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Medical laboratory assistant skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
5 min read
Quoted experts
Jennifer Larimore Ph.D.,
Jennifer Larimore Ph.D.
Medical laboratory assistant example skills
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical medical laboratory assistant skills. We ranked the top skills for medical laboratory assistants based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 14.9% of medical laboratory assistant resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a medical laboratory assistant needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 medical laboratory assistant skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how medical laboratory assistants use patients:
  • Directed a team of professionals to achieve superior and consistent ventilator weaning outcomes for long term ventilator dependent patients.
  • Provided backup coverage to supervisor and delegated assignments to ensure excellent care for patients.

2. Customer Service

Customer service is the process of offering assistance to all the current and potential customers -- answering questions, fixing problems, and providing excellent service. The main goal of customer service is to build a strong relationship with the customers so that they keep coming back for more business.

Here's how medical laboratory assistants use customer service:
  • Participated in a team approach to patient care, working cooperatively with others to achieve productivity standards and exceptional customer service.
  • Delivered superior customer services within an Urgent /Primary care setting.

3. Data Entry

Data entry means entering data into a company's system with the help of a keyboard. A person responsible for entering data may also be asked to verify the authenticity of the data being entered. A person doing data entry must pay great attention to tiny details.

Here's how medical laboratory assistants use data entry:
  • Perform quality assurance checks on outpatient requisitions to ensure correctness of data entry.
  • Performed data entry of the received laboratory requisitions and standard clerical duties.

4. Lab Equipment

Here's how medical laboratory assistants use lab equipment:
  • Maintain lab equipment and troubleshoot/resolve instrument problems under tech supervision.
  • Operate cutting edge medical lab equipment to process and refine lab samples for further testing.

5. Patient Care

Patient care entails the diagnosis, recovery, and control of sickness as well as the maintenance of physical and emotional well-being through the use of healthcare providers' services. Patient care is described as services provided to patients by health practitioners or non-professionals under guidance.

Here's how medical laboratory assistants use patient care:
  • Provided assistance in routine patient care and medically related administrative support activities in the Emergency Department
  • Provided patient care under the direct responsibility and supervision of a physician.

6. Venipuncture

Venipuncture, or also known as venapuncture, venepuncture, or venupuncture, is collecting blood directly from a vein, which is done mainly for laboratory purposes. It is typically performed by a phlebotomist.

Here's how medical laboratory assistants use venipuncture:
  • Initiate lab printouts and documentation of labs received Perform venipuncture on patients
  • Performed venipuncture on inpatients adhering to hospital standards and protocols.

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7. Specimen Handling

Here's how medical laboratory assistants use specimen handling:
  • Follow procedures for specimen handling, processing, test analysis, reporting and maintaining records of patient test result.
  • Decreased errors in specimen handling by effectively operating as an interoffice liaison between providers, reference labs and clinics.

8. Specimen Collection

Specimen collection refers to process of collecting any tissue or fluid like substance in order to be analyzed and tested in a laboratory. Specimen collection is the initial necessary step for the diagnosis of a problem, providing a pathway to the eventual treatment.

Here's how medical laboratory assistants use specimen collection:
  • Managed specimen collections to determine process distribution for internal and external clinical analysis and interpretations.
  • Provide patient instruction on specimen collection.

9. Process Specimens

Here's how medical laboratory assistants use process specimens:
  • Process specimens, carry out basic laboratory procedures and run simpler test such as urinalysis.
  • Process specimens and registration, and forwarding sample to appropriate testing section or reference labs.

10. Blood Specimens

Here's how medical laboratory assistants use blood specimens:
  • Conducted hematology analysis of blood specimens to determine presence of normal and abnormal components.
  • Collected, processed and accessioned urine and blood specimens for laboratory testing.

11. LIS

Libraries and Information Sciences, LIS, is the scientific and professional study of how information and information media are produced, disseminated, discovered, evaluated, selected, acquired, used, organized, maintained, and managed, either in physical or digital format. LIS careers include, but are not limited to, College Librarian, Legal Librarian, School Librarian, Data Curator, Teaching Librarian, and Emerging Technology Librarian.

Here's how medical laboratory assistants use lis:
  • Trained technicians on experimental protocols along with data analyses and processing using Laboratory Information System (LIS).
  • Processed patient specimens through LIS - Cerner System and distributed them to various lab sections.

12. OSHA

Here's how medical laboratory assistants use osha:
  • Maintain weekly inventory and restock supplies* Maintain a clean and sanitized working environment according to OSHA regulations.
  • Completed State regulated and required HIPPA and OSHA certification for safety and confidentiality agreements.

13. Urine Specimens

Here's how medical laboratory assistants use urine specimens:
  • Measured urine specimens and delivered them to laboratory.
  • Prepare body fluids, tissues, and wounds, respiratory, urine specimens for evaluation by Medical Lab Techs/Scientists.

14. Vital Signs

Vital signs are a set of values indicating different body systems' performance. They are measurements of the body's most basic functions. The four major vital signs used in medicine to assess a patient are body temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure.

Here's how medical laboratory assistants use vital signs:
  • Weighed patients, obtained vital signs, and assisted patients to examining rooms to be seen by a physician or P.A.
  • Draw blood, administer vaccines and injections, complete medical forms, clean exam rooms, and getting vital signs.

15. Body Fluids

Body fluid can be described as any fluid produced by a living organism e.g. human body. In the human body, the fluid can be classified into two major types according to their location: the intracellular fluid and the extracellular fluid. The extracellular fluid is located outside the cell(s) while the intracellular fluid is located within the cell(s).

Here's how medical laboratory assistants use body fluids:
  • Conducted quantitative and qualitative chemical analyses of body fluids, such as blood, urine and spinal fluid.
  • Processed all specimens for testing including all blood, urine, body fluid and tissue/pathology specimens.
top-skills

What skills help Medical Laboratory Assistants find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on medical laboratory assistant resumes?

Jennifer Larimore Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Agnes Scott College

Animal handling or work with animal model systems, science presentations at the symposium, internships or independent research projects, inquiry-given lab experiences

What soft skills should all medical laboratory assistants possess?

Jennifer Larimore Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Agnes Scott College

Teamwork, leadership, working with a diverse team.

What hard/technical skills are most important for medical laboratory assistants?

Jennifer Larimore Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Agnes Scott College

Ability to run PCRs, ability to run gel electrophoresis, statistical analysis

What medical laboratory assistant skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Daniel LudwigsenDaniel Ludwigsen LinkedIn profile

Department Head, Associate Professor of Physics, Kettering University

Graduates from our programs often find that graduate degrees, masters, or even doctorates, fit into their career trajectories well. If I were advising a graduating senior considering a gap year, I would suggest a certificate program in a relevant field, such as programming, data science, or similar areas. While these incorporate broadly applicable skills as well as valuable disciplinary perspective, these certificate programs often offer credit that can later be applied toward a graduate degree.

What type of skills will young medical laboratory assistants need?

John Wilbur Ph.D.John Wilbur Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Associate Professor of Practice, University of Arizona

In the short-term, testing skills like PCR and ELISA seems essential, but I think the enduring skills or working with a team, writing, and other communication skills are most important.
Do you want to know more?
Read more about what experts have to say about medical laboratory assistant

List of medical laboratory assistant skills to add to your resume

Medical laboratory assistant skills

The most important skills for a medical laboratory assistant resume and required skills for a medical laboratory assistant to have include:

  • Patients
  • Customer Service
  • Data Entry
  • Lab Equipment
  • Patient Care
  • Venipuncture
  • Specimen Handling
  • Specimen Collection
  • Process Specimens
  • Blood Specimens
  • LIS
  • OSHA
  • Urine Specimens
  • Vital Signs
  • Body Fluids
  • Test Results
  • Patient Specimens
  • CLIA
  • CPR
  • Patient Registration
  • Phlebotomy Procedures
  • Lab Tests
  • Chemistry
  • EKG
  • Computer System
  • Blood Samples
  • EMR
  • Cleanliness
  • HIPAA
  • Triage
  • Glucose Checks
  • Centrifuges
  • QC
  • Microbiology
  • Lab Results
  • Lab Orders
  • Exam Rooms
  • Patient Demographics
  • Hematology
  • Phlebotomy Training
  • Scheduling Appointments
  • Centrifugation
  • Medical History
  • Lab Specimens
  • Patient Samples
  • Blood Pressure
  • Lab Procedures
  • Proficiency Testing
  • Drawing Blood
  • Strep

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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