Clinical Lab Associate 2

Montgomery College; United States; On-site; USD 42,000 - 64,000; Full time

Job summary

Vanderbilt Health is seeking a 1st shift Specimen Receiving professional to accession specimens or tissue materials for testing, ensuring proper packaging for referral labs. The role collaborates with laboratory staff, medical personnel, and external customers to maintain efficient workflows.

The position emphasizes customer service, basic troubleshooting, and adherence to quality standards. This role reports to the laboratory operations team and supports a busy clinical environment.

Qualifications

• Experience in QA processes and ensuring quality standards.
• Fundamental proficiency in specimen collection and handling.
• Understanding of pathology concepts at a basic level.
• Familiarity with common laboratory practices and workflows.
• Excellent customer service skills and ability to communicate with staff and customers.
• Ability to maintain and troubleshoot basic laboratory equipment.

Responsibilities

• Sort, triage, receive, send, process and batch specimens.
• Prepare samples pre-analytically for testing.
• Provide general clerical support and coordinate with lab staff.

Skills

Quality Assurance

Specimen Collection

Pathology

Laboratory Practices

Customer Service

Equipment Maintenance

Job description

Discover Vanderbilt Health: With eight hospitals and over 180 clinics, we are the region’s largest comprehensive academic health system. Vanderbilt Health has a long tradition of providing world‑class care to the people of the Mid‑South, living out our mission of moving medicine forward through preeminent programs in patient care, education and research. Here you’ll find a spirit of collaboration and a supportive community where your expertise is valued, your knowledge expanded and your uniqueness celebrated. We are committed to fostering an environment where talented, compassionate people are united in bringing the most advanced care to our neighbors throughout the region.

Organization:

Specimen Receiving 1st Shift Job Summary: Responsible for accessioning specimens or patient tissue materials for testing including packaging specimens or tissue materials to be sent out to referring laboratory with minimal guidance. Works closely with all laboratory staff, medical staff, and external customers. Performs customer service functions including telephone etiquette and basic troubleshooting and problem resolution.

Key Responsibilities:

• Sorting, triaging, receiving, sending, processing and batching specimens
• Processing samples pre-analytically for testing
• Providing general clerical support

The responsibilities listed are a general overview of the position and additional duties may be assigned.

Technical Capabilities:

• Quality Assurance (Novice): Has provided continuous analysis and evaluation of assignment work processes, constantly striving for improvement in the way tasks and activities are accomplished by questioning their value to the process and contributing creative solutions. Has participated in the process of establishing, communicating and monitoring standards for quality and excellence. Demonstrates the ability to actually work on and improve a current business process, product or service.
• Specimen Collection (Novice): Possesses sufficient fundamental proficiency to successfully demonstrate specimen collection in practical applications of moderate difficulty. Generally works under the direction of others while accomplishing assignments.
• Pathology (Novice): Possesses sufficient fundamental proficiency to successfully demonstrate pathology in practical applications of moderate difficulty.
• Laboratory Practices (Novice): Possesses sufficient fundamental proficiency to successfully demonstrate laboratory practices in practical applications of moderate difficulty. Generally works under the direction of others while accomplishing assignments.
• Customer Service (Novice): Demonstrates the ability to influence customers. Knows how to verify and clarify the needs and expectations of customers. Responds quickly and efficiently to customer service requests. Participates in and conducts meetings with customers. Keeps customers informed of status via standard reporting techniques. Meets the continuing service needs of a customer group, including requests for changes in work content. Responds to customers with an appropriate level of urgency, energy, persistence and tenacity.
• Equipment Maintenance (Novice): Possesses sufficient fundamental proficiency to successfully demonstrate the ability to maintain equipment, products, or systems in practical applications of moderate difficulty. Assures that parts inventory is sufficient.

All these areas are crucial to Vanderbilt Health’s reputation for excellence in these areas that has made us a major center for patient referrals from throughout the Mid‑South. Each year, people throughout Tennessee and the southeast choose Vanderbilt Health for their health care because of our leadership in medical science and our dedication to treating patients with dignity and compassion.

Core Accountabilities:

• Organizational Impact: Executes job responsibilities with the understanding of how output would affect and impact other areas related to own job area/team with occasional guidance.
• Problem Solving/ Complexity of work: Analyzes moderately complex problems using technical experience and judgment.
• Breadth of Knowledge: Has expanded knowledge gained through experience within a professional area.
• Team Interaction: Provides informal guidance and support to team members.

Core Capabilities :

• Supporting Colleagues:
  
  • Develops Self and Others: Invests time, energy, and enthusiasm in developing self/others to help improve performance e and gain knowledge in new areas.
  • Builds and Maintains Relationships: Maintains regular contact with key colleagues and stakeholders using formal and informal opportunities to expand and strengthen relationships.
  • Communicates Effectively: Recognizes group interactions and modifies one's own communication style to suit different situations and audiences.
• Delivering Excellent Services:
  
  • Serves Others with Compassion: Seeks to understand current and future needs of relevant stakeholders and customizes services to better address them.
  • Solves Complex Problems: Approaches problems from different angles; Identifies new possibilities to interpret opportunities and develop concrete solutions.
  • Offers Meaningful Advice and Support: Provides ongoing support and coaching in a constructive manner to increase employees' effectiveness.
• Ensuring High Quality: - Performs Excellent Work: Engages regularly in formal and informal dialogue about quality; directly addresses quality issues promptly.- Ensures Continuous Improvement: Applies various learning experiences by looking beyond symptoms to uncover underlying causes of problems and identifies ways to resolve them.- Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements: Understands all aspects of providing a safe environment and performs routine safety checks to prevent safety hazards from occurring.
• Managing Resources Effectively: - Demonstrates Accountability: Demonstrates a sense of ownership, focusing on and driving critical issues to closure.- Stewards Organizational Resources: Applies understanding of the departmental work to effectively manage resources for a department/area.- Makes Data Driven Decisions: Demonstrates strong understanding of the information or data to identify and elevate opportunities.
• Fostering Innovation: - Generates New Ideas: Proactively identifies new ideas/opportunities from multiple sources or methods to improve processes beyond conventional approaches.- Applies Technology: Demonstrates an enthusiasm for learning new technologies, tools, and procedures to address short‑term challenges.- Adapts to Change: Views difficult situations and/or problems as opportunities for improvement; actively embraces change instead of emphasizing negative elements.

Position Qualifications:

This role offers the opportunity to make a meaningful impact within Vanderbilt Health, supported by a comprehensive benefits package which may include health, disability, retirement and/or wellness offerings to enhance your well-being and professional growth. Vanderbilt Health is committed to fostering an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and is committed to the principles of equal opportunity. EOE/Vets/Disabled. PEOPLE ARE AT THE HEART OF ALL WE DO. Great health care takes great people. We’re looking for like-minded individuals driven to make a difference. We invite you to explore careers at Vanderbilt Health, where we value collaboration, embrace continuous learning and foster an environment where everyone can thrive. We’re the largest private employer in Middle Tennessee, with a growing team and an expanding footprint across towns and communities throughout the region. We employ more than 43,000 people who work in inpatient and outpatient clinical care, research and graduate medical education. Our employees also serve in critical supporting roles in administration, information technology and informatics, finance, legal and community affairs, communications and marketing, fundraising, groundskeeping and facilities, and many other departments. Our growing academic health system has more than 2,100 licensed hospital beds at eight hospitals: Vanderbilt University Hospital Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital Vanderbilt Bedford Hospital Vanderbilt Clarksville Hospital Vanderbilt Tullahoma-Harton Hospital Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital. Vanderbilt Health is the Mid‑South's largest provider of specialty care, with hundreds of outpatient clinic and surgical locations throughout the region, and Tennessee’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center for adults and children. We are one of the nation’s busiest critical care centers, home to Middle Tennessee’s only Level 1 Trauma Center and Burn Center for adults and children, and Middle Tennessee’s only Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. We are the nation’s largest transplant center, and last year we performed the most heart transplants than any center worldwide. Vanderbilt Health is an epicenter for biomedical research, winning over $1 billion in annual research awards from government, industry, foundations and donors. We are also a national leader in medical training and education, with the largest clinical training center in the Mid‑South and the only training center in Tennessee for many adult and pediatric specialties. We’re honored to be consistently considered among the nation’s best hospitals for quality, safety and patient satisfaction. Three of our hospitals — Vanderbilt University Hospital, Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital and Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital — have been awarded a Five‑Star Quality Rating from Medicare. We support each other and encourage excellence among every member of our workforce. High-achieving employees stay at Vanderbilt Health for professional growth opportunities, competitive compensation and benefits, and a sense of community and purpose. Join us in advancing health care. Our vision: The world leader in advancing personalized health Our mission: Personalizing the patient experience through our caring spirit and distinctive capabilities