What do Medical Laboratory Scientists do?

Mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary Sci­en­tists are skilled across many test­ing areas and work with a wide range of instru­ments. While high­ly spe­cialised tests might be sent to ref­er­ence labs, Mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary Sci­en­tists process the core tests essen­tial to patient treat­ment such as full blood counts, bio­chem­istry and blood group test­ing. They are also respon­si­ble for releas­ing blood prod­ucts in crit­i­cal sit­u­a­tions like trau­ma or surgery.

They play a vital role in hos­pi­tals and health­care and work across both met­ro­pol­i­tan and region­al lab­o­ra­to­ries. They process a wide vari­ety of pathol­o­gy spec­i­mens col­lect­ed from hos­pi­tals, col­lec­tion cen­tres and even direct­ly from patients in their homes.

Spec­i­mens are processed in our labs using a com­bi­na­tion of auto­mat­ed analy­sers, man­u­al tech­niques, spe­cial stains and com­plex tests. Med­ical Lab­o­ra­to­ry Sci­en­tists are involved in every stage of test­ing from prepar­ing and accept­ing sam­ples, to analysing and val­i­dat­ing results. Once com­plete, results are sent to clin­i­cians to help diag­nose patients and man­age their care.

They work close­ly with a team that includes blood col­lec­tors, tech­ni­cal assis­tants, tech­ni­cal offi­cers and pathol­o­gists. With strong prob­lem-solv­ing skills and a focus on accu­ra­cy, they ensure crit­i­cal results are report­ed prompt­ly, mak­ing them an essen­tial part of the health­care team.

Kickstart Your Career in Medical Science

After com­plet­ing a degree with a focus on pathol­o­gy sub­jects, you could be eli­gi­ble to join NSW Health Pathol­o­gy as a Med­ical Lab­o­ra­to­ry Sci­en­tist and start mak­ing a real dif­fer­ence in healthcare.

We’re pas­sion­ate about train­ing and devel­op­ment and have a com­pre­hen­sive Sci­en­tif­ic and Tech­ni­cal Train­ing and Com­pe­ten­cy Frame­work. In the lab­o­ra­to­ry you’ll receive hands-on, spe­cialised train­ing from expe­ri­enced experts in the field across mul­ti­ple dis­ci­plines. You’ll build con­fi­dence and skills through struc­tured, com­pe­ten­cy-based learn­ing that sets you up for success.

Some of our lab­o­ra­to­ries even offer stu­dent place­ments, allow­ing you to com­plete foun­da­tion­al com­pe­ten­cies and get a valu­able head start in your career.

Look­ing to dive straight in? There are also trainee­ship oppor­tu­ni­ties avail­able, where you can study and work full-time, gain­ing prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ence while earn­ing and learning.