Applicant Instructions

Applicants to a Biomedical Laboratory Science clinical program must have a clinical site secured at the time of admission. Your application will be considered incomplete until this requirement has been fulfilled.

General Rotation Information

  • Rotations are program-specific. 
  • Rotations are full-time, Monday–Friday, during business hours
  • Clinical hours are unpaid
  • Rotation hours must be kept separate from working hours
  • Some states may have additional requirements for clinical rotations and/or require a trainee license. Students are responsible for verifying state rotations and licensing requirements for their state, and, if required, obtain license before rotations.

Your clinical placement will be determined based on whether you reside within or outside the 25 miles of the GW Foggy Bottom main campus in the Washington D.C. area.  In the application, you'll be asked to indicate whether, at the time of application, you live within 25 miles of the GW Foggy Bottom main campus in the Washington, D.C. area. Your response will indicate your clinical site requirement.

If you answered Yes

If you answered Yes to "At the time of application, I live within 25 miles of the GW Foggy Bottom main campus in the Washington, D.C. area", your Enrollment Advisor will provide you with the Local Acknowledgment Form (LAF) to be completed electronically. The GW regional clinical coordinator will place you in one of the local GW-affiliated laboratories.

If you are employed at a laboratory outside of the local area, you may request to complete your rotations at that facility, provided the site agrees to it. Refer to the Clinical Site Verification (CSV) Form section for additional instructions.  

If you answered No

If you answered No to "At the time of application, I live within 25 miles of the GW Foggy Bottom main campus in the Washington, D.C. area", you have two options to fulfill the clinical site requirements: (1) a Clinical Site Verification (CSV) Form, or (2) Facilitated Clinical Placement (FCP).  

1. Clinical Site Verification (CSV) Form Process

The Clinical Site Verification (CSV) Form is not a legally binding document and is for informational purposes only.

  • The CSV form must be completed electronically by the laboratory director, laboratory manager, or laboratory educational coordinator. You will need to provide the facility name, the name of the laboratory point of contact, and their organizational email address. A link to the CSV form will then be sent directly to that contact. Do not put your name as a placeholder on the CSV form.
  • Keep track of your outreach activities.

The laboratory facility must meet the following criteria to be approved for clinical placement:

  • Be accredited by a U.S. or an international accrediting agency. 
  • Designate at least one clinical liaison to coordinate student clinical experience.
  • Offer clinical experience to students in the following laboratory procedures:
Blood Bank
  • Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC)
  • ABO and Rh Typing
  • Antibody Screening
  • Antibody Identification (can be performed by discussion, observation or simulation)
  • DAT Testing
  • Crossmatches and Compatibility Testing
  • Blood Component Management
  • Evaluation and Reporting of Results/LIS
Chemistry
  • Quality Control/ Quality Assurance
  • Cardiac Function Studies
  • Hepatic Function Studies
  • Renal Function Studies
  • Endocrine Function Studies
  • Electrolytes/ Metabolic Function Studies
  • Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM)
  • Evaluation and Reporting of Results/LIS
Hematology/Coagulation/Urinalysis
  • Quality Control/ Quality Assurance
  • Automated Hematology procedures (CBC)
  • Blood smear and differential
  • Routine Coagulation Screening Tests (PT/INR)
  • Routine Coagulation Screening Tests (PTT)
  • Urinalysis: Physical and Chemical Examination
  • Urinalysis: Microscopic Examination
  • Body Fluids Analysis (smear prep, cell counts, interpretation, and reporting)
Microbiology

Bacteriology must have at least 4 of the procedures marked with * in addition to the other methods listed

  • Quality Control/ Quality Assurance
  • Culture Setup and Primary Plating
  • Microscopy (Gram stains etc.)
  • Manual/ Automated Identification Tests 
  • Susceptibility Tests
  • Serology Tests/ Methods (can be in a different section)
  • Urine Specimen Workup*
  • Blood Specimen Workup*
  • Respiratory Specimen Workup*
  • Wound Specimen Workup*
  • Tissue and Body Fluids from Sterile Sources*
  • Urogenital Specimen Workup*
  • Stool Specimen Workup*

2. Facilitated Clinical Placement (FCP)

Applicants may participate in GW’s Facilitated Clinical Placement (FCP). Participating in the FCP option means that the GW regional clinical coordinator will place the student at a clinical site in any geographical region within the continental United States (US). A GW regional clinical coordinator will facilitate this process with the clinical site directly. The FCP option does not apply to students who reside outside of the continental US and US Territories. Please note that electing the FCP option may require temporary relocation to complete rotations. The cost associated with relocation is the responsibility of the student.

If you’d like to proceed with the FCP option, reach out to your Enrollment Advisor, and they will provide you with the Facilitated Clinical Placement (FCP) form to be completed electronically.

Clinical Rotation Waivers:

Students with prior clinical experience may apply for one or more clinical rotation waivers. Contact your GW’s Enrollment Advisor for details.