just sharing

My daughter Lesley is a Licensed Medical Technologist http://www.ascp.org. She is also a Licensed Clinical Lab Scientist. I had no idea what a Medical Technologist was until she took up this major whilst attending NDSU. She has to do all the explanation …. It sounded so medical to me at that time ….. You need to be an intern for a year at whichever regional medical center you choose amongst the many list that NDSU has partnered with. Lesley has chosen the nearest and close to home and that is in Fargo ND itself ~ Merit Care Medical Center.

As I said, I do not know much about the Medical Technologist profession. As I hear it, its a tough and a messy job with minimal pay! A wilki definition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_technologist. A medical technologist (MT) is a healthcare professional who performs diagnostic analytic tests on human body fluids such as blood, urine, sputum, stool, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), peritoneal fluid, pericardial fluid, and synovial fluid, as well as other specimens. Medical technologists work in clinical laboratories at hospitals, doctor’s offices, reference labs, and within the biotechnology industry.

A medical technologist typically earns a bachelor’s degree in Medical Technology (Clinical Laboratory Science) or in a life science, in which case certification from an accredited training program is also required. Medical technologists who are certified by and remain in good standing with the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) http://www.ascp.org/MainMenu/laboratoryprofessionals.aspx are entitled to use the credential “MT” after their names. If credentialed by the National Credentialing Agency for Laboratory Personnel http://www.nca-info.org the credential “CLS” (Clinical Laboratory Scientist) may be used.

Formally, there is a distinction between a technician and a technologist. Technicians generally have no more than a two-year associates degree, and may have less training. A medical laboratory technician (MLT) has an associates degree and can be certified or registered by one or more nationally-recognized professional organizations, however, they may not be certified to perform tests of high complexity. A medical technologist (MT) has a baccalaureate degree, and can be certified or registered by one or more nationally-recognized professional organizations. Regardless of formal definitions, a medical technologist is usually called a med tech and a medical laboratory technician is called an MLT.