Master of Laboratory Medicine

Enhance your clinical decision making skills, knowledge and experiences as a laboratory scientist, and open up opportunities for research or leadership within your field of expertise with CQUni's Master of Laboratory Medicine. Benefit from the flexibility to tailor your studies to suit your career goals, choosing between advanced clinical application, management, or research streams.

During your course, you will gain advanced theoretical and technical knowledge in the clinical disciplines of laboratory medicine for application in the diagnostic setting. You will build technical and evaluative skills through laboratory and clinical training to assess and implement recommendations for best practice in patient testing and monitoring. This course will enable you to develop an advanced level of communication skill to interact positively with patients and other health professionals ready for the clinical or scientific work environment.

Clinical decision-making and problem-solving abilities are key skills for medical laboratory scientists. You will develop clinical decision-making and problem solving skills through experience in professional practice, clinical case studies and research opportunities. This course features two professional practice units requiring you to complete a total of 560 hours of placement.

Students who are not eligible for advanced standing will be able to refine their laboratory skills by attending a residential school block at our Rockhampton campus, in which travel and accommodation costs are provided for students that are admitted to the Melbourne campus.

Research stream

If you are interested in a pathway to a research higher degree, the research stream allows you to complete CL58 Graduate Certificate of Research as part of the course structure. Alternatively, choosing six advanced clinical application units as part of your studies is an ideal stream for aspiring Senior Clinical Scientists. Our management stream is a great option if you are wanting to develop skills in areas such as leadership, innovative thinking and learning about ideation and horizon thinking, and allows you to choose four advanced clinical application units and two management units.   

The Master of Laboratory Medicine course will be submitted to the Australian Institute of Medical and Clinical Scientists for accreditation.

To be eligible for entry into this course, applicants must hold:

• A completed 3 year Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) equivalent Bachelor degree in a Health, Medical or Biomedical discipline which demonstrates a minimum of two Chemistry and two Human Biology units.

Applicants who do not meet the above requirement, however, hold relevant postgraduate qualifications will be referred to the Head of Course to confirm suitability for entry.

A Medical Laboratory Scientist is a health professional who conducts medical laboratory tests to assist in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease. They require specialised education and skills to prepare tissue sections for microscopic examination, analyse samples to study the effects of microbial infections and develop techniques to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. A Medical Laboratory Scientist has a degree of responsibility in the diagnostic process through the provision of advice to Medical Practitioners on the interpretation of tests, methods for use in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. They can undertake research and prepare scientific papers and reports. They ensure quality management processes and safety standards are followed in medical laboratories and undertake research in their area of expertise. Communication skills and exemplary professional attitude are all critical to success in this field.