Medical Laboratory Course

Lesson 1 • Ethics and Professional Conduct

Addresses patient confidentiality, informed consent, and professional integrity in lab practice. Learners apply ethical frameworks to common clinical scenarios.

Lesson 2 • Laboratory Organisation and Roles

Covers departmental structure, staffing hierarchies, and workflow design in clinical labs. Grounds learners in how labs function before introducing technical procedures.

Lesson 3 • Introduction to Laboratory Information Systems

Introduces electronic systems used for order entry, result reporting, and data management. Learners navigate basic LIS functions relevant to daily lab operations.

Lesson 4 • Regulatory and Accreditation Frameworks

Introduces quality and compliance standards governing clinical laboratories. Learners identify key regulatory bodies and understand accreditation requirements.

Lesson 1 • Centrifugation and Specimen Preparation

Explains centrifuge operation, speed settings, and specimen separation principles. Learners prepare serum, plasma, and other fractions correctly for downstream testing.

Lesson 2 • Pre-Analytical Error Identification and Prevention

Identifies common pre-analytical variables and their impact on test results. Learners implement checks that reduce haemolysis, lipaemia, and collection errors.

Lesson 3 • Non-Blood Specimen Collection

Covers collection of urine, stool, sputum, swabs, and other non-blood specimens. Learners apply collection protocols that preserve specimen integrity.

Lesson 4 • Specimen Labelling and Chain of Custody

Establishes labelling standards and chain-of-custody documentation for all specimen types. Learners prevent identification errors that compromise result integrity.

Lesson 1 • Internal Quality Control Programmes

Teaches selection, frequency, and documentation of internal QC materials and procedures. Learners establish QC programmes that detect analytical errors before result release.

Lesson 2 • Statistical Foundations of Quality Control

Covers mean, standard deviation, CV, and Gaussian distribution applied to QC data. Learners calculate and interpret QC statistics to assess analytical performance.

Lesson 3 • External Quality Assessment Programmes

Covers proficiency testing enrolment, performance evaluation, and corrective action for failures. Learners use EQA results to benchmark laboratory performance against peer groups.

Lesson 4 • Continuous Improvement and Root Cause Analysis

Applies quality improvement tools including fishbone diagrams, Pareto charts, and PDCA cycles. Learners lead structured investigations to eliminate recurring laboratory errors.

Lesson 1 • Principles of Photometry and Spectrophotometry

Covers Beer-Lambert law, absorbance measurement, and instrument calibration. Learners apply photometric principles to quantify analytes in patient specimens.

Lesson 2 • Renal and Thyroid Function Testing

Covers creatinine, urea, uric acid, and thyroid hormone assays and their clinical significance. Learners correlate results with organ function and disease progression.

Lesson 3 • Electrolyte and Blood Gas Analysis

Introduces ion-selective electrode technology and blood gas analyser operation. Learners interpret electrolyte panels and acid-base status in clinical contexts.

Lesson 4 • Carbohydrate and Lipid Analysis

Teaches enzymatic methods for glucose, HbA1c, cholesterol, and triglyceride measurement. Learners connect results to metabolic disease monitoring and clinical decision-making.

Lesson 1 • Complete Blood Count Methodology

Covers automated cell counting principles, impedance, and light-scatter technology. Learners operate haematology analysers and verify CBC results against reference intervals.

Lesson 2 • Anaemia Classification and Investigation

Applies CBC and morphology data to classify anaemias by mechanism and aetiology. Learners select appropriate follow-up tests to confirm anaemia diagnoses.

Lesson 3 • Peripheral Blood Film Examination

Teaches blood film preparation, staining, and systematic microscopic examination. Learners identify normal and abnormal cell morphology relevant to clinical diagnosis.

Lesson 4 • Coagulation Pathway and Testing

Covers intrinsic, extrinsic, and common coagulation pathways and their laboratory assessment. Learners perform and interpret PT, aPTT, and fibrinogen assays.

Lesson 1 • Bacterial Identification Methods

Teaches Gram staining, biochemical testing, and automated identification systems. Learners identify clinically significant bacteria to genus and species level.

Lesson 2 • Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing

Covers disk diffusion, broth microdilution, and MIC interpretation using breakpoint standards. Learners generate susceptibility reports that guide appropriate antibiotic selection.

Lesson 3 • Molecular Diagnostics in Microbiology

Covers PCR, real-time PCR, and nucleic acid extraction applied to infectious disease detection. Learners interpret molecular results and understand assay analytical sensitivity and specificity.

Lesson 4 • Mycology and Parasitology Essentials

Introduces fungal culture incubation, KOH preparation, and parasitological examination techniques. Learners identify common fungal and parasitic pathogens in clinical specimens.

Lesson 1 • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays

Teaches direct, indirect, sandwich, and competitive ELISA formats and result calculation. Learners perform ELISA procedures and calculate results using standard curves.

Lesson 2 • Infectious Disease Serology

Covers serological testing for viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections including HIV and hepatitis. Learners apply testing algorithms and interpret acute versus past infection patterns.

Lesson 3 • Immunofluorescence and Agglutination Methods

Covers direct and indirect immunofluorescence and agglutination-based serological tests. Learners identify fluorescence patterns and interpret agglutination titres.

Lesson 4 • Autoimmune Disease Serology

Applies serological methods to detect autoantibodies associated with systemic and organ-specific diseases. Learners correlate antibody profiles with clinical autoimmune diagnoses.

Lesson 1 • Laboratory Resource and Budget Management

Teaches cost-per-test analysis, reagent inventory control, and staffing efficiency metrics. Learners apply financial management tools to optimise laboratory resource utilisation.

Lesson 2 • Point-of-Care Testing Management

Covers POCT device selection, connectivity, quality oversight, and operator training programmes. Learners establish governance frameworks ensuring POCT accuracy equivalent to central lab standards.

Lesson 3 • Flow Cytometry and Immunophenotyping

Covers flow cytometer operation, panel design, and gating strategies for cell population analysis. Learners interpret immunophenotyping reports for haematological malignancy workup.

Lesson 4 • Strategic Planning and Laboratory Leadership

Covers strategic planning, change management, and performance benchmarking for lab directors. Learners develop a laboratory improvement plan aligned with organisational goals.