Medical Technologist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Medical Technologist (MT) is an Allied Health Professional who does clinical laboratory diagnostic analysis on human blood, urine, body fluids, and other specimens such as stool and sputum, in addition to performing other types of medical testing. A Medical Technologist can also be referred to as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist (CLS), Clinical Laboratory Technologist (CLT), or Medical Laboratory Technologist (MT), not to be confused with a Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT). Medical Technologists must hold a four-year bachelor's degree with a major in Medical Technology (Clinical Laboratory Science) or a four-year degree in a life science, in which case certification from an accredited training program is also required.
[edit] The Medical Technologist's Role in the Healthcare Process
An MT analyzes patient specimens and also interacts with other healthcare professionals such as nurses. Often, the MT's role is to strictly enforce rules, regulations, policy, and guidelines. However, all of these policies are designed as redundant fail-safe systems to protect the patient's health. Some examples are reading aloud patients' names, medical record numbers, or birthdates to ensure patient identification.
[edit] Nomenclature: Medical Technologist (MT) vs Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT)
One source of confusion regarding the role of the MT is the abundance of titles given to people in this profession. Besides being called Clinical Lab Scientist, Clinical Lab Technologist, and Medical Technologist, they are also referred to as "Lab Techs" or "Med Techs." This shorthand term has been deemed appropriate and acceptable by all healthcare employees, including Medical Technologists. However, the term Med Tech is the major contributing factor to much confusion in the medical field. There are many "Techs" in a hospital environment, including Pharmacy Techs, Respiratory Techs, and X-ray Techs. In these instances "tech" usually refers to a technician. There is a major distinction between a technician and a technologist. A technician generally holds a two-year associate's degree, has completed a certified training program, or less. A technologist holds a four-year university degree and has been certified by a national credentialing agency. In the laboratory medicine field of healthcare, the Medical Laboratory Technician or MLT is a career in which one has completed an associate's degree program. Generally, a Medical Technologist is called a Med Tech, and a Medical Laboratory Technician is called an MLT.
[edit] The Organization of the Clinical Laboratory
An MT falls into the following hierarchy of the clinical laboratory. From highest authority to lowest, the scale is: Pathologist, Pathologist Assistant, Laboratory Manager, Department Supervisor, Chief Technologist (Lead Technologist), Cytotechnologist, Medical Technologist, Histotechnologist, Medical Laboratory Technician, Lab Assistant (Lab Aide), Phlebotomist, Transcriptionist, and Specimen Processor (secretary).
[edit] The Med Tech's Place in the Hospital
The face of the lab is the phlebotomist. Responsibilities for a phlebotomist include entering a patient's room, waking the patient from sleep, identifying the patient, explaining the procedure to the patient, sticking a needle in their arm, collecting the blood properly, labeling the specimen properly, bandaging the patient, ending the conversation with the patient, and moving on to the next patient. However, only a few months of training are required for the phlebotomist to be certified.
[edit] Med Tech Specialty Areas
An MT can become specialized in a specific area of the clinical lab through additional education in a specific subject area. Most MT's are skilled in all areas of the lab and are referred to as Generalists. The areas of specialty are microbiology, immunohematology (blood bank), immunology, hematology, urinalysis, coagulation, clinical chemistry, toxicology, virology, cytology, and cytogenetics.
[edit] Common Tests Performed by Med Techs
Common tests performed by MT's are complete blood count (CBC), liver function test (LFT), prothrombin time (PT/INR), and activated partial thromboplastin time (PTT or APTT).
[edit] The Med Tech Shortage
Currently, the United States is experiencing a labor shortage for MT's as well as virtually all other healthcare positions. Student enrollment in MT programs is steadily declining.[citation needed] Many universities cut budgets for Clinical Lab Science programs, or closed them altogether.[citation needed]
The primary reason for this decline is the vast disparity in salary, as compared to other healthcare workers. A typical Med Tech's salary will be only 50 to 70 percent that of a Registered Nurse, depending on geographical location. For instance, in Washington, D.C., the median MT salary is $37,378 compared to $67,695 for a RN (this assumes equal levels of experience). [source: http://www.salaryexpert.com/]
[edit] Education and State Licensing
Approximately 15 states require a state license for Med Techs to be lawfully employed. Some of these states are Hawaii, California, Florida, Nevada, and Louisiana. These licenses generally involve filling out paperwork, paying the state a $100 fee, and showing proof of certification by a national accrediting agency. Only California requires passing a state administered examination. National certification as well as state licensure require annual continuing education credits.
In most four year degree programs the student attends classroom based courses for 3 years and spend 1 year doing clinical rotations through the different disciplines of the lab in a hospital. This consists of hands on diagnostic testing under the supervision of hospital employees. The student works 40 hours a week for 20 to 26 weeks without pay. This would be considered a 3+1 program. There are also 2+2 programs.
[edit] Job Duties
A Med Tech monitors, screens, interprets, trouble shoots, and ensures the numerical value results are clinically significant and useful to the diagnostician who bases patient treatment decisions on these lab results.
There is often more than one way to measure an analyte such as glucose or potassium. The Med Tech may have to choose a specific methodology based on the patient's diagnosis to avoid interfering substances that may affect one method but not another. Any test can produce false positives or false negatives.
The Med Tech must also discern when a specimen has been contaminated or has been collected improperly. Blood can be drawn too near an IV line in a patient's arm and the specimen may be contaminated with IV fluid. Some specimens must be placed on ice while in transit to the lab, while others must maintain body temperature. The Med Tech must recognize any and all possible processes that might introduce error into the final result.
Also, specimens can be mislabeled with the wrong patients name. A Med Tech must try and catch these mistakes before lab results are reported for the wrong patient
[edit] Position Title and Abbreviations
Medical Technologists are entitled to use the credential "MT" after their names, similar to MD for Medical Doctor and RN for Registered Nurse. Those certified by the American Society for Clinical Pathology may use "MT(ASCP)". Additional certifications may also be used, such as the "SBB" (Specialist in Blood Banking) certification from the American Association of Blood Banks-accredited programs, or "H" (Hematology) or "BB" (Blood Banking). These can be appended to the credential, for example, "MT(ASCP)SBB".
In the United States, the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments define the level of qualification required to perform tests of various complexity. A medical technologist holds the highest such qualification, and is in general qualified to perform the most complex clinical testing, such as HLA testing (tissue-typing) and blood type reference testing.
[edit] External links
- U.S. Department of Labor information on Clinical Laboratory Technologists and Technicians
- American Society of Clinical Pathology's Medical Technologist career page
- American Society of Clinical Laboratory Science
- Quest Diagnostics
- LabCorps
- Beckman Coulter
- Diagnostic Laboratory Services, Inc
- Olympus
- Sysmex
- Abbott
- Bayer
- National Credentialing Agency for Laboratory Personnel
- Advance Magazine
- Laboratory Medicine Magazine
- American Association of Blood Banks
- College of American Pathologists
- National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Science
- Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
[edit] References
1. http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/documents/health/labscam.html
