Fundamentals for Medical Laboratory Technicians: All Modules + MLT Practice Exam

Fundamentals for Medical Laboratory Technicians is a review course to help individuals prepare for the Medical Laboratory Technician Certification Examination. This course includes an introduction module, nine content modules, and two attempts at the MLT Practice Exam.

Each content module contains knowledge checks, a quiz, resources, and references. Modules do not need to be completed in one sitting.

Module 0: Introduction 

This module reviews how to navigate the course, describes the module structure, and lists other resources to prepare for the Medical Laboratory Technician certification exam. 

Module 1: General Laboratory

This module is separated into two parts, Part A: Foundations of Clinical Laboratory Practice and Part B: Specimen Collection and Handling.  

Part A reviews the principles and procedures of laboratory quality, laws and regulations governing the laboratory, laboratory instrumentation, maintenance, principles of operation, laboratory mathematics, and standards and procedures for laboratory safety. 

Part B reviews procedures to maintain specimen integrity for blood specimens, including the use of appropriate collection tubes, venipuncture steps, and capillary draw steps, the proper order of draw, procedures to maintain specimen integrity for non-blood specimens, including urine, stool, other non-blood specimens, and irretrievable specimens, and the causes of erroneous results.  

Module 2: Professional Communication and Conduct

This module reviews the principles of operation and maintenance of common clinical chemistry instruments, describes renal function tests and hepatic function tests and their clinical significance. It discusses carbohydrate metabolism and its impact on the regulation of blood glucose levels, protein analysis techniques and how results correlate with clinical conditions, enzyme assays and enzymatic activity measurements, endocrine function tests and how hormone levels are interpreted in clinical contexts, lipid metabolism and its relevance to health and disease, and the mechanisms of fluid and electrolyte balance. Lastly, this module identifies the principles of acid-base balance and pH regulation, defines cerebrospinal fluid and describes the collection and analysis of samples, and explains other chemistry procedures.  

Module 3: Hematology

This module reviews the anatomy and physiology of blood, explains the principles and procedures of red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and special tests, and describes various instrumentations and preventative maintenance. 

Module 4: Coagulation and Hemostasis

This module reviews the processes and mechanisms of hemostasis, the types of hemostatic disorders and their characterizations, and the tests and procedures used for coagulation and hemostasis. 

Module 5: Immunology and Serology

This module reviews the principles of immunology and serology, syphilis and the principles and procedures of serological tests, immunology and serology test procedures, and special test procedures. 

Module 6: Immunohematology

This module reviews the major blood group systems, their antigens, and antibodies, the immune response, the classes of immunoglobulins, and their characteristics, the tests and procedures involved in pretransfusion compatibility testing, and hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN) and the considerations in testing. 

Module 7: Blood Banking and Transfusion

This module reviews blood banks and identifies the role of regulatory bodies in ensuring the safety and quality of blood products, describes the process of blood collection and donation, recognizes and differentiates various blood components and the process of blood component preparation, storage, and labeling to ensure product integrity and traceability, identifies special patient populations and their unique transfusion-related considerations, and defines therapeutic phlebotomy and identifies its clinical indications, procedures, and the benefits and outcomes.

Module 8: Microbiology

This module reviews the principles and procedures of bacteriology including media and techniques of bacterial cultures and the methods and procedures of bacterial identification while identifying special bacterial tests. It describes the principles and procedures of virology, parasitology, mycology and quality control in microbiology.  

Module 9: Urinalysis and Body Fluids

This module reviews the anatomy and physiology of the renal system, describes the procedures for collecting and processing urine specimens, identifies the physical, chemical, microscopic, and confirmatory procedures for analyzing urine, and details special testing methods associated with urinalysis and body fluids.  

Author(s):

Tia Johnson, MSHS, MLT (AMT), CIC, LYSSYB
Tamara Mosley, MBA, MLST (AMT)
Shaughn Nalezinski, MS, MLS (ASCP), cmSBBcm, MLS (AMT) 
Chet Voelker, MS, MLS (AMT)


Launched: 2024


NOTE:  This does NOT count for CCP points.  This is a review course for those preparing to take the MLS Certification Exam and want to review Clinical information. 

Bulk Purchase Instruction: To purchase fundamentals courses in bulk by credit card, you must have a school or employer SRP portal through the AMT website. Log in to your portal on the AMT website, choose the option from your member’s homepage, and follow the instructions. Once the purchase has been completed, you will receive a confirmation with the registration code to be used by your students or employees.

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