MLS REGISTRATION AND APC INFORMATION For BMLSc Students/Recent BMLSc Graduates

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1 MLS REGISTRATION AND APC INFORMATION For BMLSc Students/Recent BMLSc Graduates INTRODUCTION This document is a brief guide for BMLSc Students or recent BMLSc Graduates who are looking to work as a MLS. There are a few formalities which are required once graduation has finished before you can practise as a MLS. The overall process can be confusing. This guide aims to cover some of the tricky aspects for each of the formalities. Before your MLS employment begins, you must be: Registered as a MLS with MSC Enrolled in a CPD Program Hold a current APC It is recommended that these be done as soon as possible after you have been offered employment because the process can be time consuming. Please note, you can t be registered until you graduate Don t stress! DISCLAIMER: This has been written to the best of my knowledge, however please be cautious of misinformation. This is not an official MSC document and has no relation to MSC. This document is meant to be a guide only, please refer to the specific links indicated for more information. TERMINOLOGY APC =Annual Practising Certificate CPD =Continuing Professional Development BMLSc =Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Science MLS =Medical Laboratory Scientist MLT =Medical Laboratory Technician MSC =The Medical Sciences Council (of New Zealand) Website: NZIMLS = The New Zealand Institute of Medical Laboratory Science Website: NZHSOA =The New Zealand Hospital Scientific Officers Association Website: APACE =Professional Acknowledgement Continuing Education Program

2 o AIMS =The Australian Institute of Medical Scientists Australian Website: o AACB =The Australian Association of Clinical Biochemists Website: REGISTRATION For more information on registration, please visit: to- apply- for- registration Registration is the first requirement to being employed as a MLS. This can be done as soon as you graduate and it is recommended to apply between December of the year you graduate and the following March because a time limited APC will be issued free of charge when you apply for your APC. The MSC maintains a register of all practitioners (including MLS, MLT, Anaesthetic Technician) which is available for the public and employers. This can be found at: register. Once you have been registered, your name will also be found within the register. Registration with MSC is a one- off process; once you have registered, you will remain on the register unless you request to be removed or are removed as ordered by MSC. MSC conducts on- going reviews of the register, and contacts practitioners who have not held an APC for 5 consecutive years to confirm if they wish to remain on the register. The registration process is available online at The process starts by gathering personal details for creating a MSC account. This is used to log in for viewing receipts and documents. The process continues by true/false statements declaring fitness to practice and then filling out qualification details. Under invoices/documents of your MSC account you should find a coversheet for registration. You will need to send this along with all the required documents to the address located on the coversheet. Required Documents: A certified copy of your qualification. A photocopy may be certified as a true copy by a solicitor, Notary Public, Justice of the Peace, or an Officer of the Court. Two Certificates of Good Character (one professional and one personal) that have been completed by persons unrelated to you. (This can also be found under invoices/documents ) o It may be a good idea to ask your 4 th year placement supervisor to fill out the Professional Certificate of Good Character. Evidence of name change if applicable A police certificate that is no more than three months old. (Found at: records/forms/request- by- individual.pdf ) o Note: This takes approximately a month to obtain (including postage).

3 Your application must be accompanied with the registration fee payment of $230.00, you can make payment online when you complete the online application. You can also pay later under invoices/documents, however, your application will not be processed until all the required documents and the fee has been paid. You may not get any confirmation via . Your application will be processed within 5 working days and you can expect to receive confirmation of registration (i.e. your registration certificate and a handbook) in the mail within 10 working days from the day your application was received by the Council. There will also be a little bit more information about what to do next. You will need to reply (postage or ) to accept a supervision period. ENROLLING FOR A CPD PROGRAM For more information on CPD Programs, please visit: cpd- programmes You will need to enrol in a CPD Program to continue your APC application and to recertify your APC throughout your career. CPD Programs are important to develop and maintain professional competence through continually upgrading your skills and knowledge. The MSC has approved 3 providers of CPD Program. These are: NZIMLS, NZHSOA and AIMS;APACE. (See pg1 for the respective websites.) It is your responsibility to record your CPD (particularly for auditing purposes). This can be done through your CPD Program Provider. You must meet the minimum CPD Program requirements to recertify your APC. Each CPD Program will have different minimum requirements as set by MSC and their provider. For example, NZIMLS and NZHSOA will require 300 CPD Credits over 3 years and AIMS;APACE will require 100 CPD Credits over 2 years. While in New Zealand, your CPD Program Provider is likely to be NZIMLS. However, it may be wise to ask your employer as to which CPD Program you should join. This guide will predominantly be discussing the NZIMLS CPD Program. NZIMLS To enrol in the NZIMLS CPD Program, you will need to goto the NZIMLS website and click on Join the NZIMLS button. You will need to fill out your personal details and membership selection as well as pay $ When filling out the personal details section, you should be able to leave the MLSB number blank. In regards to membership selection, you will need to select Full Member & CPD enrolment (NZD ). You will also have to write the name of a current member on NZIMLS who will nominate you to join.

4 Don t stress if you don t get an straight away, NZIMLS will you to confirm payment. An NZIMLS Membership Pack, GST Receipt and Pin for the website will be mailed to the laboratory address you will be employed at as this is the only address you will have had supplied. Alternatively, you can NZIMLS to request your mail to be delivered to a private address. APACE MSC mentions the term AIMS;APACE. APACE is the name of the CPD Program and AIMS is the provider. However, there are other providers of APACE, including AACB. The top overall student in 3 rd and 4 th year Chemical Pathology, at the University of Otago, will be awarded with an AACB Chemical Pathology Prize which includes a 12 month AACB membership. APPLYING FOR APC Obtaining an APC is the final requirement to being employed as a MLS. Unlike Registration, where you can apply at any time; you must apply for your APC and start practising within 5 years of your registration. An APC, as the name suggests, needs to be recertified annually (see Enrolling for a CPD Program pg3). All APCs is valid for a maximum for 12 months between 1 st April of one year and 31 st March of the next year. An issue that arises with this, is that if your employment starts in January, you will need to apply for an APC in January as well as in March. Fortunately, as a graduate, if you successfully apply for registration between December of the year that you complete your BMLSc requirements and March of the following year, a time limited APC will be issued free of charge when you apply for your APC. This means your APC will be valid from the time that you obtain it (between Dec- March), until 31 st March. If your registration is complete after March of the following year that you graduate, you will need to pay a fee of $175 for your APC. So it is a good idea to register as soon as you graduate. The APC application process is available online at You will need to log into your profile and click Apply for APC under the profile tab. The process starts by selecting the APC period you want to apply for and then the scope. A scope is whether you are practising as a MLT, MLS or Anaesthetic Technician, obviously, you would select MLS and this should be the only option. The process continues by confirming your personal details. The process will then ask you which CPD program you are enrolled in and if you have met all the requirements. You are likely to select NZIMLS, if this is what you enrolled in previously. You are also likely to select no to meeting all the requirements because the majority of you would have just applied for a CPD Program. An explanation box will appear

5 and you could write something along the lines of 20XX BMLSc Graduate. Applying for Interim Practising Certificate. Recently applied for [CPD Program] in XX/XX/XX. The process continues to true/false statements declaring along the lines of: You have no current criminal convictions and/or criminal charges pending You have practiced in your scope within the last 3 years o Select true because you have done placement You are fit and competent to practise You believe there is no reason for MSC to not issue you an APC You understand the fee is non- refundable o As mentioned earlier, there is no fee for successful registration between Dec- Mar. This will be mentioned after you have submitted your application. Everything is true to your knowledge If a fee needs to be paid, follow the payment prompts, or go to your invoices/documents tab in your profile. You should get a confirmation within 24hours. With your registration mail, you will also get a letter, asking you to send evidence of employment and the name of your supervisor. An example of evidence of employment may be your contract or proposal letter. If you have your supervisor s card, it will also be good to send it. You can send these by postage or (the MSC addresses are at the bottom of the registration letter). FINAL WORDS The hard part is waiting for everything to be posted and confirmed. After these 3 steps, hopefully, you will be ready to start your 6 month supervision period to be fully competent and certified. After your minimum 6 month supervision period has finished, you will need to get your supervisor to complete a Certification of Competence form and send it to MSC. This form can be found online in the following address: of- Competence- Form3.pdf Please read everything clearly and visit the MSC website for more details. Good luck everyone for your future employment! =) Suzanne Kwok Jan 2015