Future laboratory professionals have excellent options for certification. Be sure to explore American Medical Technologists (AMT), a credentialing agency and association founded and led by lab and allied health professionals. AMT wants to help you accelerate your laboratory career.
The demand for laboratory professionals has never been higher. Certifications through AMT qualify you to work in the medical laboratory. Are you ready to make a move on the laboratory career path with a respected credential?
AMT offers certification for these laboratory professions. Click the titles to see eligibility requirements.
AMT certification is practical and accessible
- Not everyone takes the same path to certification. AMT certification is achievable through a combination of education, experience, and an exam. Some traditional; some non-traditional—but all are rigorous.
- The exam is practical. The straight-forward questions focus on laboratory practices, with no purposely tricky questions—such as “all of the above” or “fill-in-the-blank” questions.
- Comparing costs and benefits over time, AMT is the most cost-effective lab certification option to acquire and maintain.
- When you apply for certification, you set up an AMT account that serves as a portal for all your AMT business, including your application, your membership status, publications, communities, etc. (Everything except scheduling the exam, which is necessarily independent and managed through Pearson VUE.)
Automatic membership has its advantages
When an individual achieves certification through AMT, they automatically become a member of both our national professional organization and their local state society. Founded by laboratory professionals more than 80 years ago, AMT flourishes while being led both by and for allied health professionals.
Membership benefits include online and in-person CE opportunities, leadership development and networking with colleagues both nationally and locally. Members also receive an award-winning quarterly professional publication, a monthly e-newsletter, and discounts on CE.
All of this is intentionally geared toward maintaining a sense of belonging, of professionalism, of keeping competencies up to date along with staying certified and employed in the laboratory.
Stay certified the easy way
Once you pass the certification exam, you never have to take it again—as long you stay current with your maintenance requirements.
Three-year cycle with annual maintenance
Certification is simple to maintain. It's a three-year certification cycle with an annual maintenance fee, which is $110 for MLS or for MLT. These high-level certificants are required to document 45 points of continuing education or other professional activities for every three-year period.
Certification Continuation Program aka CCP
AMT requirements for maintaining certification are flexible. There is no need to fulfill certain CE categories as long as the activities align with the competencies of the profession. A member can obtain CE from a variety of sources, whether it’s from their employer, from AMT or from elsewhere. You are also entitled to discounted CE from AMT.
See details on what qualifies for Certification Continuation Program.
Automated process
Everyone establishes an individual account to apply for certification. This same account is linked to all the AMT processes for staying certified, including AMTrax, which helps record and keep track of all of your continuing education. It also syncs with our AMT Learning Management System to further aid in a seamless process to maintain your certification.
The final, and perhaps most important aspect of retaining certification is being an ethical professional and maintaining public trust—all certificants must abide by the AMT Standards of Practice to retain certification.
Which AMT lab certification is right for you?
Click on a profession profile below to learn about typical job duties, necessary education and training, and employment and salary information:
AMT is here for you
For applicants
If you seek certification for a good job in the clinical laboratory, AMT wants to help you. Check out the eligibility criteria for specific job certifications and see what you need to qualify.
For student applicants
For those currently in school, AMT offers a student readiness program, virtual community, local school societies, awards, and scholarships! Check out our Resources for Students.
For schools
AMT works directly with schools to help you get your students a top-notch certification for employment in the clinical laboratory. See more here or for direct help, submit our Consult an Expert form.
NAACLS benchmarking note
Students who complete a clinical lab program that is accredited by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS) are eligible to sit for an AMT lab certification.AMT exams for MLS, MLT and RPT are accepted for NAACLS benchmarking, which means that reporting to NAACLS the number of students who certify through AMT helps schools meet NAACLS standards and stay accredited.
For employers
AMT can help you get your current staff certified or find qualified candidates who are already certified. See details here. or for direct help, submit our Consult an Expert form.
Further resources and helpful links
Specifics on AMT Member benefits
Blog post: Exam tips from those who passed
Browse the AMT Resource Center for detailed information