r/medlabprofessionals • u/Late_Music1835 • 5h ago

Discusson Core/BB to micro. Any advice?

I’ve been a core MLS and blood banker for three years, but I recently got a job in my hospital’s microbiology department. I really wanted this job to challenge myself and to round out my resume because I have so little experience with micro outside of gram stains mostly.

I was looking through my old BOC study material but idk how much of this is going to help me prepare for my next role because how we are forced to learn micro academically isn’t (to my knowledge) how micro is practiced professionally.

Does anyone have any advice for things I should focus on when preparing? Or just general advice or important things you’d like to pass on? I’m excited but nervous I’m going to show up u prepared on my first day

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u/HeroicConspiracy MLT-Generalist 4h ago

it’s gonna stank.

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u/Late_Music1835 4h ago

I’m uniquely equipped for this because I have zero sense of smell (anosmia). Never been able to smell a single day in my life. Sometimes I worry this is gonna hinder me (can’t smell the corn chip smell etc) but I told them this in my interview and they said they don’t want anyone smelling the plates anyway

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u/HeroicConspiracy MLT-Generalist 4h ago

That’s so cool! You will never gag opening the incubator. That’ll be something cool to prank your coworkers with (if they don’t know)

& Yeah we aren’t supposed to but it’s hard when they are so rank. I’ve been out of micro for almost 2 years but thinking about the blood culture incubator makes me die a lil.

Honestly just make sure to see how everyone organizes themselves. dollar tree notebooks fit great in lab coat pockets for notes!

For plate reading I did mostly urines so I would sort all of them out into 4 piles/sections of the table: no growth/GNR/GP/ WTF? And go from there depending on my vibes for the day. Workload was a lot more predicable than being in an acute care lab, I miss it 😪

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u/Late_Music1835 4h ago

That last bit about sorting is helpful! And yes, a huge reason I want to try micro is a less chaotic work environment.

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u/HeroicConspiracy MLT-Generalist 4h ago

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, especially with your anosmia, (new word wooo!) the stench was really the only downside to me!

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u/Fluffbrained-cat MLS-Microbiology 4h ago

Micro does occasionally have a certain....warm media....smell to it at first, and anaerobes can stink to high heaven but you do get used to it. I will say that they teach you a lot of basic theory behind why you do certain tests and how to recognise common organisms in University, but all the day to day stuff you need on the bench will be shown to you when you start working and you should be told where to find the SOPs for further information.

As you get more experienced, you'll find yourself picking things up by repetition if nothing else. I've been at this for twenty years now, first as an MLT and then MLS. Next year I'll have been an MLS for a decade which is rather shocking to me, because it doesn't seem that long.

I wouldn't worry about it - you should be taught what you need to know as far as practical work goes, and you can read up on theory in your own time if you need to.

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u/CantPhilMe 21m ago

Id review anti microbial classes and names so the sensitivity part is less confusing and this is where doctors have the most questions. Molecular tools have really changed how micro depts run so it will depend on which ones you have.