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How to become a Medical Technologist or Medical Technician

Medical Technologist and Medical Technician are two important positions in medical laboratories. Medical technologists have higher levels of responsibility than medical technicians as a result of having advanced education and training.

Medical Technologist

Medical Technologists, also known as Clinical Laboratory Technologists in the allied health industry, are graduates of four-year college programs in medical technology. Medical technologists do qualitative and quantitative analyses of blood, urine, and other body fluids and tissue and perform the most high-level laboratory tasks and may become lab supervisors. A medical technologist's responsibilities include:

• Performing complex laboratory procedures
• Culturing body fluid and tissue samples to determine the presence of microorganisms
• Determining concentrations of components in body fluids
• Typing and matching blood for transfusions
• Maintaining laboratory instruments
• Running quality control programs
• Supervising medical technicians

Medical Technician or Clinical Laboratory Technician

Medical technicians usually have an associate degree or a certificate from a hospital, vocational or technical school, or the military. Medical technicians perform less complex tasks than medical technologists, including preparing specimens, running automated analyses, and performing other tests according to instructions.

Medical Technologist and Medical Technician Salary Ranges

Based on 2004 data, as a medical and clinical laboratory technologist you can expect to earn at least between $32,240 and up to more than $63,120 per year, with a median earning potential of $45,730 yearly.

As a medical and clinical laboraty technician, you can expect to earn between $20,410 and up to more than $45,680 per year, with a median earning potential of $30,840 yearly.