How To Become A Clinical Laboratory Scientist Trainee: What It Is and Career Path

What is a clinical laboratory scientist trainee and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Angela Robinson MS MLS ASCP

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a clinical laboratory scientist trainee. For example, did you know that they make an average of $22.73 an hour? That's $47,285 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 17% and produce 20,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a clinical laboratory scientist trainee?

Angela Robinson MS MLS ASCP

Retired Assoc Admin of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine

Over the years with automation and autoverification - tools to assist the Medical Laboratory Professionals - the skills have altered from psychomotor behavorial to independent thinking and critical cognitive expertise. Soft skills are and will become even more prevalent - including Problem Solving/ Time Management/ Adaptability/ Communication/ Interpersonal/ Teamwork.

Medical Laboratory Professionals will continue to multitask at the workbench -
Medical Laboratory Scientists and Technicians must always seek accurate and precise quality standards with the most stategic highly regulated compliance of analytical laboratory testing.

But now must also come from behind the walls of the laboratory to collaborate and coordinate with other medical laboratory professionals as well as non-lab professionals to work as a team for patient care. Most errors are PREanalytical variables - (before laboratory analysis) with how specimens are incorrectly drawn - wrong tube type - incorrect order of draw - mislabeled - unlabeled - clotted - hemolyzed - QNS.

Furthermore - Laboratory professionals skilled at management must take a seat and have a voice at the c-suite. Supportive leadership for resourceful environments. Also medical laboratory professionals continue to become more acutely involved in POCT - Quality assurance - Safety - Infection Control - Risk - Education and even Public Relations. DCLS (the doctorate of Clinical Laboratory Science) is also becoming highly sought out for Data Mgt Teams to markedly improve patient care.

ScoreClinical Laboratory Scientist TraineeUS Average

Salary

3.7

Avg. Salary $47,285

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.6

Growth rate 17%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.79%

Asian 19.13%

Black or African American 9.29%

Hispanic or Latino 14.95%

Unknown 4.99%

White 50.84%

Gender

female 66.04%

male 33.96%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress level

9.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.6

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.3

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a clinical laboratory scientist trainee

Explore clinical laboratory scientist trainee education requirements

Most common clinical laboratory scientist trainee degrees

Bachelor's

90.2 %

Master's

9.8 %

Start to develop specific clinical laboratory scientist trainee skills

Skills	Percentages
Clinical Laboratory	23.55%
Laboratory Procedures	11.33%
CLS	8.39%
Molecular Biology	7.73%
Lab Equipment	7.48%

Complete relevant clinical laboratory scientist trainee training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New clinical laboratory scientist trainees learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a clinical laboratory scientist trainee based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real clinical laboratory scientist trainee resumes.

Research clinical laboratory scientist trainee duties and responsibilities

Attain extensive phlebotomy experience with a challenging pediatric patient population.
Perform manual and automate tests on patient specimens during clinical rotations in blood bank, hematology, microbiology and chemistry.
Conduct comparative evaluation by using test method description, proficiency surveys and inter-laboratory QC programs to compare standard deviations.
Perform basic and advance hematology and serology examination of veterinary specimens in a high pace, high volume reference laboratory.

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