Laboratory Assistant

at  LifeLabs

Improve lives. Love your job. Grow your career.
At LifeLabs, we are focused on our vision of building a healthier Canada! We are the largest community diagnostics laboratory in Canada with over 382 collection centers, 16 laboratories and service over 20 million patients each year.
Caring, Agile, Customer Driven, One Team - We live our values every day in what we do to help our patients and healthcare providers. With over 6,000 employees, we all make a difference and that is why our people are so important to us.
This is an exciting time to join our LifeLabs team, grow your career with us and support numerous business initiatives, innovations, best practice, and business development opportunities. LifeLabs is currently looking for a Laboratory Assistant to join our team in Nanaimo, BC.
As a Laboratory Assistant you will be responsible for the specimen collection process, from greeting patients through to preparation of specimens for transportation. This is an important role in patient care and our business and will let you see the difference that you make in patients’ lives.
This is a Temporary Full-Time role with the end date of January 15th, 2025, or until the return of incumbent. The successful candidate will be working up to 37.5 hours/week at Northtown location in the Nanaimo, BC region.
Hours: 7:30 - 15:30 Monday – Friday.

In this role you will:

• Greet and request required information from patients, explain the specimen collection process, and ensure patients have followed necessary test protocol prior to specimen collection.
• Perform phlebotomies, connect/disconnect Holter monitors, 24-hour blood pressure monitoring, and perform ECG tracings.
• Perform special test collections, such as medical/legal drug screens, paternity tests, and clinical trials, and complete related documentation.
• Maintain client relationships, including responding to inquiries and following up on requests.
• Complete data entry of required patient demographics, requisition information, and other information related to processing test results.
• Prepare specimens for transportation and testing.

The right person for this role will be focused on great customer/patient service and be able to relate to patients and clients even in stressful situations. Some key qualities include empathy, flexibility, adaptability to change, and problem-solving skills. Other requirements include:

• Completion of a recognized Medical Laboratory Assistant program or equivalent related experience such as working as a healthcare professional with REQUIRED previous training or experience in phlebotomy (blood draws), intravenous infusion and/or intravenous therapy (e.g. nurses, infusion therapist, cardiac technologist etc.).
• ECG training or experience is an asset.
• Proficient data entry skills.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and customer service skills.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Ability to maintain the strictest standards of patient privacy and confidentiality.
• Ability to effectively relate to patients and health care providers.

In this role you will:

• Greet and request required information from patients, explain the specimen collection process, and ensure patients have followed necessary test protocol prior to specimen collection.
• Perform phlebotomies, connect/disconnect Holter monitors, 24-hour blood pressure monitoring, and perform ECG tracings.
• Perform special test collections, such as medical/legal drug screens, paternity tests, and clinical trials, and complete related documentation.
• Maintain client relationships, including responding to inquiries and following up on requests.
• Complete data entry of required patient demographics, requisition information, and other information related to processing test results.
• Prepare specimens for transportation and testing

The right person for this role will be focused on great customer/patient service and be able to relate to patients and clients even in stressful situations. Some key qualities include empathy, flexibility, adaptability to change, and problem-solving skills. Other requirements include:

• Completion of a recognized Medical Laboratory Assistant program or equivalent related experience such as working as a healthcare professional with REQUIRED previous training or experience in phlebotomy (blood draws), intravenous infusion and/or intravenous therapy (e.g. nurses, infusion therapist, cardiac technologist etc.).
• ECG training or experience is an asset.
• Proficient data entry skills.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and customer service skills.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Ability to maintain the strictest standards of patient privacy and confidentiality.
• Ability to effectively relate to patients and health care providers