• Essential Functions

• Technical Standards

• Computer Competencies

Essential Functions

Students enrolling in and graduating from a Medical Technology program must meet the essential function requirements of the academic program and the profession. Essential Functions are the non-academic standards that a student must be able to master to participate successfully in the MT program and become employable. Examples of this program's essential functions are provided below. If you are not sure that you will be able to meet these essential functions, please consult with the Department head for further information.

Essential Visual and Observation Skills for Medical Technology

The Medical Technology student must be able to:

• Observe laboratory demonstrations in which biological i.e., body fluids, culture materials, tissue sections and cellular specimens are tested for their biochemical, hematological, immunological, microbiological, and histochemical components.
• Characterize the color, odor, clarity, and viscosity of biological samples, reagents, or chemical reaction products.
• Utilize a clinical grade binocular microscope to discriminate among the fine structural and color (hue, shading, and intensity) differences of microscopic specimens.
• Read and comprehend text, numbers, and graphs displayed in print and on video monitor.
• Recognize alarms

Essential Motor and Mobility Requirements for Medical Technology

The Medical Technology student must be able to:

• Perform laboratory testing adhering to existing laboratory safety standards.
• Perform moderately taxing continuous physical work, often requiring prolonged sitting and/or standing, over several hours.
• Travel to assigned clinical laboratory Practicum sites.
• Reach laboratory bench tops and shelves, patients lying in hospital beds or patients seated in specimen collection furniture.
• Grasp, hold, transport, utilize specimens, reagents, hazardous chemicals and equipment in a safe manner as needed to perform laboratory testing.
• Obtain patient specimens in a timely, safe, and professional manner (e.g. perform phlebotomy).
• Use laboratory equipment (e.g. pipettes, inoculating loops, test tubes) and instruments to perform laboratory procedures according to established laboratory guidelines.
• Use computer keyboard to operate laboratory instruments and to calculate, record, evaluate, and transmit laboratory information.
• Troubleshoot and correct basic equipment malfunctions.

Essential Communication Requirements for Medical Technology

The Medical Technology student must be able to:

• Read and understand technical and professional materials, (i.e. textbooks, journal articles, handbooks and instruction manuals).
• Follow oral and written instructions independently.
• Clearly instruct patients regarding specimen collection.
• Demonstrate sensitivity, confidentiality and respect when speaking with patients.
• Communicate clearly, accurately and tactfully with faculty members, student colleagues, staff and other health care professionals orally and in a recorded format (writing, typing, graphics, or telecommunications).

Essential Intellectual Requirements for Medical Technology

The Medical Technology student must be able to:

• Comprehend, measure, calculate, reason, integrate, analyze, evaluate, correlate, problem-solve and compare.
• Recognize abnormal laboratory results (e.g. patient and QC) and take appropriate action.
• Demonstrate critical-thinking and judgment skills appropriate to a given situation.
• Independently prepare papers, prepare laboratory reports, and take paper, computer and laboratory practical examinations.

Essential Behavioral Requirements for Medical Technology

The Medical Technology student must be able to:

• Organize work and perform multiple tasks within given time constraints and under stressful conditions while maintaining the ability to communicate clearly.
• Be able to manage the use of time and be able to systematize actions in order to complete professional and technical tasks within realistic constraints.
• Possess the emotional health necessary to effectively apply knowledge and exercise appropriate judgment.
• Be able to provide professional and technical services while experiencing the stresses of task-related uncertainty (i.e. ambiguous test order, ambivalent test interpretation), emergent demands (i.e. "stat" test order) and distracting environment (i.e., high noise levels, crowding, complex visual stimuli).
• Be flexible and creative and adapt to professional and technical change.
• Recognize potentially hazardous materials, equipment, and situations and proceed safely in order to minimize risk of injury to patients, self and nearby individuals.
• Adapt to working with unpleasant biologicals
• Support and promote the activities of fellow students and of health care professionals. Promotion of peers helps furnish a team approach to learning, task completion, problem solving, and patient care.
• Be honest, compassionate, ethical, and responsible. The student must be forthright about errors or uncertainty. The student must be able to critically evaluate her or his own performance, accept and act on on constructive criticism, and look for ways to improve (i.e. participate in enriched educational activities).
• Show respect for individuals of different age, ethnic background, religion, and/or sexual orientation.
• Exercise independent judgment and accept responsibility for own work.

In addition, the student must follow all established policies and procedures of the program and clinical affiliate sites.

Technical Standards For Completion of Program

Medical Technology is a profession requiring manual skills in concert with a broad range of cognitive abilities. Collection, evaluation and synthesis of data are vital to this discipline.

The procedures performed by Medical Technologists require technical skills involving manual dexterity and a mechanical aptitude to perform in a safe and acceptable manner.

The Medical Technologist must possess adequate auditory capabilities in order to discriminate sounds to assess the proper functioning of laboratory equipment.

The Medical Technologist must possess adequate vision to use laboratory equipment, assess proper functioning of laboratory equipment and to discriminate colors used in special stains in microscopy and other laboratory testing. Color-blindness may impair the ability to recognize blood in body fluids.

The Medical Technologist must have adequate hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills to use information technology equipment (i.e. computers, laboratory information systems) and special automated and technical equipment. Additionally, Medical Technologists must demonstrate sufficient vision and manual dexterity to safely perform phlebotomy procedures.

The Medical Technologist must be able to demonstrate effective written and verbal communication skills.

The Medical Technologist must have the ability to work under stress, manage time efficiently, exercise independent judgment and assume responsibility for his/her own work and actions. It is important that the Medical Technologist be able to communicate and maintain professional relationships with peers, patients and physicians. It is also important that they think logically and process information quickly to solve clinical problems. They must exercise ethical judgment, integrity, honesty, dependability and accountability in the classroom and clinical setting.

The Department of Medical Technology at Armstrong Atlantic State University makes every effort to provide the student with (a) disability(ies) the opportunity to learn and develop into a safe competent Medical Technologist. It is incumbent upon the student to realize that certain manual, technical and professional tasks must be mastered in order to achieve passing grades and to successfully complete the Medical Technology curriculum.