Lab Assistant

About the role

At RWJBarnabas Health, Lab Assistants become part of a purpose-driven environment where compassion, clinical excellence, and patient-centered care create meaningful opportunities to support medical diagnostic services. This role offers opportunities for professional growth, interdisciplinary collaboration, and a culture committed to quality, evidence-based laboratory practices, and continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Verifying orders from written scripts and accurately utilizing hospital registration systems and information systems (HIS and LIS) to input patients, test orders, and physician information.
• Reconciling patient identifiers between specimens and requisitions prior to accessioning, while actively communicating, investigating, and resolving any order or identification discrepancies.
• Unloading and unpacking all specimens delivered for testing, and carefully evaluating whether they meet strict laboratory standards upon receipt.
• Documenting any quality issues regarding unsuitable specimens or inappropriate collections, and directly informing nursing, phlebotomy, and medical staff to ensure safe specimen disposal.
• Operating and assisting with laboratory machinery, including loading and unloading blood culture specimens, as well as maintaining, troubleshooting, and repairing lab instruments when possible.
• Facilitating professional communication by answering incoming phone calls, looking up and faxing reports to physician offices, and checking pending or collection lists.
• Completing routine clerical oversight by filing and scanning documents, and assisting with sending out specimens while maintaining a proper record of reference laboratory testing.

Qualifications

• A High School Diploma or GED equivalent is required.
• Six (6) months of experience within a laboratory or clinical environment is preferred.
• Demonstrated competence in organizing, multi-tasking, and prioritizing routine and STAT workloads for timely clinical completion.
• Effective communication skills, with the ability to express details clearly and professionally to medical staff, nursing personnel, and physician offices.
• Strong technical acumen with the ability to easily comprehend and execute complex operational, safety, and equipment troubleshooting instructions.
• Proven ability and willingness to maintain a strict level of data privacy and confidentiality regarding sensitive medical results and patient records.

Pay

The pay range for this position is $21.48 - $26.71 per hour.

Schedule

This role requires a Per Diem schedule, working Day Shift (6:00 am – 3:30 pm). Availability to work every other weekend is required, along with availability to work 2–3 assigned rotating holidays per year.