Overview

Laboratories Medical Program at the College provides the only specialization of medical laboratories. In this specialization, the student is responsible for selecting and conducting the proper diagnostic analyses to contribute to preventing against diseases, contribute to treatment as well and to verify the results of analyses, link them to the health condition, improve and develop the tests and analyses conducted by the laboratory.

The responsibilities of the graduate of Medical Laboratories Program are to manage a laboratory, lay down its organizational structure as well as assure the quality of the laboratory.

 Students study for four academic years in and spend one year of internship in this major where they completes academic courses totaling 132 credits,. over four full academic years plus the year of internship. Eighteen (18) classes of male students and four (4) classes of female students graduated from the Medical Laboratories Program till 1427 A.H. In 1436 A.H., the Program was internationally accredited by the German Accreditation Agency (AHPGS), which evidences that the Program is in conformity with the international requirements and standards in the academic process and to boost the trust of the international community in the graduates of the Medical Laboratories Program. This will also positively support the future career of the Program graduates.

Mission

To teach academic courses at an advanced level proper for the requirements of the medical laboratories profession and to have graduates who are capable of joining the healthcare field, with theoretical information and technical skills achieving quality. In addition, our graduates will be qualified to keep up with the future variations and changes in healthcare systems and clinical laboratories science and with the increasing needs of the society in Mecca.

Values

1. To stick to the Islamic religious values.
2. To adopt professional and behavioral values;
3. To adopt the culture of respect, appreciation and difference.
4. To appreciate social responsibilities.
5. To continue to learn all life long.
6. To achieve excellence in the fields of teaching, research and professional practice. 

Objectives

1. To provide graduates with sufficient information about the relationship between laboratory information and disease processes and how integration can be made between laboratory information, health and disease. 
2. Graduates are to be capable of design, evaluation and dealing with the modern approaches in the different laboratory specialties.
3. Graduates are to gain experience and practice and the methods of applying quality standards to conduct all the steps of the routine and specialist laboratory analyses and to understanding the theoretical rules of such steps.
4. Graduates are to have experience to deal with the traditional problems at laboratories; be aware of the quality assurance and safety rules at laboratories, work rules at laboratories, information systems, management, research design and educational approaches.
5. Graduates are to be capable of working independently, thinking seriously and making proper analysis through the problem solving skills in different fields of laboratory diagnosis.
6. Graduates are to be able to show professional conduct during their work with their colleagues and all the personnel working in the health field.

Laboratory Specialist

The Laboratory Medicine Department at the College of Applied Medical Sciences enables its graduates to obtain a bachelor’s degree in laboratory medicine. Upon successful completion of the degree, the graduate earns the title of "Laboratory Specialist." But what is a Laboratory Specialist?

The title of "Laboratory Specialist" is also applied to a Laboratory Technician; it indicates the person who conducts the necessary laboratory tests in a laboratory setting. The results of these tests directly or indirectly benefit the patient and contribute to the process of the identification and diagnosis of the disease, and subsequent treatment and healing, Allah willing. Without medical laboratories, it would be impossible to identify and detect many of the diseases that affect human beings and to learn how they are transmitted. Similarly, without professional and experienced laboratory specialists, these laboratory tests would become impossible to perform. This highlights the importance of the role of laboratory specialists in assisting doctors to determine the appropriate diagnosis of a specific illness, based on the list of possible diagnoses, or to establish a clinical diagnosis as accurate as possible. Their role also involves following the progression and measuring any changes in the disease being treated, in order to prescribe the appropriate treatment to the patient that will help improve and cure their condition. Clinicians and laboratory specialists, therefore, work together in an integrated manner to complement and support one another, each one being indispensable to the other.

The role performed by Laboratory Specialists in various medical specializations:

One of the most advanced medical fields is laboratory medicine. It constitutes an effective profession that is based on well-studied scientific foundations, and employs modern equipment and devices. It requires great amount of interaction between the practitioner and the devices and techniques being used. Continuous advances in medicine, along with the discovery of many diseases, have increased the need for modern methods that enable doctors to accurately and efficiently diagnose diseases. Hence came the necessity and importance of this specialization. The laboratory medicine technology and its qualified personnel are considered one cornerstone of the various health care services, in addition to the research projects in all fields of medicine. All this contributes significantly to the improvement of human health.

Laboratory technicians use methods that are needed to detect diseases and their causes by examining samples taken from the patient’s body, such as blood, urine, fecal matter, biopsied tissues, body fluid, and secretions. The specialists use microscopes, laboratory equipment, chemicals, and computer devices in their lab work. Preparing reports for clinicians is inherent to the task they preform; these reports help clinicians diagnose the various illnesses.

Program content:

The program’s curriculum:

Graduation requirements:

1. Students must complete the theoretical and practical credit hours of this program.
2. Students must complete their graduation research and be successful in their oral examination and discussion.
3. Students must complete the training year under the supervision of the academic staff at the Department and a supervisor from one of the hospitals.

Program content:

• Academic degree: Bachelor of Applied Medical Sciences in the field of Laboratory Medicine.
• Number of academic years: Four full academic years + one year of internship.
• Language of study: English.