Lab Professionals, Don’t Get Derailed by the Pandemic. Let ASCP Help You Stay On Track with CEs

If you’re a medical laboratory professional, the COVID-19 pandemic may have turned your life upside this past year. That can make it difficult to focus on necessities such as staying on track with your continuing education (CE) credits.

Derek Graney, MLS(ASCP)^CM, completed his first recertification as a medical laboratory professional a year ago. Looking back on that experience, he has a few tips for laboratory professionals to help them keep track of their CE credits for the ASCP Board of Certification (BOC) credential maintenance program (CMP) via ASCP.

Over the past several years, while working in both private and public laboratories, he found that tracking his CEs was a huge challenge. In one previous workplace, his CEs were recorded on paper. Additionally, the test results were mailed to his corporate office, where managers were to keep track of them. Some records of his CE credits were lost. The entire process of tracking was a nightmare.

“I switched over to using ASCP to track my CEs. It was a life-saver,” says Graney. “This was right when I was about to be recertified. The ASCP portal is great because I could access it from home and review my CEs whenever it was convenient for me.”

His advice to others: “You might not stay at the same laboratory or hospital system for your entire career, and if you leave, you might not have access to your CEs recorded in the employer’s system. ASCP provides a reliable source, wherever you are.”

ASCP not only offers a convenient way of tracking CEs, it offers valuable products and services, such as LabQ and the Annual Meeting, that help newly-certified as well as seasoned laboratory professionals satisfy their CE requirements and stay on the forefront of the field.  

LabQ is an online, self-paced study tool composed of 18 real-life case studies that provide education specifically designed for practicing laboratory professionals. The cases present challenges faced in the lab and demonstrate how the laboratory professional or team resolves these problems.

In addition to Lab Q, ASCP offers an entire library of online resources that can help laboratory professionals meet CE requirements and keep their skills sharp. ASCP laboratory professional members can add an unlimited CE package to their annual membership at any time for unlimited access to select education and CE credits for $39. Meanwhile, a three-year ASCP membership includes unlimited online CE credits and an exclusive voucher for laboratory professionals’ ASCP BOC CMP application fee.

An easy to way earn CEs is to attend ASCP’s Annual Meeting. This year, ASCP 2020 Virtual, Sept. 9-12, will feature a laboratory professional education track—designed by laboratory professionals for laboratory professionals—that focuses on the most critical areas of laboratory science, such as clinical chemistry, microbiology, transfusion medicine/blood banking, and hematology/coagulation. Here, laboratory professionals will be able to take advantage of hundreds of hours of education in dozens of topic areas, allowing them to build knowledge and earn CMLE credits.

Learn more about the many ways ASCP helps laboratory professionals keep up with their CEs by clicking here.