March 21, 2022
Students in Shawnee State University’s Medical Laboratory Technology (MLT) program recently offered a free diabetes screening to the campus community by completing blood glucose testing. Christina Wagoner, a junior in the program from Bainbridge, Ohio, was one of the students conducting the testing in the lab.
“For the screenings, we tested glucose levels for each person using a hand-held glucose meter,” said Wagoner. “We performed a small finger stick to get some blood, placed a drop of it on a strip, inserted it into the glucose meter, and received results within 5 seconds.”
SSU’s MLT program focuses heavily on preparing students for the type of testing and work they complete in their career after graduation. The five-semester sequence prepares graduates for professional certification and careers working in the medical field in a range of testing and analysis roles. The hands-on opportunities in the classroom helped make Wagoner’s experience stronger in the program.
“Being able to have an open lab experience in the classroom is definitely one of a kind,” she said. “We get to perform testing we will do once we leave the program while showing others at the university what we do.”
As a graduate of the MLT program, testing done in the career field may include work in blood banking, hematology, chemistry, microbiology, immunology, and molecular diagnostics. Alumni from the SSU MLT program have routinely found starts to their careers quickly after graduation, as positions continue to be in high-demand at hospitals and medical facilities. The MLT program is now accepting applications for its Autumn 2022 semester. The deadline to apply is Apr. 1.
Learn more about Shawnee State University’s Medical Laboratory Technology program.