ASCP MLA Exam: Practice Questions

Prepare for the ASCP BOC Medical Laboratory Assistant (MLA) exam with this unofficial book of practice questions.

This book contains:

300 multiple-choice questions divided into the five content areas of the examInformation about the ASCP MLA exam. You'll learn what topics you need to study, what to bring on exam day, and how to get your exam results.The questions in this book are designed to emulate the real exam questions as closely as possible. Just like the real ASCP MLA exam, the questions are based on five content areas:

Patient registration and specimen collectionSpecimen preparation and processingSupport for clinical testingWaived and point-of-care testingLaboratory operationsAll answers to the questions can be found at the end of each content area.

To give you an idea of what the questions are like, below are five questions from the book:

1) PATIENT REGISTRATION AND SPECIMEN COLLECTION

You draw a patient's blood. Five minutes later, the patient is still bleeding from the venipuncture site. What should you do?

a. Apply a pressure bandage to the patient

b. Give the patient an anti-inflammatory medication

c. Notify the patient's nurse

d. Stop applying pressure to the venipuncture site

Answer: c) Notify the patient's nurse

Some patients, particularly patients on anticoagulant therapy, may take longer to stop bleeding. If the bleeding continues after five minutes, you should notify the appropriate personnel.

2) SPECIMEN PREPARATION AND PROCESSING

When a blood specimen in a grey-top tube is centrifuged, what does it separate into?

a. Plasma, buffy coat and red blood cells

b. Plasma, buffy coat and white blood cells

c. Red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets

d. Serum, buffy coat and red blood cells

Answer: a) Plasma, buffy coat and red blood cells

Grey-top tubes contain sodium oxalate or potassium oxalate. This chemical prevents blood samples from clotting. When blood samples in grey-top tubes are centrifuged, they separate into plasma (the liquid that remains when clotting is prevented with the addition of an anticoagulant), buffy coat and red blood cells.

3) SUPPORT FOR CLINICAL TESTING

Westergren tubes are used for which test?

a. Differential

b. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate

c. Hematocrit

d. Microhematocrit

Answer: b) Erythrocyte sedimentation rate

The Westergren tube is a type of sedimentation rate tube.

4) WAIVED AND POINT-OF-CARE TESTING

A routine glucose tolerance test (GTT) requires:

a. a blood sample and a urine sample

b. one blood sample

c. one urine sample

d. two or more blood samples

Answer: d) two or more blood samples

A glucose tolerance test (GTT) is to see if the patient has diabetes. First, the phlebotomist takes a baseline blood sample from the patient. Then, the patient drinks a glucose solution. After this, the phlebotomist takes more blood samples at intervals to see how the patient's body reacts to the glucose.

5) LABORATORY OPERATIONS

What is the single most important method of preventing infection?

a. Proper handwashing

b. Sneezing into your arm

c. Thorough cleaning of equipment

d. Wearing a lab coat

Answer: a) Proper handwashing