How to Become a Medical Lab Assistant (MLA)
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Becoming a medical lab assistant (MLA) is a great career choice for those looking for a science-based entry-level healthcare job that can expand into future opportunities. Medical assistants work in clinical patient-facing roles while medical lab assistants face patients in clinics and handle pipettes in laboratories.
Medical assistants and medical lab assistants have similar titles and slightly different responsibilities. While medical assistants typically have 1 to 2 years of education, experience, and professional certification, medical lab assistants have at least two years of educational experience and board certification through the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) or American Medical Technologists.
Another similar title people often get confused about is medical lab technicians (MLT). While both MLAs and MLTs contribute to laboratory operations, their responsibilities and roles differ significantly. MLAs are primarily involved in handling pre-analytical tasks such as collecting, labeling, and processing samples, performing phlebotomy, and managing clerical work like equipment maintenance and data entry. They focus on supporting the workflow in laboratory settings. In contrast, MLTs are trained to perform advanced tasks such as conducting diagnostic tests, analyzing results, and working with complex laboratory equipment. Unlike MLAs, MLTs require higher education, typically an associate’s degree or equivalent, and certification in medical laboratory technology. This distinction makes MLAs an entry-level position, while MLTs hold more specialized roles within healthcare laboratories.
For simplicity, this guide refers to medical lab assistant careers using the title of clinical laboratory technicians from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS 2024). This is a growing career field predicted to grow faster than the country’s average, adding 18,200 new positions between 2023 and 2033—a figure representing 5 percent growth nationally.
Read on to learn more about becoming a medical lab assistant, including a step-by-step guide, educational programs, certifications, and state licensure requirements.
What is a Medical Lab Assistant?
As mentioned above, medical lab assistants overlap with patient-facing and clinical lab responsibilities. Therefore, job descriptions for medical lab assistants depend on training and educational background.
Medical lab assistants have laboratory-based training and experience in medical laboratory settings, similar to what the BLS calls clinical laboratory technicians. Responsibilities for medical lab assistants can include patient-facing tasks such as:
- Process lab samples
- Perform routine and specialized tests
- Prepare and stain slides
- Draw blood (phlebotomy)
- Record test information
- Clean and restock the lab
- Manage inventory and order supplies
When processing tests, MLAs need to pay attention to detail and be careful to ensure quality control. Even minor differences in test numbers or substances can affect a diagnosis. Therefore, they should work well with others and have solid communication skills. Employers generally look for MLAs who can handle pressure and have good judgment. Normal color vision and good hand-eye coordination are also important. Knowing how to use computers is essential too since labs use many machines.
Where Do MLAs Work?
Medical laboratory assistants (MLAs) work in a variety of settings such as hospitals, offices of physicians, and independent reference laboratories. They are in high demand with several excellent job opportunities and most jobs will continue to be in hospitals, but employment will grow faster in other settings.
Difference between MLAs vs MLTs
MLAs and MLTs are both crucial members of the team. Medical laboratory technicians typically have more advanced education than MLAs and their duties in the lab generally require more responsibility and skill.
While medical laboratory assistants do more clerical work and collect samples, MLTs are the ones preparing samples for medical technologists and conducting routine testing.
MLAs learn several skills on the job, but some employers prefer candidates who have earned a certificate or degree from an MLA training program. These clinical laboratory science programs can be found at accredited career/vocational schools, technical colleges, or community colleges.
Steps to Become a Medical Lab Assistant
Employers expect prospective MLAs to have only a high school diploma. Some employers may also prefer MLAs who hold certification from a recognized professional association, such as the American Medical Technologists (AMT) or the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP). Choosing a valuable and tough certification program shows patients and employers that they can trust their skills. It demonstrates their expertise and knowledge.
Certification with AMT
AMT offers national certification that applies to all states. To be eligible for the Certified Medical Laboratory Assistant (CMLA) certification through AMT, applicants shall meet one of the following eligibility routes:
Education
Applicants must have graduated from or must be scheduled to graduate from, an academic course of study that includes a minimum of 320 combined didactic and clinical laboratory experience clock hours.
Work Experience
Applicants must have satisfactorily completed a minimum of 1,040 hours (six months) of work experience within the past three years in which laboratory technology was the primary focus.
Instructor
Applicants must be currently instructing in an approved allied health program that encompasses clinical laboratory knowledge and practice, and must have completed a course of instruction in a healthcare discipline related to or encompassing clinical laboratory practice, and shall have a minimum of three years of teaching experience that encompasses a representative range of core clinical laboratory competencies at the laboratory assistant level.
Once deemed eligible, candidates are advised to make appointments to test as soon as possible to select a time, date, and test center location that best accommodates their schedules. AMT’s CMLA certification is for both current students and people who already have jobs in the field.
Certification with ASCP
Applicants for the ASCP MLA certification must be able to verify that they meet all eligibility requirements, including proof of high school graduation or equivalent. Official transcripts must be sent directly from the academic institution to the ASCP BOC or an acceptable foreign transcript evaluation will be required for education outside of the U.S. or Canada. It is important to note that acceptance into a program or institution does not verify high school graduation or equivalency. College coursework, without a degree conferred, does not verify high school graduation or equivalency.
To be eligible for this examination, applicants must satisfy the minimum requirements of at least one of the following routes:
- Route 1: High school graduation or equivalent and successful completion of a NAACLS-accredited Medical Laboratory Assistant (MLA) program within the last five years.
- Route 2: High school graduation or equivalent and successful completion of a 50-week U.S. military medical laboratory training course within the last ten years.
- Route 3: High school graduation or equivalent and two years of full-time acceptable clinical experience as a laboratory assistant in an acceptable laboratory within the last five years.
- Route 4: Associate degree from an accredited college or university or 60 semester hours (90 quarter hours) of academic credit from an accredited college or university, with six semester hours (nine quarter hours) in chemistry and six semester hours (nine quarter hours) in biology, and one year of full-time acceptable clinical experience as a laboratory assistant in an acceptable laboratory within the last five years.
- Route 5: Valid PBT(ASCP) certification and one year of full-time acceptable clinical experience as a laboratory assistant in an acceptable laboratory within the last five years.
- Route 6: High school graduation or equivalent, and successful completion of an acceptable two-part formal structured medical laboratory assistant (MLA) program within the last five years which consists of classroom training and clinical laboratory training, and six months of full time acceptable clinical experience as a laboratory assistant in an acceptable laboratory within the last five years.
To fulfill the experience requirement, candidates must have clinical laboratory experience within the timeframe required in all of the following areas: support for clinical testing, laboratory operations, and specimen preparation and processing.
Featured Medical Assistant Training Programs
Franklin University offers an online medical laboratory assistant certificate program preparing students for the certified medical lab assistant (CMLA) certification exam, offered by American Medical Technologists (AMT) and the certified phlebotomy technician (CPT) certification through the National Healthcareer Association (NHA). Once employed as a lab assistant, graduates will gain the 120 hours of documented, approved clinical laboratory experience required to grant full CMLA certification, including 30 venipunctures and 10 capillary sticks required for the CPT full credential.
Courses include professionalism in allied health; phlebotomy; an introduction to human anatomy and medical terminology; and medical lab assisting.
- Location: Columbus, OH
- Accreditation: Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
- Expected Time to Completion: Three to four months
Siena Heights University offers an online medical laboratory assistant certificate program. This program is ideal for individuals interested in a career in healthcare, recent high school graduates, or current healthcare workers looking to upskill or grow their careers.
- Location: Adrian, MI
- Accreditation: Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
- Expected Time to Completion: 16 weeks
Weber State University’s Dumke College of Health Professions offers an online medical laboratory assistant (MLA) certificate providing those who may already be in the healthcare field, the opportunity to learn additional laboratory skills.
Students in this program will focus on fundamental and ethical skills such as general laboratory safety, phlebotomy practice and techniques, basic quality control and quality assurance, urinalysis with microscopy, immunology, basic hematology testing, pre-analytical specimen processing, and point-of-care testing in clinical chemistry and microbiology.
- Location: Ogden, UT
- Accreditation: Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU)
- Expected Time to Completion: 15 weeks
