Job Responsibilities
My job as a med. tech involves high and moderate complex lab
testing. I begin each day bringing up the machines needed to run
the specimens. (This includes the hematology analyzer,
coagualation analyzer and urinalysis machine.) Eventually, soon I
will be trained on bringing up the chemistry machine. This
involves running controls on each machine and making sure they are
in the appropriate ranges before patients are run. This ensures
the machines are in good working order and will report results
accurately. I work in a veterinary diagnostic lab which is a
little different arena than what most med. techs work in. It
still is the same principles and testing just on different
patients! I am basically the hematology tech for this lab. I run
all the CBC samples and review the slides of all "abnormal"
samples. I also run coags and sometimes read the microscopics for
the urinalysis specimens.
Also, in my job I must review the QC data. This involves
reviewing all control results data and making sure they are within
acceptable limits using levey jennings charts. If you like
statisics this is a plus!
At the end of the day, the machines are turned off and then its
ready and waiting for another new day to arrive to do it all over
again!
|
Job Requirements
If you are interested in this type of job it is best to either
major in a BS in medical technology and then enter a 1 year
hospital internship, or if you already have an undergrad degree
(usually in biology, chemistry or even psychology) with the
appropriate amount of science credits you can apply directly to a
hospital program for the 1 year required internship.
You then must sit for a certifying exam or state license exam
(mostly just required for California and I think New York)
Certifying exams are not required but highly increase your chances
of getting hired and promote your eligibility as a succesful job
candidate.
If you are still in High school and choose this career path, make
sure to take chemistry and biology in college as well as calculus
or some college math course and appropriate general education
requirements. Its good to have a solid foundation in the sciences
when pursuing this career path.
You will learn alot about diagnostic principles as well as the
pathophysiology of various disease states. Basically an
introduction somewhat to what doctors know! So it is good to have
a good basis in the sciences especially biology and chemistry.
|
Uppers
I enjoy working on animal specimens. Especially reading the slides. Since I
work on different species each slide is distinct for a certiain species (dog,
cat, horses, llama) and you never know what to expect! I enjoy science and
knowing my work is indirectly helping others in the healthcare field. If you
enjoy solving mysteries and science (like being behind the scenes as in CSI or
what not) this may be the job for you! If you aren't interested in patient
contact then this may be the job for you!
|
Downers
Depending on which type of lab you work (hospital, reference,
governement or stat lab) can determine the level of stress. In a
reference and stat lab is a highly stressful environment. It
requires high volume workload, long hours and being on your feet
most of the day. A hospital lab may be more slower paced but very
detailed when it comes to labeling patient samples and such.
Ergonomically reading microscope slides 4 hours a day leads to
neck cramps, eye sores and headaches if you don't take breaks
enough.
If a machine breaks down on you, (which will be alot in this type
of job) you must spend additional time calling service to help
solve the problem and if you have to wait and can't fix the
problem on your own you are down one machine and have to run the
samples on another machine which will take longer and add
additional time to your day and slow it down.
Most people working in a lab are usually of type A personality
due to the stressful environment. Expect there to be alot of
tasks to be done not related to diagnostic testing. Capping
tubes, stocking reagents fixing printers!and such.
Other downers include various shifts. You most likely will have
to start off taking night shift (most reference labs do all the
work at night) evening shift or weekend hours. Days shifts are
hard to come by unless it is a big reference lab like Quest
Diagnostics that offer many shifts. Hospitals are hard to get day
shift unless u work in microbiology or started working there part
time etc. Most people with seriority want day shift. You may
even have rotating shifts, 12 hours shift, 10 hour shifts etc.
Which ever shift the employer desires.
Not much advancement in this field, the most you can advance is
either senior tech, cheif med tech, director or manager. Most of
these involve lots of managerial skills, and hardly any bench
work. If you like the diagnostic side its better to move into
other arenas, like research and development or sales.
|
Lifestyle
This type of job is very routine. You do the same thing day in and day out. The
only variation is that once in a while you will get an interesting case (usually
this will be in hematology, blood bank or micro) where you will see parasites,
different stuff on the blood film that you must let a pathologist see, or a
transfusion workup where the case is critical and may involve some type of
reaction. But usually this is only once or twice a week.
I usually work 8 hours monday through friday. I don't really do overtime and
don't work weekends. There are company dinners and a lab week where u can get
some gifts celebrating the profession.
Since 2004, ASCP requires continuing education. Expect to have to attend
seminars, read articles to keep up to date and current with your certification.
ASCP (the certifying agency) requires continuing education in order to keep your
license. So expect to always keep learning in this field! You may not have
homework but u will always learn something new or refresh your skills which is a
plus.
Being in this field will expose you to know all sorts of diseases and
conditions that doctors and nurses treat. But you will know the diagnostic sides
of it....that is also a plus.
This type of job although very stressful and long hours is good for people who
want to just be able to have a family life, not be consumed by their work and
just have a job. If you prefer you can even work on-call, part time and keep
your skills current. I know many working mothers that do this to be able to stay
home with the kids.
Most younger generations use this as a stepping stone to medical school.....If
you don't enjoy a routine job, and want more autonomy or want to learn more or
achieve more than this may not be a long term job for you.
|
Compensation
Average earnings for med techs seem to be around the upper
$30,000 to lower $40,000. I earn around average for a med tech.
The highest for med tech to earn can be around mid to upper
$50,000. If you work off shifts like evening or night shift and
overtime, there is potential to earn much more.
|
Advice to Jobseekers
Job outlook for this career is very good as many people are
retiring and/or switching jobs especially the baby boomers. You
won't have a problem finding jobs as there are many available now
and I'm sure into the future.
If you would like more on this type of job:
check out
www.bls.gov or www.ascp.org. they give a great detailed
description on what med techs do and also how to enter the field!
Good Luck!
|
|
