number of complex tests increases in the laboratory, so does the need for support personnel. We’re taking a proactive approach to fill in-demand jobs now and in the future.”

A career as a Clinical Assistant involves patient registration, specimen collection such as drawing blood and preparing patient samples for laboratory testing. The Clinical Assistant also learns how to measure vital signs including blood pressure, administer EKGs, reconstitute reagents and perform equipment maintenance, calibration and quality control.

The 12-week program is ideal for high school graduates with an interest in the sciences and have taken courses that include biology, chemistry, algebra and English composition.

The program includes classroom instruction in clinical laboratory sciences, hands-on student laboratory activities and clinical training under the supervision of a medical laboratory scientist.

Tuition for the 12-week Clinical Assistant program is $1,500. Upon successful completion of the course, graduates will be eligible to take a national certification exam such as the ASCP MLA however, graduation is not contingent upon taking or passing a national certification or licensure exam.

Other admission requirements include:

  • High school degree or equivalent
  • Minimum overall GPA 2.50
  • References including personal, academic, employment and personal interview

Classes are scheduled to begin January 28, 2019. High school graduates interested in pursuing a career as a medical lab assistant and would like to request an application packet should contact:

Nicole Griffin, MLS (ASCP)CMSMCM, program director
Clinical Assistant program
Community Healthcare System
Central Laboratory
901 MacArthur Blvd.
Munster, IN 46321
njgriffin@comhs.org | 219-703-2412
COMHS.org/cap