Medical laboratory jobs are divided into two types: technologists and technicians. Technologists manage labs, operate equipment, and interpret results, while technicians collect and analyze samples. Technicians can specialize in areas like microbiology or genetics, and may have different responsibilities than technologists. Pathologists oversee all lab work and interpret results. There are opportunities for advancement and specialization in this field.
Medical laboratory jobs are generally divided into two main types. A medical laboratory technologist, a job that usually requires a bachelor’s degree, often serves as a laboratory manager, which requires operating sophisticated medical equipment, supervising other laboratory personnel, and interpreting laboratory results. The other type of medical lab job is the medical lab technician. This position usually requires completion of a certificate program or associate’s degree. A technician works in a remote lab or facility alongside the technologist, collecting samples and analyzing them.
Medical lab technician jobs in small labs can require working on all types of samples, depending on the workflow. Larger labs often assign their technologists and technicians to specialized areas where they perform the same type of work over and over again. this allows employees to gain a great deal of experience with a specific device or test.
For example, some medical lab technician jobs will be based in the field of microbiology. A typical workday can be spent preparing samples of tissue and body fluids and analyzing them for the presence of microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi. Other lab technicians may specialize in genetic testing of blood samples, while others prepare and analyze routine blood tests for cell counts and cholesterol levels.
Medical lab technician jobs can be further divided. Technicians may be restricted to preparing samples and slides, while technologists have the responsibility of examining them and interpreting the results. In some medical laboratories, technicians and technologists can perform exactly the same functions, while in other laboratories the tasks vary according to the more advanced procedures reserved for technologists.
Medical laboratory technicians and technicians can narrow their careers into subspecialties. For example, a lab technician who takes blood samples is known as a phlebotomist. This person may be employed at a hospital, blood bank or plasma center or travel to nursing homes to collect blood samples. Other medical laboratory technician jobs specialize in obtaining tissue samples and are known as histotechnicians.
Presiding over all these medical laboratory technician jobs is the physician in charge of the laboratory, known as a pathologist. Ultimately, it is your responsibility to sign the interpretation of laboratory results. Medical laboratory technician jobs have the potential to offer a variety of working conditions and roles over the course of a career. There is potential to advance in complex specialized areas. There are also job opportunities in a variety of clinical settings, including small hospital laboratories, where the technician is responsible for the entire process of taking a patient’s sample, preparing it, analyzing it, and communicating the results to the physician.
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