Lab Assistant

Job Title: Lab Assistant

Location: Monmouth Medical Center

Department Name: Lab MMC Anatomic Pathology

Req #: 0000265625

Status: Hourly

Shift: Day

Pay Range: $18.00 - $27.90 per hour

Pay Transparency:

The above reflects the anticipated hourly wage range for this position if hired to work in New Jersey.

The compensation offered to the candidate selected for the position will depend on several factors, including the candidate's educational background, skills and professional experience.

Lab Assistant – RWJBarnabas Health

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. The Anatomic Pathology Laboratory Assistant provides essential technical, operational, and administrative support to the Anatomic Pathology Department at Monmouth Medical Center (MMC). This Lab Assistant role offers opportunities for professional growth, interdisciplinary collaboration, and a culture committed to quality, evidence-based laboratory practices, and continuous improvement. The position works collaboratively with pathologists, pathology assistants, histotechnologists, cytology personnel, pathology residents, medical transcription staff, laboratory leadership, couriers, and other hospital departments to support safe, accurate, and timely pathology services. Joining RWJBarnabas Health means joining a community where every Lab Assistant is encouraged to grow, contribute, and make a lasting impact on our patient community.

A typical day for a Lab Assistant may include:

• Verifying, accepting, and processing surgical pathology, cytology, and other Anatomic Pathology specimens delivered from operating rooms, procedural areas, inpatient units, clinics, physician offices, couriers, and other authorized sources.
• Conducting comprehensive sorting and rapid distribution of properly barcoded specimens, ensuring you verify required patient identifiers, specimen source information, container labeling, and accompanying requisitions or electronic orders before routing.
• Identifying and promptly escalating specimen discrepancies, incomplete information, labeling concerns, missing orders, leaking containers, or other specimen-integrity issues according to departmental policy.
• Accurately organizing, prioritizing, and routing specimens to the appropriate work area, including the surgical pathology/gross room, histology, cytology, or designated specialty testing areas.
• Maintaining appropriate specimen integrity, chain of custody, storage conditions, and documentation during receipt, transport, and temporary storage.
• Assisting in tracking expected or outstanding specimens and communicating unresolved items to designated laboratory staff or leadership.
• Operating laboratory systems by using approved hospital information systems within your authorized role to locate cases, verify information, document activities, and support specimen workflow.
• Printing or preparing approved labels, worksheets, case lists, or other documents assigned and permitted by departmental procedure.
• Providing daily support to pathologists, pathology assistants, residents, histotechnologists, and other AP staff to promote timely case processing and completion.
• Organizing specimen containers, cassettes, racks, slides, blocks, worksheets, requisitions, and other materials required for daily surgical pathology and histology operations.
• Preparing and stocking gross room work areas with appropriate supplies, specimen containers, cassettes, forms, personal protective equipment (PPE), and other routine materials.
• Transporting specimens, cassettes, slides, blocks, reports, and case materials between designated AP work areas while strictly maintaining patient identification and specimen integrity.
• Assisting with non-testing laboratory activities such as organizing racks, preparing work areas, stocking supplies, changing approved containers or solutions, and other tasks within training and documented competency.
• Retrieving paraffin blocks and glass slides for pathologists, residents, recuts, special stains, immunohistochemistry, molecular testing, consultations, quality reviews, conferences, and tumor boards.
• Accurately filing and refile paraffin blocks and glass slides using departmental filing and retention systems, as well as locating archived material for historical cases, additional testing, outside consultation, or quality reviews.
• Preparing cases, blocks, reports, and other required materials as directed, including supporting case preparation for tumor board and multidisciplinary conferences when requested.
• Providing morgue and autopsy support when assigned, trained, and permitted by hospital policy and applicable regulations, while maintaining dignity, confidentiality, and professional conduct in these areas.
• Assisting with maintaining cleanliness, organization, supplies, and required documentation in designated morgue support areas, and supporting approved decedent transport, identification, or release workflows exclusively within established MMC procedures.
• Monitoring routine AP supplies and maintaining adequate stock in specimen receiving, gross room, histology, cytology, storage, and other designated work areas.
• Restocking cassettes, slides, specimen containers, gloves, PPE, forms, packaging materials, cleaning supplies, and other approved laboratory items while verifying, unpacking, rotating, and organizing supply deliveries.
• Monitoring expiration dates when applicable, notifying designated staff when supplies reach established reorder levels, and assisting with periodic inventory counts.
• Performing routine cleaning and basic maintenance of designated equipment and work surfaces after appropriate training, and documenting assigned cleaning, maintenance, temperature, inventory, or safety activities when required.

This role might be for you if:

• Compassion and empathy guide your interactions with patients, families, and your clinical laboratory colleagues.
• You are passionate about supporting individuals by protecting accurate diagnostic paths and maintaining strict levels of confidentiality regarding laboratory results and patient records.
• Strong organizational and critical thinking skills allow you to properly prioritize complex specimen workloads to meet strict, time-sensitive laboratory testing turnaround deadlines.
• You communicate confidently and collaborate effectively with external hospital departments, medical staff, nursing personnel, couriers, and laboratory leadership.
• You enjoy executing precise instructions within a technical laboratory environment while consistently following MMC policies, departmental procedures, and corporate codes of behavior.
• You are comfortable working with complex information networks and possess excellent computer skills to navigate modern healthcare databases like Epic Beaker.
• Adaptability allows you to confidently handle biohazard specimens, follow chemical safety procedures, meet physical demands, and handle shifting laboratory priorities in a dynamic healthcare facility.
• Continuous learning, strict safety compliance, infection prevention practices, and professional development within an acute care laboratory framework are important to you.

To be considered for this Lab Assistant opportunity, you will have:

• High School Diploma or equivalent required.
• Previous experience in a hospital, clinical laboratory, pathology department, histology laboratory, specimen processing area, medical office, or related healthcare setting preferred.
• Demonstrates familiarity or experience with specimen processing, patient-identification requirements, and maintaining a strict chain of custody.
• Demonstrated competence in organizing, multi-tasking, and prioritizing high-volume workloads for timely clinical completion.
• Effective communication skills, with the ability to express details clearly and professionally both verbally and in writing.
• Proven ability and willingness to maintain a strict level of data privacy and confidentiality regarding sensitive medical results and HIPAA standards.
• Excellent computer skills with a history of navigating databases or tracking systems to locate cases and verify information.
• Scheduling requirements: Full-Time (FT) Day Shift, 40 hours per week, 9:00AM – 5:30PM.
• Rotating weekend and holiday availability as required by lab leadership.