First Year of the Med Lab Program at Michener

I have just finished my first year at the Michener Institute and I have nothing but good things to say about the medical laboratory science program. I knew that the program would be much different than my university experience before starting the program. There is a large emphasis on the development of practical skills and it was amazing to spend just as much time in the labs as lectures during the school year. The schedule is also designed so that lectures early in the week directly correlate to the labs later in the week. The first semester emphasizes theory but the practical applications are a fundamental part of the second semester and I have heard from upper year students that it becomes an even bigger part of the second year.

Michener Institute is known as being really competitive so I was kind of worried that I would have a hard time keeping up with the workload especially after talking to some of the students at various recruitment events. I found it to be easier than university in the sense that there are constant small assessments like quizzes that make you stay on top of the material. By the time that midterms and final exams come around, you feel very prepared as a result of the regular assessments and labs.

I was also pretty scared at the thought of taking blood from a classmate during the venipuncture course but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The first half of the course involves practicing on a fake arm to get comfortable with the equipment and process. I also observed other people in the class take blood before I attempted it which helped calm my nerves. It is much easier after the confidence boost of a successful blood draw and almost everyone in my lab group got blood the first time!

We have had the opportunity to work with various types of instrumentation found in medical laboratories. We got to operate clinical chemistry analyzers such as the Vitros 250, Beckman Coulter AU480 and the Beckman Coulter Access 2. We have also started using the microbiology analyzer Vitek Compact 2. We had one lab that introduced us to blood gas analyzers and we learned how to operate the Siemens Rapidpoint.

Summary of First Year Courses 

PPML110: Normal and Pathophysiology
     -introduction to the body systems and physiological mechanisms
     -case study presentations exploring various diseases
     -class discussion regarding the case studies

AMML110: Gross and Microanatomy
     -computer labs involve looking a microscopic images of normal tissues
     -characteristics of tissue types and their microscopic appearance

CCML112: Clinical Chemistry
     -characteristics of proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and nucleic acids
     -brief introduction to spectrophotometry and clinical chemistry analyzers
     -quality control and maintenance procedures

HEML112: Introduction to Hematology
     -prepared blood smears and observed them under the microscope
     -focus on red blood cell morphology
     -complete blood count (CBC) parameters

MIML113: Microbiology and Immunology
    -basic microbiology lab techniques
    -mycology and parasitology
    -theory behind biochemical tests

HEML120: Hematology and Hemostasis
     -correlation of red blood cell morphology with diseases such as megaloblastic anemia
     -coagulation cascade and tests such as prothrombin time and partial thromboplastin time
     -introduction to the AcT 5 hematology and ACL Elite coagulation analyzer

HIML110: Introduction to Histotechnology
     -gross dissection and processing of tissues
     -embedding tissues into wax blocks for microtomy
     -cutting tissue sections using a microtome and putting the sections on slides
     -hematoxylin and eosin staining of slides

INML120: Instrumentation
     -Westgard rules and quality control procedures such as checking lot numbers
     -introduction to Siemens Rapid Point blood gas analyzer and gel electrophoresis
     -immunoassays and introduced to the Beckman Coulter Access 2 immunoassay analyzer
     -electrochemistry and introduction to the Vitros 250 and Beckman Coulter AU480

VPML120: Venipuncture and Specimen Procurement
     -introduction to specimen containers including vacutainers for blood
     -venipuncture and microcollection techniques for obtaining blood
     -troubleshooting problems with venipuncture
     -legislation related to medical laboratory science

MIML121: Applied Microbiology
     -introduction to Vitek 2 compact microbiology analyzer
     -introduction to API20E and API20E to performed miniaturized biochemical tests
     -colonial morphology and correlation of appearance on plates to groups of bacteria
     -appearance of gram stained bacteria under the microscope
     -infections caused by bacteria such as Group A Streptococcus

BAIP113/BAIP124: Interprofessional Collaboration
     -opportunity to work with students from other programs
     -project and presentation on a vulnerable population in the healthcare system
     -communication and teamwork skills