Laboratory Supervisor/Manager
A laboratory supervisor/manager in the medical field is responsible for overseeing day to day activities in the laboratory. This includes supervision of laboratory personnel, quality assurance, and overseeing the collection, analyzing and ultimate use of lab data. There are generally different levels of lab supervisor positions in the medical field, with some positions having considerably more responsibility in terms of overseeing laboratory personnel.
Education and Experience
As a laboratory supervisor/manager, you may be required to possess a specialized bachelor’s degree in a relevant field of study. Your path to becoming a lab supervisor may include obtaining a bachelor’s in medical technology or an associate’s in clinical laboratory science. In addition to these education requirements, lab supervisors are often required to have a certain amount of work experience in an individual role—as much as two years in some cases.
Duties
Although the job of a laboratory supervisor is to oversee operations in the lab to some degree, it’s not necessarily your job to give orders. Instead, a lab supervisor should help coordinate the work of others while keeping a close eye on the progress of each individual team to suggest ways in which they can improve. If you see a process that could be done in a more efficient way to save time, it’s your job to make that suggestion and help the team implement it. In addition to this, you are also a source of knowledge for the people you work with. As an experienced laboratory supervisor, you should provide as much relevant knowledge to those around you as you can. However, it’s important to keep in mind that you don’t actually have authority over staff members.