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Medical Laboratory Technician Course
More than 2 million students worldwide

Medical Laboratory Technician Course

Launch your career in clinical laboratory science with a comprehensive training programme built around real-world lab procedures. From specimen collection to advanced molecular diagnostics, this course covers every core competency employers expect. Gain the technical skills and regulatory knowledge needed to perform confidently in a certified medical analysis laboratory.

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What you will learn:

This course covers the full scope of medical laboratory practice, starting with safety protocols, scientific measurement, and lab environment fundamentals. You will develop hands-on competency in operating analysers, performing haematology and coagulation tests, and conducting urinalysis with microscopy. The microbiology section trains you to process cultures and interpret antimicrobial susceptibility results. You will also master immunology, serology, and pre-transfusion compatibility testing. Quality management principles, regulatory compliance, and laboratory information systems are integrated throughout. By the end, you will be prepared to support accurate diagnostics and patient safety in a professional clinical laboratory setting.

How you study in practice Medical Laboratory Technician Course

How you practise Medical Laboratory Technician Course

For companies looking to train their teams

With Dedika for businesses, the course includes exercises and examples tailored to your company and its specific needs.

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Course content

8 Chapters • 40 LessonsDuration between 4 and 360 hours (you decide)

Chapter 1See details

Foundations of Laboratory Science

  • Lesson 1 • Basic Chemistry for Lab Technicians

    Reviews atomic structure, chemical bonding, and solution chemistry. Prepares students to prepare reagents and interpret chemical reactions in tests.

  • Lesson 2 • Introduction to Biological Principles

    Covers cell structure, major biomolecules, and basic microbiology concepts. Grounds students in the biological context of clinical specimens.

  • Lesson 3 • Safety Protocols and Hazard Control

    Teaches identification and mitigation of biological, chemical, and physical hazards. Directly supports compliance with occupational safety standards.

  • Lesson 4 • Scientific Measurement and Units

    Introduces metric units, significant figures, and measurement accuracy. Provides the quantitative foundation required for all analytical procedures.

  • Lesson 5 • Laboratory Environment and Layout

    Covers lab zones, equipment placement, and workflow design. Establishes spatial awareness essential for safe and efficient daily operations.

Chapter 2See details

Laboratory Equipment and Instrumentation

  • Lesson 1 • Centrifugation Principles and Practice

    Explains centrifugal force, rotor types, and specimen separation protocols. Proper centrifugation is critical for producing analyzable specimen fractions.

  • Lesson 2 • Glassware and Plasticware Essentials

    Identifies common lab vessels, their tolerances, and proper cleaning methods. Correct vessel selection prevents contamination and measurement error.

  • Lesson 3 • Spectrophotometry and Colorimetry

    Teaches Beer-Lambert law, wavelength selection, and absorbance measurement. These principles apply directly to quantitative biochemical assays.

  • Lesson 4 • Microscopy Techniques

    Covers brightfield, phase-contrast, and fluorescence microscopy operation. Microscopy underpins cell morphology and microbial identification tasks.

  • Lesson 5 • Automated Analyzers Overview

    Introduces haematology, chemistry, and immunoassay analyzers used in clinical labs. Students learn startup, shutdown, and basic troubleshooting routines.

Chapter 3See details

Specimen Collection and Processing

  • Lesson 1 • Capillary and Alternative Specimen Collection

    Teaches fingerstick, heelstick, and non-blood specimen collection methods. Expands collection competency for paediatric and point-of-care settings.

  • Lesson 2 • Pre-Analytical Error Recognition

    Identifies haemolysis, lipaemia, icterus, and clotted specimens as rejection criteria. Early error detection prevents reporting of invalid results.

  • Lesson 3 • Specimen Labeling and Chain of Custody

    Establishes labeling standards, patient identification protocols, and chain-of-custody documentation. Errors here invalidate results and create patient safety risks.

  • Lesson 4 • Specimen Transport and Stability

    Covers temperature requirements, transport containers, and analyte stability windows. Proper transport preserves specimen integrity before analysis.

  • Lesson 5 • Venepuncture and Phlebotomy Techniques

    Covers vein selection, needle insertion, and tube order of draw. Correct technique prevents haemolysis and cross-contamination between tubes.

Chapter 4See details

Haematology and Coagulation Testing

  • Lesson 1 • Blood Cell Morphology and Identification

    Teaches normal and abnormal erythrocyte, leucocyte, and platelet morphology. Morphology recognition is the basis for manual differential interpretation.

  • Lesson 2 • Full Blood Count Performance

    Covers automated FBC parameters, reference intervals, and delta checks. Students operate analyzers and verify results against clinical context.

  • Lesson 3 • Manual Differential and Reticulocyte Count

    Develops skills for 100-cell manual differential and reticulocyte enumeration. Manual review confirms or corrects automated analyzer classifications.

  • Lesson 4 • Coagulation Pathway and Testing

    Explains intrinsic, extrinsic, and common coagulation pathways and related assays. Students perform PT, aPTT, and fibrinogen tests and interpret results.

  • Lesson 5 • Critical Values and Result Reporting

    Defines critical value thresholds and compulsory notification procedures. Timely reporting of critical values is a core patient safety responsibility.

Chapter 5See details

Clinical Chemistry and Urinalysis

  • Lesson 1 • Urinalysis: Physical and Chemical Examination

    Teaches colour, clarity, specific gravity, and dipstick interpretation. Physical and chemical findings guide microscopic examination priorities.

  • Lesson 2 • Metabolic Panel Testing

    Covers glucose, electrolytes, renal function markers, and liver enzymes. Students run panels on automated analyzers and flag abnormal results.

  • Lesson 3 • Blood Gas and Electrolyte Analysis

    Covers arterial blood gas collection, analyzer operation, and acid-base interpretation. Students identify respiratory and metabolic disturbances from results.

  • Lesson 4 • Urine Microscopy and Sediment Analysis

    Develops skills for preparing and examining urine sediment for cells, casts, and crystals. Microscopic findings confirm or extend dipstick results.

  • Lesson 5 • Enzyme and Protein Assays

    Teaches kinetic and endpoint enzyme assays and total protein methods. Enzyme activity measurement is central to cardiac and hepatic panels.

Chapter 6See details

Microbiology and Infectious Disease Testing

  • Lesson 1 • Fungal and Parasitic Testing

    Introduces fungal culture, KOH preparation, and ova-and-parasite examination. Expands identification skills beyond bacteria to other pathogen classes.

  • Lesson 2 • Specimen Processing for Microbiology

    Covers inoculation techniques, media selection, and incubation conditions. Correct processing maximises organism recovery and minimises contamination.

  • Lesson 3 • Molecular Diagnostics in Microbiology

    Covers PCR principles, nucleic acid extraction, and result interpretation. Molecular methods provide rapid, sensitive detection of difficult-to-culture organisms.

  • Lesson 4 • Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing

    Covers disk diffusion, broth microdilution, and MIC interpretation. Results guide clinician antibiotic selection and resistance surveillance.

  • Lesson 5 • Bacterial Identification Methods

    Teaches Gram staining, colony morphology, and biochemical identification. Students progress from staining to confirmatory identification of common pathogens.

Chapter 7See details

Immunology, Serology, and Blood Banking

  • Lesson 1 • Transfusion Reactions and Management

    Identifies acute and delayed transfusion reaction types and laboratory workup steps. Rapid lab response minimises patient harm during transfusion complications.

  • Lesson 2 • Compatibility Testing and Crossmatch

    Covers antibody screening, identification, and electronic vs. serological crossmatch. Students complete pre-transfusion testing workflows for red cell products.

  • Lesson 3 • ABO and Rh Blood Group Systems

    Teaches ABO forward and reverse grouping and Rh typing principles. Accurate blood grouping is the cornerstone of transfusion safety.

  • Lesson 4 • Serological Assay Techniques

    Covers agglutination, precipitation, ELISA, and immunofluorescence methods. Students select and perform appropriate assays for infectious disease serology.

  • Lesson 5 • Immune System Fundamentals

    Reviews innate and adaptive immunity, antibody structure, and antigen-antibody reactions. This foundation supports interpretation of all serological assay results.

Chapter 8See details

Quality Management and Laboratory Operations

  • Lesson 1 • Method Validation and Verification

    Teaches accuracy, precision, linearity, and reference interval verification. Validation confirms that a method performs as claimed before patient testing begins.

  • Lesson 2 • Statistical Quality Control Principles

    Covers Levey-Jennings charts, Westgard rules, and control material management. Statistical QC detects systematic and random analytical errors before patient results are released.

  • Lesson 3 • Regulatory Compliance and Accreditation

    Covers accreditation standards, inspection readiness, and personnel competency assessment. Compliance protects patient safety and maintains laboratory operating authority.

  • Lesson 4 • Laboratory Information Systems

    Introduces LIS architecture, order entry, result verification, and interface management. LIS competency ensures accurate data flow from analyzer to patient record.

  • Lesson 5 • Proficiency Testing and External QA

    Covers enrolment, sample handling, and performance evaluation in proficiency programmes. External QA benchmarks lab performance against peer laboratories.

Certification

Your valid completion certificate

This course is for you:

  • Recent high school graduates: eager to enter a stable healthcare career quickly.

  • Nursing assistants: looking to transition into a more specialized clinical role.

  • Biology or chemistry students: wanting to apply academic knowledge in a medical setting.

  • Career changers from unrelated fields: drawn to precision-based, science-driven healthcare work.

  • Military medics or corpsmen: seeking civilian credentials in diagnostic laboratory science.

  • Healthcare volunteers: ready to formalize their interest into a recognized professional path.

What our students say

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