School and Career Surprises: Tips From People on the Job
Each comment from a medical technologist includes their career and school ratings.
Career: "I was surprised about the amount that I learned about the job of medical technologist after I finished college. The idea of customer service is not taught in school but you have many customers, such as doctors, nurses, patients and accreditation agencies that you have to keep satisfied. Also, I had to learn much about computerization, which was not really emphasized when I was in school."
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Career: "I got into the medical field because it is always changing and growing. By going into the medical field, you can almost assure that you will always have a job. I feel that I am helping people everyday, and it is something that I love."
+/-Best & Worst Things About This Career
As reported by people currently doing the job
"The best part of my job is that it is different every day. Because our laboratory is staffed by 6-7 techs every day, we all rotate to different work stations and operate different analyzers every day. We see new and exciting cases quite frequently. The worst part of my job is that it can be very stressful if it is a very busy day, or one of the analyzers is not working properly. It is very important on those days to stay organized and focused on the work at hand."
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"The hardest part has been keeping up with advancements. The lower reimbursement of health care cost at the federal level has affected the hospital laboratory. The expectation of higher productivity with decrease cost adds pressure to your position. The new technology helps offset some of the burdens. A flexible attitude and open mind is a must. The hospital provides for some continuing education but there is a lot of out of pocket expense for continuing education and accreditation."
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"The best part of my job is knowing that I am providing essential information to doctors so that they can correctly treat their patients. Seventy percent of decisions that doctors make are based on laboratory results. I have to know what I am doing. The worst part of my job is that it can be very stressful. Everyone wants their lab results immediately, especially in an emergency. You have to be able to work under pressure just as well as when it is calm."
+/-Tips for Succeeding in This Career
Helpful info from insiders
"In order to be a successful medical technologist, it is helpful to be good in math and science and to really like those subjects. It is also helpful to be organized and detail-oriented, to be able to see the subtle changes that indicate an analyzer is not working properly or that a patient blood sample may not have the correct results for the tests requested. You need to be able to work and communicate well with your co-workers in order to share information that may be vital to the testing they may be performing."
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"Do your best to keep up with the various areas of the clinical laboratory. The ability to relocate as an added benefit. We moved a lot in my early years while my husband was in school. Early on in my career, my selling point in my interviews was my specialization in one area of the laboratory. I had to re-familiarize myself with other areas of the laboratory when I moved. I had to work a little to re-familiarize myself. The benefit to that is that later in my career, my selling point in my resume would be the various areas and hats that I wore in the clinical laboratory."
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"It's important to understand the importance of the laboratory in a hospital setting. It's important to be able to be alert and pay attention to everything you are doing. I have often told friends that my main job description is following directions. I have to pay attention all of the time. The smallest detail is extremely important. It's also very important to keep up to date with the most current technologies coming out and as they relate to the clinical laboratory as well as what tests are most important to physicians."
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