33101 Medical laboratory assistants and related technical occupations

What this occupation covers

Medical laboratory assistants and workers in related technical occupations perform pre-analysis and pre-testing tasks such as collecting blood and other samples, processing specimens, and preparing special chemicals called reagents for use in testing. They conduct routine medical laboratory tests and set up, clean and maintain medical laboratory equipment. They are employed in medical laboratories in hospitals, clinics, research facilities, post-secondary educational institutions and government research laboratories.

Official main duties

The NOC profile lists 7 main duties for this code.

• Collect, label, sort and prepare blood, tissue and other samples from patients
• Log and validate patient samples and prepare them for testing
• Set up medical laboratory equipment
• Prepare chemical reagents to be combined with biological samples for testing
• Conduct routine laboratory tests and sample analyses
• Perform quality assurance of testing techniques and record results
• Clean and maintain medical laboratory and medical laboratory equipment.

Do not copy these lines into your reference letter. The letter has to describe what you actually did, in your employer’s words. DUTYPROOF flags wording lifted from the NOC as something to review, and an officer reading a letter that mirrors the NOC reads it the same way.

What DUTYPROOF screens for

This is DUTYPROOF’s screening threshold, not IRCC’s decision. For this NOC, screening requires at least 2 of its 7 official duties to be evidenced in your own words, plus the required letter elements. IRCC asks that you performed the actions in the occupation’s lead statement and a substantial number of its main duties — so treat the duty coverage as the number that matters, not the badge.

Codes this one is confused with

The NOC profile names these itself. Choosing the wrong code of a look-alike pair is the most common way genuine work experience fails to establish eligibility.

• 22110 Biological technologists and technicians
• 22100 Chemical technologists and technicians
• 32120 Medical laboratory technologists

Excluded from this code

• Biological technologists and technicians (See 22110 Biological technologists and technicians)
• Chemical technologists and technicians (See 22100 Chemical technologists and technicians)
• Medical laboratory technologists (See 32120 Medical laboratory technologists)

Job titles filed under this code

A title on this list does not by itself put your experience in this code — the duties in your letter decide that.

blood bank technician · clinical laboratory technician · community health technician - medical laboratory · histology technician · laboratory assistant - medical · medical laboratory aide · medical laboratory assistant · medical laboratory helper · medical laboratory technical assistant · medical laboratory technician · phlebotomist · phlebotomy aide · renal technician · technical assistant - medical laboratory

Employment requirements

• Medical laboratory assistants and related technical workers require completion of a college certificate program in medical laboratory science.
• Certification by the Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science is usually required by employers.