Laboratory Professionals Member Community

Hello everyone,

I am trying to help a friend. She is trying to get the Florida license but she is having trouble to get her training experience approved. Her clinical rotation was 4 months, which was not a problem for the ASCP certification. This is what they say regarding the training/experience. 

"Training/Experience: Clinical laboratory training program, or Three (3) years pertinent clinical laboratory experience with a minimum of 6 months in each specialty for which licensure is sought."

From my understanding the "minimum of 6 months in each specialty" referes to work experience, and not for a training program as it can varies from different labs I guess. So I do not know if she is missing something on her training form as the florida agency does not say what it wrong or missing that is not acceptable. This is what they said:

"Your clinical training program is not currently approved by the State of Florida. As a result, your file will need to be forwarded to the Credential

Board for further review. We will notify you once the evaluation is complete or if additional documentation is required."

If anyone has experience which a similar case it would be very helpful.

I would like also to ask if in the last case she is not able to get the Florida license, is there hospital labs that would hire her and when she completes the 3 years experience she could reapply to the licence again, or what would be her options as far as job areas she could work in Florida with the MLS certification only.

Any thoughts would be very appreciated. Thank you in advance!!

I recommend a Veterans/VA Hospital lab! Since they're federal, they only hold to federal regulations (ASCP Certification). And she can use the time at the VA Hospital toward her FL license. This happened to me in California, where my clinical training was 6 months, but CA requires 1 whole year. I worked 1 year at a Veterans hospital, got my CA state license, and now I'm free to move about for any CLS job if I wish! 

Hello everyone,

I am trying to help a friend. She is trying to get the Florida license but she is having trouble to get her training experience approved. Her clinical rotation was 4 months, which was not a problem for the ASCP certification. This is what they say regarding the training/experience. 

"Training/Experience: Clinical laboratory training program, or Three (3) years pertinent clinical laboratory experience with a minimum of 6 months in each specialty for which licensure is sought."

From my understanding the "minimum of 6 months in each specialty" referes to work experience, and not for a training program as it can varies from different labs I guess. So I do not know if she is missing something on her training form as the florida agency does not say what it wrong or missing that is not acceptable. This is what they said:

"Your clinical training program is not currently approved by the State of Florida. As a result, your file will need to be forwarded to the Credential

Board for further review. We will notify you once the evaluation is complete or if additional documentation is required."

If anyone has experience which a similar case it would be very helpful.

I would like also to ask if in the last case she is not able to get the Florida license, is there hospital labs that would hire her and when she completes the 3 years experience she could reapply to the licence again, or what would be her options as far as job areas she could work in Florida with the MLS certification only.

Any thoughts would be very appreciated. Thank you in advance!!

Hello everyone,

I am trying to help a friend. She is trying to get the Florida license but she is having trouble to get her training experience approved. Her clinical rotation was 4 months, which was not a problem for the ASCP certification. This is what they say regarding the training/experience. 

"Training/Experience: Clinical laboratory training program, or Three (3) years pertinent clinical laboratory experience with a minimum of 6 months in each specialty for which licensure is sought."

From my understanding the "minimum of 6 months in each specialty" referes to work experience, and not for a training program as it can varies from different labs I guess. So I do not know if she is missing something on her training form as the florida agency does not say what it wrong or missing that is not acceptable. This is what they said:

"Your clinical training program is not currently approved by the State of Florida. As a result, your file will need to be forwarded to the Credential

Board for further review. We will notify you once the evaluation is complete or if additional documentation is required."

If anyone has experience which a similar case it would be very helpful.

I would like also to ask if in the last case she is not able to get the Florida license, is there hospital labs that would hire her and when she completes the 3 years experience she could reapply to the licence again, or what would be her options as far as job areas she could work in Florida with the MLS certification only.

Any thoughts would be very appreciated. Thank you in advance!!

Hi Lumar:

I served for 10 years (2002 - 2012) on the Florida Board of Clinical Laboratory Personnel (BCLP), and for 2 years as its Chair. The BCLP licenses clinical laboratory personnel and medical technology training programs. To satisfy the experience/training requirement for a license, an applicant must have completed a BCLP-licensed training program or document relevant experience. For the latter, I don't recall that 3 years of experience was required, but that may have changed since I served on the Board. By law, all personnel who perform testing in a clinical laboratory in Florida are required to have a valid license as a medical laboratory technician, technologist, supervisor, or director (technicians can only perform testing under the direct supervision of a licensed technologist, supervisor, or director). There was always a "Catch-22" in the experience requirement, because it couldn't be obtained in a Florida laboratory since you can't work in a Florida clinical laboratory without a license. You essentially had to get the experience outside of Florida. The requirement had the effect of mostly limiting the Board to licensing applicants who had completed a BCLP-licensed training program, although we did get a fair number of applicants who had worked in other states and were moving to Florida.

------------------------------
Roger L. Bertholf, PhD
Medical Director of Clinical Chemistry
Houston Methodist Hospital
Professor of Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Weill Cornell Medicine

Original Message:
Sent: 10-23-2025 03:33
From: Lumar Alves
Subject: Florida License

Hello everyone,

I am trying to help a friend. She is trying to get the Florida license but she is having trouble to get her training experience approved. Her clinical rotation was 4 months, which was not a problem for the ASCP certification. This is what they say regarding the training/experience. 

"Training/Experience: Clinical laboratory training program, or Three (3) years pertinent clinical laboratory experience with a minimum of 6 months in each specialty for which licensure is sought."

From my understanding the "minimum of 6 months in each specialty" referes to work experience, and not for a training program as it can varies from different labs I guess. So I do not know if she is missing something on her training form as the florida agency does not say what it wrong or missing that is not acceptable. This is what they said:

"Your clinical training program is not currently approved by the State of Florida. As a result, your file will need to be forwarded to the Credential

Board for further review. We will notify you once the evaluation is complete or if additional documentation is required."

If anyone has experience which a similar case it would be very helpful.

I would like also to ask if in the last case she is not able to get the Florida license, is there hospital labs that would hire her and when she completes the 3 years experience she could reapply to the licence again, or what would be her options as far as job areas she could work in Florida with the MLS certification only.

Any thoughts would be very appreciated. Thank you in advance!!

------------------------------
Lumar Alves Technologist/Scientist, non-supervisor (CT,MLS,MT)
Galisteo NM
(505)551-4135
------------------------------

Hello everyone,

I am trying to help a friend. She is trying to get the Florida license but she is having trouble to get her training experience approved. Her clinical rotation was 4 months, which was not a problem for the ASCP certification. This is what they say regarding the training/experience. 

"Training/Experience: Clinical laboratory training program, or Three (3) years pertinent clinical laboratory experience with a minimum of 6 months in each specialty for which licensure is sought."

From my understanding the "minimum of 6 months in each specialty" referes to work experience, and not for a training program as it can varies from different labs I guess. So I do not know if she is missing something on her training form as the florida agency does not say what it wrong or missing that is not acceptable. This is what they said:

"Your clinical training program is not currently approved by the State of Florida. As a result, your file will need to be forwarded to the Credential

Board for further review. We will notify you once the evaluation is complete or if additional documentation is required."

If anyone has experience which a similar case it would be very helpful.

I would like also to ask if in the last case she is not able to get the Florida license, is there hospital labs that would hire her and when she completes the 3 years experience she could reapply to the licence again, or what would be her options as far as job areas she could work in Florida with the MLS certification only.

Any thoughts would be very appreciated. Thank you in advance!!

I graduated as MLT program last Dec 2024 . When I applied state license  application basically I put time frame when started program until graduated date because I did all lab work with clinical assignments and last semester rotation with individuals hospital and within 4 weeks get license without any problem. You should do in MLS as same time frame as well.

Hello everyone,

I am trying to help a friend. She is trying to get the Florida license but she is having trouble to get her training experience approved. Her clinical rotation was 4 months, which was not a problem for the ASCP certification. This is what they say regarding the training/experience. 

"Training/Experience: Clinical laboratory training program, or Three (3) years pertinent clinical laboratory experience with a minimum of 6 months in each specialty for which licensure is sought."

From my understanding the "minimum of 6 months in each specialty" referes to work experience, and not for a training program as it can varies from different labs I guess. So I do not know if she is missing something on her training form as the florida agency does not say what it wrong or missing that is not acceptable. This is what they said:

"Your clinical training program is not currently approved by the State of Florida. As a result, your file will need to be forwarded to the Credential

Board for further review. We will notify you once the evaluation is complete or if additional documentation is required."

If anyone has experience which a similar case it would be very helpful.

I would like also to ask if in the last case she is not able to get the Florida license, is there hospital labs that would hire her and when she completes the 3 years experience she could reapply to the licence again, or what would be her options as far as job areas she could work in Florida with the MLS certification only.

Any thoughts would be very appreciated. Thank you in advance!!