The Medical Technologist

What does a medical technologist do? medical laboratory technologists administer advanced tests - whether bacteriological, chemical, microscopic, or other types of tests. The medical technologists examine tissue samples and body fluids like blood and urine with the aid of tools like the microscope. They do this to shed light on the patient's medical condition.

Those who pursue a medical technologist career are also expected to know how to evaluate the test results they get from different types of tests that he himself or a clinical laboratory technician has administered. The tests medical technicians and technologists do vary according to their industry.

Medical technologists can perform a variety of tests and they can be as general or as specialized as their position and responsibilities demand. A medical technologist career also generally entails management or supervisory responsibilities; medical technologists usually manage the laboratory and supervise medical or clinical laboratory technicians.

A clinical laboratory technician is somebody who has finished a clinical laboratory program. He performs the more mundane or less sensitive procedures and tests. He may set up specimens and even perform automated procedures. If he does perform more complex tasks, he would generally do so under close scrutiny of his immediate supervisor - the medical lab technologist.

Coming from a good medical technologist school is a very big plus for those who eventually choose to become medical lab technologists. It is important, especially in the United States that those who attain a medical technologist certification must have fulfilled the curriculum requirements of a program that has been accredited by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences or the NAACLS.

However, a medical technologist certification is not always enough. It is still best to attain a Bachelor's Degree in medical laboratory science. If one has high aspirations in this field, he should enroll in a good school and fulfill the requirements of an intensive, 5-year medical technologist program.