What does a Clinical Laboratory Scientist do?
A Clinical Laboratory Scientist is responsible for performing laboratory tests that doctors count on to correctly diagnose and treat patients. They examine body fluids, tissues, and cells, identify infective microorganisms, and analyze the chemical constituents of body fluids.
Clinical laboratory scientist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real clinical laboratory scientist resumes:
- Analyze specimens in hematology, coagulation, urinalysis, chemistry, toxicology, blood bank, and limit microbiology and serology.
- Perform testing on donor and patient samples on platforms using methodologies including EIA, CLIA, and NAT (PCR).
- Perform patient blood analysis, interpret serology, immunology and flowcytometry results.
- Provide phlebotomy, specimen processing and laboratory testing for clinical trial studies.
- Analyze specimens in areas of hematology, urinalysis, coagulation, and clinical chemistry within time constraints in a high-volume environment.
- Perform microbiology, mycology and bacteriology
- Work in the serology area of the laboratory.
- Perform quality control and run specimen on equipment.
- Perform routine and complex testing in accordance with ASCP and AABB guidelines.
- Collaborate with the LIS team in designing and evaluating results interface parameters.
- Conform to HIPAA, OSHA, and other safety procedure as designated.
- Care for all types of cancer patients with empathy, compassion, and respect.
- Attend ASCP, peer-to-peer communication, and hospital safety training to extend knowledge beyond normal responsibilities.
- Perform testing for in-house patients and specialize reference testing for surrounding hospitals.
- Demonstrate ability to establish and maintain supportive relationships with patients, physicians, pathologists and co-workers.
Clinical laboratory scientist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 12% of Clinical Laboratory Scientists are proficient in Patients, Test Results, and Microbiology. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Decisionmaking skills, and Observation skills.
We break down the percentage of Clinical Laboratory Scientists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 12%
Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain supportive relationships with patients, physicians, pathologists and co-workers.
- Test Results, 8%
Perform laboratory testing, preventive maintenance, troubleshooting, calibration of equipment, quality control procedures and validity of test results.
- Microbiology, 7%
Performed microbiology, mycology and bacteriology
- CLS, 7%
Designated CLS in Library Preparation Module.
- Hematology, 6%
Performed analysis in Hematology and Urinalysis
- ASCP, 6%
Participated in a year long student internship that prepared me for ASCP board certification.
"patients," "test results," and "microbiology" are among the most common skills that clinical laboratory scientists use at work. You can find even more clinical laboratory scientist responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for a clinical laboratory scientist to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "medical scientists must be able to explain their research in nontechnical ways." Additionally, a clinical laboratory scientist resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "attended ascp, peer-to-peer communication, and hospital safety training to extend knowledge beyond normal responsibilities. "
Observation skills. This is an important skill for clinical laboratory scientists to perform their duties. For an example of how clinical laboratory scientist responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "medical scientists conduct experiments that require monitoring samples and other health-related data." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a clinical laboratory scientist: "prepare for cap inspections and perform direct observation for few testing of immunology laboratory. ".
The three companies that hire the most clinical laboratory scientists are:
- AAmerican Mobile Healthcare249 clinical laboratory scientists jobs
- BBayCare Health System89 clinical laboratory scientists jobs
- MMed Travelers89 clinical laboratory scientists jobs
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Compare different clinical laboratory scientists
Clinical laboratory scientist vs. Pharmacist technician
Pharmacist technicians assist pharmacists in their daily activities. They receive prescription medicine order requests of customers, validate the prescription, prepare the medicines, properly label medicine bottles, and hand them off to customers. They also answer customer inquiries and attend to customer concerns. Pharmacist technicians also manage the pharmacy's inventory and ensure that all records are up to date. They are also authorized to create purchase requisition requests for medicines that are running low and need to be refilled, but these requests should still be authorized by a doctor.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a clinical laboratory scientist are more likely to require skills like "test results," "microbiology," "cls," and "hematology." On the other hand, a job as a pharmacist technician requires skills like "math," "direct supervision," "hipaa," and "collective bargaining." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Pharmacist technicians earn the highest salaries when working in the health care industry, with an average yearly salary of $36,689. On the other hand, clinical laboratory scientists are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $65,512.On average, pharmacist technicians reach similar levels of education than clinical laboratory scientists. Pharmacist technicians are 5.0% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 1.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Clinical laboratory scientist vs. Histologic technician
A Histologic Technician prepares tissue specimens for routine and special procedures to confirm a patient diagnosis. They work in hospital laboratories, government agencies, public health departments, and other institutions.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real clinical laboratory scientist resumes. While clinical laboratory scientist responsibilities can utilize skills like "test results," "microbiology," "cls," and "hematology," histologic technicians use skills like "tissue specimens," "ihc," "sectioning," and "microtome."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Histologic technicians tend to reach similar levels of education than clinical laboratory scientists. In fact, they're 1.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Clinical Laboratory Scientists in the next 3-5 years?
Janet Gray Ph.D.
Professor and Department Chair, The College of New Jersey
Clinical laboratory scientist vs. Certified physician assistant
Certified Physician assistants are healthcare professionals who are trained and supervised by a physician to diagnose and treat illness as well as provide preventive care to their patients. These assistants must collaborate with specialists so that they can ensure optimal patient care through formal and informal consultations. They are required to develop and implement new strategies for patient care based on current medical practice guidelines. Certified Physician Assistants must also assist with cases in general surgery such as orthopedic, thoracic, and vascular procedures.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a clinical laboratory scientist is likely to be skilled in "microbiology," "cls," "hematology," and "ascp," while a typical certified physician assistant is skilled in "diagnosis," "surgical procedures," "outpatient clinic," and "urgent care."
Most certified physician assistants achieve a higher degree level compared to clinical laboratory scientists. For example, they're 35.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clinical laboratory scientist vs. Medical technologist, generalist
A Medical Technologist Generalist performs day-to-day operations in the laboratory such as routine testing, quality control, and maintenance of instruments. They also develop, perform, and evaluate the accuracy of laboratory procedures.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between clinical laboratory scientists and medical technologists, generalist, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a clinical laboratory scientist might have more use for skills like "test results," "cls," "ascp," and "preventive maintenance." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of medical technologists, generalist require skills like "clinical laboratory," "team-oriented environment," "laboratory tests," and "body fluids. "
The health care industry tends to pay the highest salaries for medical technologists, generalist, with average annual pay of $60,952. Comparatively, the highest clinical laboratory scientist annual salary comes from the health care industry.The average resume of medical technologists, generalist showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to clinical laboratory scientists. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 1.1% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 1.9%.Types of clinical laboratory scientist
Updated January 8, 2025
