What Does a Medical Laboratory Technician Do?

Summary: If you love the science and technology that goes along with the medical field but don’t look forward to interacting with patients on a daily basis, then this may be the career for you.

A medical laboratory technician is a great career choice to pursue. These qualified professionals are the majority workers of the 300,000 medical laboratory professionals in the United States. Their basic job duty is to search for basic signs through the presence, absence, extent for the cause of disease. They perform tests in a laboratory with efficiency and accuracy to provide high-quality care for patients.

Often, a technician works under the supervision of a medical technologist in a laboratory. Technicians work with the laboratory equipment to prepare and examine slides and specimens of blood, tissue, and other cells. They are to assist the technologists by helping them identify abnormalities in the samples for things like bacteria, malignancies, genetic abnormalities, or parasites. They can also help with routine blood tests and blood-typing.

To be a technician, you need to gain a solid science foundation in high school and through an associate’s degree. The two-year associate’s degree can be done at a community college, university, technical, or vocational school. Someone wanting to be a technician will then complete a training program. If you obtain a bachelor’s degree, you can work your way to becoming a medical technologist.

The average salary is around $32,000 with the top 10 percent making $50,000. The higher pay can be found in hospitals and universities. Lower pay comes from smaller medical offices, clinics, and laboratories. The average salary for a medical technologist is $55,000.

A technician does not need to have excellent people skills as they spend most of their time alone. They do not regularly interact with patients so the development and growth of interpersonal skills or interaction isn’t required like in other medical jobs.

Photo: smc.edu