香港理工大学

Programme Aims & Learning Outcomes:

Medical laboratory science is an important scientific discipline in the healthcare sector. Medical laboratory scientists perform laboratory analysis of clinical samples, which aids in disease diagnosis, treatment, risk assessment and the investigation of underlying disease mechanisms.

This programme equips graduates with the knowledge, techniques, reasoning skills and professional attitudes that are necessary to be qualified as medical laboratory scientists.

Programme Characteristics

This is the first full-time government-funded undergraduate programme in medical laboratory science in Hong Kong.

The programme curriculum comprises university-based education and medical laboratory science-specific subjects, which are integrated with clinical training. Students will undertake clinical attachment in medical laboratories in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University aims to nurture students’ global perspectives, providing students with opportunities to engage in overseas exchange activities and undertake clinical attachments in overseas hospital laboratories.

Curriculum

This is a 4-year full-time programme leading to a registrable qualification required for performing diagnostic tests in clinical laboratories in Hong Kong. Graduates will be able to work in the four major discipline areas (Cellular Pathology, Clinical Chemistry, Haematology, and Medical Microbiology) within medical laboratory science.

The programme has the following main content:

• Year One studies include compulsory university subjects such as Freshman Seminars for Health Science and fundamental language subjects; Foundation Subjects in medical laboratory science such as Human Physiology, Human Anatomy, General Chemistry, Laboratory Techniques & Safety, and Clinical Laboratory Instrumentation. The core disciplines of medical laboratory science will be introduced in the 1-credit subject Exploring Medical Laboratory Science.
• Year Two includes more Foundation Subjects in medical laboratory science such as Immunology, Human Biochemistry, Biostatistics and Pathophysiology. The core medical laboratory science disciplines will be further introduced in the 4-credit subject Introduction to Medical Laboratory Science in the first semester, and then one of the four core disciplines - Clinical Chemistry - will be introduced in the second semester.
• Year Three emphasises the remaining three core medical laboratory science disciplines - Cellular Pathology, Haematology, and Medical Microbiology. The year also covers other core subjects, including Introduction to Clinical Research, Molecular Biology in Medicine and Medical Virology.
• Year Four extends to applied subjects such as Human Genetics, Molecular Diagnosis of Human Disease, and Legal and Ethical Issues in Healthcare, and one Elective Subject from a range of other cross-disciplinary health-related subject areas. The core medical laboratory science disciplines are further enhanced through the integrative subject of Current Topics in Laboratory Medicine. There is also a nine-credit laboratory-based Research Project in the Final Year.

Career Prospects

A wide range of career opportunities are open to graduates of this programme, including careers in medical laboratories in both public and private sectors (e.g. hospitals and clinics), the medical biotechnology sector, environmental science, agricultural and food testing industries. Graduates can also choose to pursue careers in academic or research areas through further study to Master or PhD level.