Certified Medical Laboratory Assistant, Certificate

What to expect

The full-time Certified Medical Laboratory Assistant Program is a comprehensive one-year (ten months), entry-level certificate in pre-analytic laboratory sciences.

Flexible pathways for progression and a variety of approaches to educational delivery prepare you for clinical practicum opportunities in both hospital and community based laboratories throughout Vancouver Island. Course delivery includes traditional face-to-face and blended classroom instruction, practical simulation labs, teaching clinic integrations, technology-enhanced applied learning, and online courses.

You can expect to spend about one to three hours per day on homework, including weekends. Practicum placement locations are available throughout Vancouver Island. During your placement, you work four, 7-hour days, for up to seven weeks. You might be scheduled for days, evenings, or weekend shifts.

Academic Term 1

In your first term, you’ll dive right into learning phlebotomy by actually performing venipuncture and capillary collections on your fellow classmates – and they on you! Using many of the skills you learn about workplace communication and patient management, you’ll practice your new skills during labs in authentic simulation environments. During this term, you’ll also have the opportunity to develop or strengthen your understanding of Indigenous people and learn more about their worldviews.

Academic Term 2

In your second term, you’ll delve deeper into technical laboratory skill development to further build your knowledge and develop your practice capabilities. You’ll develop and enhance your teamwork and communication skills by participating in Interdisciplinary activities, expand your understanding of diagnostic science in laboratory pathophysiology and learn how to perform electrocardiograms—a required practice capability for Certified Medical Laboratory Assistants in British Columbia.

Academic Term 3

During your final term, you’ll participate in a 7-week clinical practicum designed to ensure that you meet the BCSLS provincial and CSMLS national entry-to-practice requirements. You’ll demonstrate your capabilities under the supervision of designated employees working as qualified Medical Laboratory Assistants and Technologists.

Note: Practicum availability depends on site capacity, training staff, and future job opportunities; we cannot guarantee exact locations of site placements on Vancouver Island.