Lab Services

The MHLC clinical laboratory is a high complexity, full-service laboratory. Our laboratory is certified by CLIA (http://www.cms.hhs.gov/clia) who inspects our facility every two years.

Hours of Operation

The MHLC laboratory is staffed in house

• Monday through Friday from 6:30 am to 5:30 pm,
• Saturday 7:00 am to 11:00 am.
• All other hours we have a technologist on call.

Therefore, we are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Services

Chemistry

• Electrolytes
• Basic Metabolic Panel (BMP)
• Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP)
• Renal Panel
• Liver Panel
• Lipid Panel
• Thyroid Testing (TSH, Free T4)
• PSA (Prostate Cancer detection)
• Glycosylated Hemoglobin (HgbA1c)

Hematology

• CBC (Complete Blood Count)
• Platelet Count
• Hemoglobin
• Hematocrit
• PT/INR (Protime with INR)
• PTT (Partial Prothrombin Time)
• Bleeding Time

Serology

• Pregnancy Test
• Mononucleosis test
• Influenza Detection

Urinalysis

• Routine urinalysis with microscopic examination

Drug Testing

• Drug of Abuse Screens
• Drug Screen Collection for:
  • Pre-employment
  • DOT
  • Post-Accident Breath Alcohol Testing

Microbiology

• Cultures (urine, sputum, wound, genital, blood) KOH
• Wet Mount
• Gram Stain

Blood Bank

• Blood typing
• Antibody screen
• Rhogam workup
• Compatibility testing

The above tests are on the MHLC 'menu' meaning these tests are done in-house. Many are available within minutes. All other laboratory tests are available through our reference laboratory, General Medical Laboratories (GML) in Madison.

In addition to serving the MHLC emergency room, outpatient clinic, and hospital inpatients, over one-half of our patients are outpatients. Many local patients who use Madison, Dubuque or other facilities find the convenience and efficiency of our laboratory to be key in the management of their health

We can serve any patient with an order for laboratory services. We fax, mail or call any results to accommodate the patient and doctor's needs.

Our laboratory also does testing for the Lafayette County Manor, Lafayette County Health Department, Lafayette County Human Services, and many local veterinarians.

Education

Medical Technologist (MT)
Medical technologists ("Med Tech", "MT") require a Bachelor of Science degree in medical technology or related science (biology or chemistry).This is a four-year program including classroom and clinical portions of all modalities (microbiology, urinalysis, blood banking, serology, hematology, and chemistry).Certification is also recommended by ASCP (American Society of Clinical Pathologists) www.ascp.org or AMT (American Medical Technologists) www.amt1.com. Specialization and certification in areas is also available with further study (histology, cytology, etc).

Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT)
Medical laboratory technicians ("MLT") require an associate's degree in medical laboratory technology or clinical laboratory science from a technical college.This program includes classroom and clinical study in all areas.Certification is required.See the following websites to learn more about he certifying agencies:
ASCP (American Society of Clinical Pathologists) www.ascp.org AMT (American Medical Technologists) www.amt1.com.

Contact Information