Department of Health Sciences
The clinical experience or professional practice component of the Illinois State University Medical Laboratory Science Program, formerly known as the Clinical Laboratory Science Program is that period of time during which the student is residing off campus and is attending an Illinois State-affiliated hospital. The off campus clinical experience is structured to provide clinical rotations through all departments of the laboratory including microbiology, serology, chemistry, urinalysis, blood bank and hematology.
Each student is assigned to an individual rotation sequence. Students spend eight hours a day, five days a week working in the laboratory with holidays off. Students work one on one with technologists learning to operate equipment and to apply knowledge gained in prerequisite classes to practical situations.
Opportunities for employment may be available provided the student has achieved certain competencies.
Students in both options (Standard Track and Alternative Track) take the same courses until the end of the fall semester of their junior year.
Alternative Track hospitals have an independently accredited school of medical technology. Students in the Track 1 option spend nine months at the hospital school where they spend eight hours a week in the classroom and the additional time in the laboratory.
Standard Track hospitals are not independent schools. They have been approved by NAACLS as clinical sites as part of the University's accreditation. The Track 2 students complete a 21-week laboratory rotation during the Fall semester and return to the University for the Spring semester to take advanced classes.
Although the two options differ in instructional delivery, the content is the same. In both cases, grades earned at the hospital are recorded on the student's transcript and become part of their permanent record.
For information on placement, contact Meridee VanDraska, Program Director at: .
St. Francis Medical Center, Peoria, IL
St. John's Hospital School of Clinical Laboratory Science, Springfield, IL
Advocate-Christ Medical Center, Oak Lawn, IL
Advocate-Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, IL
Advocate Trinity Hospital, Chicago, IL
BroMenn Regional Medical Center, Normal, IL
Carle Clinic Association, Urbana, IL
Genesis Healthcare-Illini Hospital, Silvis, IL
Memorial Medical Center, Springfield, IL
Morris Hospital, Morris, IL
Richland Memorial Hospital, Olney, IL
Saint James Hospital & Health Center, Chicago Heights, IL
Saint Margaret's Hospital, Spring Valley, IL
Saint Mary's Hospital, Decatur, IL
Saint Mary's Hospital, Streator, IL
Silver Cross Hospital, Joliet, IL
