Medical Technologist and Medical Laboratory Technician Careers

You see them pass by as you wait your turn with the other patients, bearing test tubes of blood and plastic containers of urine back to their labs, which are off-limits to the public. You encounter them when you finally sit down in the chair, and have your blood drawn. However, you may not even be aware that they are the invaluable medical laboratory technicians and technologists.

Indeed, a clinical laboratory technician is not as well-known in the caduceus-bearing profession as say, an oncologist or a surgeon, but he or she is just as important, as are the medical laboratory technologists who usually supervise the lab and undertake the more complex tests. Without medical laboratory science specialists like them and the clinical laboratory program they run, accurate disease diagnoses would be difficult, if not impossible.

A medical technologist career often begins with a four- or five-year major in Medical Technology (Clinical Laboratory Science) in a medical technologist school. The beginning of the curriculum is spent mostly in classrooms; later on the student moves on to stints in hospitals or laboratories. The actual duration of class and lab work can vary from 3 years in class to 1 in the field, to 2+2, or 4+1. If the medical technologist earns a life science degree, he or she will need to get additional medical technologist certification by attending an accredited training program.

The NAACLS (National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences) is responsible for accrediting the myriad programs for technologists and technicians of every stripe and specialization as well as programs dealing with clinical assisting and phlebotomy. Other agencies also accredit specific programs for workers in clinical laboratories, such as the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools and the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs. A medical technologist program at a reputable institution would usually have accreditation from any one of these agencies.

The job market for medical technologists and technicians is currently very good, as the profession is experiencing high demand and a shortage of new people. There are many more medical technologist and technician jobs than personnel available to fill them. So if you want to help people and live a fulfilling life by undertaking a laboratory technician or a medical technologist career, now's the time.