Laboratory medicine is a healthcare discipline which involves lab tests on bodily fluids or biopsies to diagnose diseases, assess organ functions or the effects of a specific treatment. The Laboratory Medicine programme delivers specialist pharmacists with an in-depth knowledge of the human physiology/biochemistry and the biological markers for the detection of pathological conditions. In addition, they master methods for the analysis of parameters in various biological matrices (blood, urine, saliva, faeces, cells, tissue samples, ...). Although subspecialisation is not uncommon, Laboratory Medicine graduates must nevertheless possess an all-round proficiency in (clinical) chemistry, bacteriology, virology, molecular diagnostics, haematology... .

We prepare our graduates for a career in the healthcare chain, more specifically for positions at a managerial level with a focus on medical analysis and medical advice, at facilities for laboratory medicine. This means that you must be able to work as an accessible primary (on-call) medical consultant at a facility for laboratory medicine. The laboratory staff as well as the referring physicians rely on you for test selections, sampling instructions and test interpretations. This study programme is one of the prerequisites to apply for the title of pharmacist specialised in laboratory medicine (i.e. credentialing). The other prerequisite is a practical work placement that have been carried out at accredited facilities for laboratory medicine.

The Laboratory Medicine programme comprises two levels. The first level is a two-year (120 ECTS credits) academic study programme, which you take at university. The curriculum covers the foundations of the three main disciplines: clinical chemistry, haematology, and microbiology. The second level is a three-year post-academic programme, which offers an in-depth knowledge of the disciplines mentioned above. The two-year academic programme aims at consolidating your medical and bioanalytical knowledge by means of a theoretical curriculum with contact hours, as well as practicals in a lab environment. Although the academic curriculum already comprises a work placement component, it also offers various course units with an intensive focus on the acquisition of a broad range of (knowledge) competencies. Teaching activities take place at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences as well as at Ghent University Hospital, where you take classes together with the specialist medical practitioners in training (in Dutch: arts-specialist in opleiding - ASO) in Laboratory Medicine. This second phase of the Laboratory Medicine programme almost exclusively consists of work placements, which take place at recognised facilities for laboratory medicine under the supervision of an accredited work placement supervisor.

The admission procedure for the Laboratory Medicine programme requires all candidate pharmacist-specialists to send a letter of application to the secretary of the accredited Recognition Committee by registered mail. The application must contain the study and work placement plan you aim to accomplish. The work placement plan should also list the total number of work placements of the five-year programme, with a work placement of at least twelve months in each of the main disciplines. It is within the Recognition Committee’s power to approve the work placement plan, and to monitor its realisation. Changes to the work placement plan in the course of the programme are possible but subject to approval by the Recognition Committee. Under certain conditions, the Recognition Committee may decide that obtaining a doctorate in one of the disciplines of Laboratory Medicine can count towards a (limited) exemption from the academic programme.

Admission into the programme is restricted due to the limited work placements that are available. An annual selection procedure weighs the candidates based on their curriculum and a study they write, present, and defend, the topic of which is set by the Recognition Committee. The Committee always chooses current topics in the field of Laboratory Medicine. Prior to the selection procedure, candidates should have completed a work shadowing of a number of weeks, partly at the UZ Gent Lab for Laboratory Medicine, and partly at other facilities for laboratory medicine. This, too, is part of the selection procedure. The selection process is open to last-year students (of the regular Pharmacy programmes). In principle, only two pharmacists are admitted into the Laboratory Medicine programme at Ghent University each year. The Master’s dissertation is carried out during the work placement. The dissertation topic should be in line with daily practice in one of the disciplines of Laboratory Medicine. You might, for instance, explore, analyse and discuss a new analytic method, a statistics-based comparative approach to methods, or a correlation between test results and diagnosis. A successful Master's dissertation requires at least one A1 journal article, of which you are the author. While the work placement supervisor is responsible for the daily supervision of the Master's dissertation, one of the lecturers in our programme takes on the role of academic supervisor.

A pharmacist specialised in laboratory medicine usually ends up at an accredited facility for laboratory medicine. These labs are either hospital-affiliated or private enterprises. The form of employment in which our graduates practice their profession – i.e. either as an employee under contract or as a self-employed professional - depends on the type of lab that employs them. In order to prevent an excess accrual of labs, the accreditation of new labs is subject to strict regulations. New accreditations are therefore rather rare nowadays.