The California Department of Health Services has approved the UCLA Immunogenetics Center as a training site for Clinical Histocompatibility Scientist Trainees. The Histocompatibility Technologist Training Program was established in January 1999 to train technologists to perform high complexity histocompatibility testing. The primary goal of this program is to train qualified individuals who are not licensed as Clinical Laboratory Scientists by the State of California so they will be eligible for the Clinical Histocompatibility Technologist (CHT) credentialing examination sponsored by the American Board of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ABHI). Qualified individuals who successfully complete this examination are eligible for licensing as Clinical Histocompatibility Scientists by the State of California under Article 1, section 1031.1(b) of the Emergency Regulations regarding Clinical laboratory Personnel Licensing Standards, R2-99E.
The course requires one year to complete. We provide the scientific background and principles of the HLA tests performed by the laboratory, orientation and individual training for all equipment necessary to perform testing, observation and supervised test performance, interpretation and troubleshooting followed by competency evaluation and documentation. New technologists are encouraged to take and pass the ABHI Clinical Histocompatibility Technologist examination (offered in October each year) after completion of their training and to obtain their California license.
The scope of training encompasses all functional areas of histocompatibility testing currently performed in the laboratory. In addition to faculty lectures and taped lectures on basic principles of histocompatibility testing and their applications in the laboratory and the clinic, technologists receive intensive in-depth training in specific HLA testing methods and procedures. Trainees are also instructed in compliance with regulatory agencies and policies as well as in the application of quality assurance and quality improvement measures and their role and importance in accurate, high quality test performance. Following each rotation, the trainee must meet competency standards and benchmarks for each procedure.
Contact the Senior Supervising Clinical Lab Technologist at the laboratory for further information.
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