Clinical placement is a necessary step in the process of becoming a certified medical laboratory technologist, but it is also vital in the fact that it is the next generation’s first venture into the physical setting of their soon-to-be careers.
For students looking ahead to this transformative experience, and for colleagues considering the best advice to relay, I would encourage you to think of the following points to prepare for and complete the placement.
Create Career Opportunities
The practicum is a period that acts not only as a learning experience, but also as an extended job interview with a potential employer. Student performance is evaluated both by your institution and clinical staff mentors. While this is yet another pressure for students to consider, it also provides a rather unique opportunity to learn about the workplace, its culture, and how you might integrate, which can help you make decisions about where to apply for a position.
There will never be a better occasion to discover what it’s like to work in an area than the practicum, nor will there be more opportunities to ask questions of preceptors regarding their work experience. Make the effort to get to know the preceptors as people, not just instructors. Once you feel strongly about an area, find out the manager’s name and communicate your desire to join the team as directly as possible.
Plan Ahead
If possible, get to know a little about the location ahead of time; being familiar at least with where to go on the first day can help to make sure it isn’t quite so uncomfortable.
The intensity of a clinical placement won’t be the same as the classroom; this will be a very different learning environment. You will be in a smaller group, possibly the only student from your class, thrust into an unfamiliar setting and that can be quite jarring. Keep lines of communication with your peers and instructors open for support.
Foster Your Success
Direct academic pressures such as assignments and testing often diminish during placement, but don’t let that discourage your studies afterhours. Students are typically scheduled in one area at a time, and it may be weeks, or months, between placement in a discipline and the certification exam, so don’t let your familiarity with a that subject matter slip. The certification exam won’t ask how long it’s been since you had your practicum in the area.
Understand that laboratories are currently feeling tremendous staffing pressures across the country, so providing the same preceptor every day is often challenging. As a result, your preceptor may not know what details you’ve mastered, and which you haven’t, so don’t be shy about asking questions, or to see or do something again. If you don’t fully understand what is being done, or why it’s being done, you absolutely need to ask. There’s nothing quite like seeing the item you asked for clarification about (or didn’t) in a question on the certification exam.
Josh MacDonald, BSc, MLT
Client & Support Services Program Manager
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Nova Scotia Health