Any regrets about going into Clinical Lab Science (Medical Technology) is this a good career choice?
Saturday, March 6th, 2010I just changed my Major and Im trying to decide if this is what I really want to do.
As a lab director I have been in this field for 42 years. So I might be a little biased. Yes it is an excellent field. I see great things happening in medical technology. A few statistics there are 60% fewer tech schools than in 1983. there are 70% fewer technologists coming out of those schools. So we are continually looking and recruiting trying to bring in the best talent. The average age of an M.T. in this field is 52. So this information makes technologists more sought after than ever in our history. It is not an easy degree, I look for people that are customer service oriented (people do have a choice what hospital they go to), the technical stuff is very important but I can teach you how to push the green start button on the chemistry analyzer harder to teach you to smile. Also with the less number of people coming into this field the director must work harder to look for alternatives. One such alternative is automation. Laboratories in order to survive in this environment must be able to do more with less. So you will become familiar with several new automated instruments and auto verification. Even blood bank is going the way of automation. it is a great time to be in this exciting field.
Good luck whatever you decide
It’s a good portable career – get the ASCP registry and most states don’t have another licensing exam. The pay is adequate.
It can occasionally go all high stress, like the night a lightning strike blew out most of our circuits and melted some equipment, or when theres a major accident and you are in blood bank, but it’s mostly routine work.
Fun if you like medicine but don’t want the patient contact of nursing. (but you get to test what the nurses collect in the bedpans)
You need some mechanical and computer skills too.
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I was one
As a lab director I have been in this field for 42 years. So I might be a little biased. Yes it is an excellent field. I see great things happening in medical technology. A few statistics there are 60% fewer tech schools than in 1983. there are 70% fewer technologists coming out of those schools. So we are continually looking and recruiting trying to bring in the best talent. The average age of an M.T. in this field is 52. So this information makes technologists more sought after than ever in our history. It is not an easy degree, I look for people that are customer service oriented (people do have a choice what hospital they go to), the technical stuff is very important but I can teach you how to push the green start button on the chemistry analyzer harder to teach you to smile. Also with the less number of people coming into this field the director must work harder to look for alternatives. One such alternative is automation. Laboratories in order to survive in this environment must be able to do more with less. So you will become familiar with several new automated instruments and auto verification. Even blood bank is going the way of automation. it is a great time to be in this exciting field.
Good luck whatever you decide
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Lab Director
It is definately an excellent field to go into with the rising demand and low supply of clinical laboratorians. Medical technologists are employed in a wide variety of settings and specialize in a number of disciplines. Salaries, benefits, and schedule flexibility are improving as employers are looking for new ways to retain and recruit MTs. As with anything, there are always problems like the challenges that short-staffing and low availability of funds present. Regardless, Its a great field for anyone with a scientific mind who is not as comfortable with direct patient contact but looking to go into the medical field. Many departments within laboratories are becoming more automated, placing laboratorians in a more analytical role. Although, there are very challenging areas like blood bank and microbiology that because of the nature of the testing and subject matter, are not yet automatable and therefore are more "hands on."
All healhcare professionals are in high demand, but the laboratory workforce shortage is among the worst. Field analysts estimate that by 2012, the number of new MTs graduating will be approximately one-fifth of those needed to fill open positions. This is much worse than the shortage of physicians, nurses and pharmacists. This is mostly because the field isn’t or hasn’t been very visible for whatever reason. But for laboratorians that means not only job security but also being able to choose among numerous positions, almost giving us a carte blanche.
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Clinical Microbiologist, MT (ASCP)
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