Health and Life Sciences Majors at IUPUI

Undergraduate Majors : Clinical Lab Science

Description

Clinical laboratory science is a diverse, science-based profession aimed at accurate performance of clinical laboratory procedures on biologic samples from patients. Physicians use the results from these procedures in diagnosing, monitoring, and treating diseases. Some of the tasks that clinical laboratory scientists perform are: Analysis of simple/complex chemical components of body fluids; Evaluation of cellular components of blood; Identification of microorganisms and their antibiotic susceptibilities; Preparation of blood components for patient therapy; Evaluation of new techniques, procedures, and instruments.

These laboratory personnel continually evaluate the quality of the results from procedures and instruments and solve any problems that relate to inconsistencies. Excellent communication skills are required to interact with other members of the health care team, to teach, and to manage individuals under their supervision. Clinical laboratory scientists typically work in laboratories located in hospitals, clinics, physician group practices, blood centers, medical research facilities, or medically oriented industries.

Admission

The application deadline is December 1st each year with entry into the program beginning the fall semester of the following year and continuing through June of the next year. 90 credit hours of coursework are needed prior to entrance with a 2.5 minimum cumulative GPA, a 2.5 minimum Math/Science GPA, and a minimum grade of (C) is required for all program prerequisites. An interview is required.

What can you do with this major?

Clinical laboratory scientists may choose to specialize in areas such as blood banking, chemistry, coagulation, hematology, immunology, microbiology, molecular biology, or virology. Graduates typically find work at Clinical laboratories in hospitals, physician offices, commercial practices, or at veterinary clinics; at Industry/Pharmaceutical Companies in research, sales, technical writing, quality assurance/quality control, regulatory affairs, or computer science; or at universities in research or teaching (IUPUI's School of Medicine).