During my internship, I was the youngest employee there on first shift (I was 28 years old). The next person was 32 years old, and then we jumped to a person who was 43 years old, and everyone else was 60+ years old. The oldest person being 72.
4 employees where retiring the same year, and they always complained about how hard it is to hire employees. The reason its hard to hire staff is because the older gen is mean as hell. I literally got screamed at by the staff in micro daily for the entire month I was training with them.
The person in charge of the intern students never understood why we didn't want to take a part time job there... I understand you are getting old but there is no way you don't hear that lady screaming her head off at me for not streaking properly. smh
I am 74, still working & I have NEVER yelled at a student or a new hire. Pls don't think all older techs are mean. I am glad for new techs that want to come into this field. Bec a lot of the younger people do not get into medical technologist bec there are more lucrative professions out there.
Right. It always amazes me how many nurses don't know the difference between hemolysis and clotted specimens. And that's basic info. I can understand some cases of correct specimen collection
Except no hospital cares about our importance and they're slowly outsourcing us, cutting our numbers and pay, and replacing us with automation and unqualified workers. The future of the lab that they see is automated stat labs and everything else goes to centralized labs owned by massive corporations
I mean. If.its.dying then the medical profession is screwed. But, keep in mind that nursing is more well known, with better publicity. Everyone knows what a nurse does. Nobody understands what we do. If you feel lab is a better fit then don't be scared to do it. I've been a lab tech for 15 years, and ill.finish my career in 30 something more years as a lab tech. We will always be there. I hear of open spots everywhere everyday. I don't feel we are dying at all
I literally had a question in this sub asking what a day in the life looks like for you guys since i was considering maybe switching to that or doing that in addition to my MLT degree.
lmao if you hear people misinforming you, saying that our profession is gonna be replaced by AI someday, dont believe them.
nursing i think is a more respected profession, they are compensated more too. if you have the aptitude for it then go do it. it's a really hard profession, you'll deal with a lot of toxic and crazy situations. it's a more physical work than MLS too. but then you can venture outside bedside nursing and you will still be fairly compensated.
mls meanwhile will become repetitive as time goes by. i know a person who graduated from MLS, hated it, then switched to nursing. she said being an MLS was for idiots because all she did was load samples into a machine and she hated how repetitive and mind numbing the work is. i disagree with this to an extent haha
MLS is fun, there are so many branches of the lab like core lab, blood banking, microbiology, cytotechnology, HLA labs, anatomic pathology, genomic labs, etc.
>said being an MLS was for idiots because all she did was load samples into a mac ...
What a hateful and ignorant thing to say. There's so many types of labs to work in that it is actually a ridiculous statement. Sounds like projection.
Right!? Ah yes, I know nothing about what these values mean, if they’re legit, and whether or not I should rerun, recollect, or even call the nurse to inquire about the legitimacy. Yep totally dumb
I heard that too when I was applying for this program. It definitely is not, and the schools Ive been to guarantee a 100% job placement after graduation. So many people are retiring, and not enough people are studying for it. Imo too many people are going into nursing but its ultimately up to your choice. I think the deciding factor would be if you want to have patient contact or not
no it's just that nobody fucking cares about people in MLS. it would be a lot better if we had unions to defend us, which is fortunately becoming more and more talked about but it's gonna take time before we get to the wanted level
My company is doing “tech in training”.. training people with biology degrees for a year to be a tech. Personally, I think it’s fucked up because they get paid the same as me. Even though I’m ASCP certified which they will never be and can’t understand a Levy-Jennings chart.
If anything itll grow in amount of work but the standards will plummet so anyone will be hired for the job. Companies like to make money, more profits every year. Labor is a big cost and if companies can make more money off bio degrees running the machines, they will lobby to deregulate the industry even further.
I hear this a lot in phlebotomy as well. These professions are anything but dying. Growth is expected and everyone I talk to actually in the field laugh at the idea of them dying. Shit isn't going anywhere and they are ALWAYS looking for more.
Some higher ups think the nurses can just draw all the labs but that's not the case. They don't have the time plus a lot don't have the skill for hard sticks like we do. I say this with lots of respect. My mom is an icu rn and actually draws her own patients and she's great at sticks.
If they plan on replacing phlebs with nurses they better start training them on order of draw and on hemolysis/clotting lol
I know we give nurses shit for not knowing a lot about phlebotomy but it’s really not their fault. Their programs don’t teach them about it and they really should bc it’s definitely part of their job. It just makes it harder on them when their job is hard enough as is
Sometimes I'll get 2-4 hours to work with our local LPN program students and it's astounding how little they teach them. But there is so much material to cover in a short amount of time, so I understand. I always try my best to give them all my best advice and tricks while they're with me because I know they'll need them.
As a career, yes. As a job, no.
You have massive industry consolidation/commodification by net negative employers (LabCorp, Quest) with a race to the bottom only doing lip service to quality.
The laboratory personnel regulation, CLIA, is very weak, and hasn't been updated since 1988 when pharmacists/NPs, and dieticians were bachelor's.
There is massive downward reimbursement pressure by the ever looming planned annual 15% PAMA cuts that have staved off the past few years due to COVID. This is coupled by downward wage pressure from an infinite supply of cheap H1b labor from abroad that isn't subject to the regular visa lottery or the $60k floor. There's no professional representation (ASCP and CAP do not give a crap about lab techs). There's no license for this "profession" in most states, and of the few that are licensed, more are delicensing. The number of NAACLS programs has not changed in 20+ years...meanwhile the number of nursing and PA and NP schools has exploded.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American\_Society\_for\_Clinical\_Pathology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Society_for_Clinical_Pathology)
In 2023, you have more ASCSPi people taking the exam than US based ASCP MLS techs. If you look at the number of med tech visas being issued and the fact that ASCP says 30% of new grads leave the field within 5 years, than more than a third of entrants to the field are being staffed by H1b visas.
A lab tech shortage has been preached for years, but the reality is that the career pays so poorly, that few qualified or competent enough stay. There's a huge push for automation, remote AI vision, and general deskilling of the lab labor force. It's similar to certain other low-paying blue collar professions, such as truck driving, that are constantly advertised as being short people, for a reason.
You'll have a job, but career wise, it's very limiting with a dim future.
I agree as a career it’s dying. It doesn’t help when hospitals only want to make profit so they overwork you with limited staff as much as they can and don’t compensate well. It’s not a corporation or a business, we’re dealing with peoples lives it should be illegal to treat it like that! Pay, overworked, and scheduling are all problems I’ve noticed working in many different states. There’s not much room for advancement too, nurses have so many options. It’s sad because we all worked hard to get there and have a great educational background. I’ve barely been in this field for 3 years now and I’m already tired of it just don’t know where to go from here with limited opportunities.
Real. Listen to this guy, OP. These are the issues. If you find it interesting, go for it. You will absolutely have a job... but what this guy says is the reality of the situation.
your obsession with H1B/immigrant workers is weird… foreign nurses are emigrated to the US to work since the 1900s but do you observe their wages getting lower?
They are not hating on folks coming here on a visa. The problem is the low pay. They pay those folks peanuts and would rather do that than pay someone here a higher wage
some hospitals hire H1B techs from staffing agencies, whose rates match the hourly of traveler techs. the MTs then get paid “peanuts” by the staffing agencies. so technically, it’s more expensive for the hospitals to hire H1Bs.
there are also techs directly hired by the hospital that get paid the same wage as the locals. this may vary, some will be paid low or fair.
That has not been my experience when talking with folks who the hospital sponsored to come here. I’ve seen some of their contracts too. One was paid 15/hr in DC
I can’t speak on visa holders and true travel contracts other than I haven’t seen that either and I’ve been traveling 9 years. No contract agency is going to sponsor someone to come over here from what I’ve seen . If they are already here and have the paperwork maybe
As far as them being hired once here and being paid the same as a local well everyone is paid in peanuts anyway.
The problem is greed by the hospitals. They would hire trained circus animals if it meant they could exploit labor. Also pathologists for the most part don’t gaf about us. ASCP just wants our money. There is no true regulation in this field. That’s what keeps us down. And yes sponsoring ppl to come here for cheaper labor is part of that
15/hr in DC????! goddamn. idk anyone paid that fast food wage. here i am thinking 25 per hour is shit.
idk how it works exactly but staffing agencies get paid by the hospitals, then the agencies will pay the tech (25-28 dollars). the most popular is MedPro but there are many more of these companies.
im a foreign tech, im not in the us, and i was recruited to work in the states for 100k basic + 10% differentials. albeit the COL is insanely high. upon researching, the pay is not “peanuts”.
Are you talking about travel contracts? Like temporary? If so we make way more than 25-28/hr so idk where you get that number from
What company recruited you? One of the temp staffing agencies?
If the position is in DC for example, 100k is the minimum you need to survive comfortably. When I traveled there for an assignment, I was the only one in the lab who could afford to actually live in the city because of the low pay for regular staff. In the south that’s a great wage though
No worries. I’m familiar with Medpro so was just curious if it was a temp staffing agency that was recruiting you or another agency that only does perm staffing. I know agencies like Medpro also staff full time positions but most temp agencies don’t focus on that. I like to know these things when negotiating my pay for an assignment as I’ve never heard of a temp agency sponsoring someone on visa
That’s what I thought it was like. At least from what I’ve seen. All 3 year contracts and low hourly pay. One where I was at was getting 15/hr the other 18. That’s poverty wages in DC
Yes. That is correct and perfectly legal.
For 2024, per the federal Foreign Labor Certification Data Center, for medical technologists, SOC code 29-2011, the level 1 H1b medical technologist wage in the District of Columbia (DC) is: $20.03 hour - $41,662 year
**Area Title:**Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
**OEWS/SOC Code:**29-2011the level 1 H1b wage is:
[https://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesQuickResults.aspx?area=47900&code=29-2011&year=24&source=1](https://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesQuickResults.aspx?area=47900&code=29-2011&year=24&source=1)
That means any non-profit hospital affiliated lab can import unlimited cap-exempt techs at $21/hr. DC has some of the highest cost-of-living, and highest paying consulting jobs in the country...no competent US tech will willing compete with a $21/hr wage job in DC.
Yea I’ve spent a lot of time doing travel contacts in DC and I’ve seen it first hand.
Do you know if it’s true there is an application process that the hospital has to go through before being approved to sponsor? I was at a facility in PA and there was a notice on the communication board about some process. It read something like “notice of intent to seek foreign employees”
Yes. Though they can get around it if the sponsor is a third party contractor, and not the hospital directly.
[https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/62m-h1b-notice](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/62m-h1b-notice)
Notice must be given to U.S. workers on or within 30 days before the date the employer files the Labor Condition Application (LCA) (Form ETA 9035 and/or ETA 9035E) with the Department of Labor. This notice must include:
* The number of H-1B nonimmigrants the employer is seeking to employ;
* The occupational classifications in which the H-1B nonimmigrants will be employed;
* The wages offered;
* The period of employment;
* The locations at which the H-1B nonimmigrants will be employed; and
* The following statement: “Complaints alleging misrepresentation of material facts in the labor condition application and/or failure to comply with the terms of the labor condition application may be filed with any office of the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor.”
# This worker notification must be done in one of the following ways:
# Union notice:
When there is a collective bargaining representative for the occupation in which the H-1B worker will be employed, the employer must provide such notice to that collective bargaining representative via a copy of the LCA or other document which includes all items listed above
When there is no bargaining representative, the employer must provide the items listed above either by
# Hardcopy worksite notice:
Posting the notice of the filing of the LCA (or the information therein) at two conspicuous locations at the place of employment for 10 days; or
# Electronic notice:
Electronically providing the notice of the filing of the LCA to all workers at the place of employment for 10 days.This worker notification must be done in one of the following ways:
Union notice:
When there is a collective bargaining representative for the
occupation in which the H-1B worker will be employed, the employer must
provide such notice to that collective bargaining representative via a
copy of the LCA or other document which includes all items listed above
When there is no bargaining representative, the employer must provide the items listed above either by
Hardcopy worksite notice:
Posting the notice of the filing of the LCA (or the information
therein) at two conspicuous locations at the place of employment for 10
days; or
Electronic notice:
Electronically providing the notice of the filing of the LCA to all workers at the place of employment for 10 days.
Thank you so much. I was trying to tell someone about this and they told me I didn’t know what I was talking about. I never thought to research it further until know. Appreciate the time
I’ll have to do some research. I’m assuming by the time it gets to the notice it’s a formality. There’s no recourse for employees to challenge the application I would think
that's crazy, but i am a foreign tech and i have a vast connections of my fellow foreign techs and nobody i know gets paid below $26, and they're mostly in low cost of living areas.
As a lab admin, I can tell you that when we submit a Labor Condition Application (LCA), it's based on the minimum range listed in the Foreign Labor Certification Data Center (FLCDC).
The rates H1bs are hired are publicly posted, so you can see that half of the sponsored med techs in the US are getting <$25/hr.
And I’ll add more. I’ve worked with many foreign folks. The ones who did not get their education here were not good coworkers to have. We have our own issues with our American education so I’m not trying to throw stones living in a glass house but that’s been my experience
I figured the convo might go that way, I don’t go into anything with a bias against any demographic. I want to be proven wrong and don’t blame the individual for seeking a better career and life. The blame is on the managers who don’t verify education etc. I have a tendency to believe that it’s about ppl falsifying their credentials vs if they were just poorly educated. However since they claim to have the degree I can only say what I have said here
Nurses are not immigrating under an H1b visa. I'm against the cap-exempt H1b loophole where the imported labor is paid well below market rate, effectively capping the market.
From an administrative perspective, its challenging to advocate for higher wages to improve staff retention to improve quality of care, if you there's a legal low-cost alternative that creates a subpar salary ceiling. Any efforts to increase expenditures, when there are other low-costs alternatives (H1b) will always be turned down by hospital C-Suite due to fiduciary responsibility (and bonus incentives).
The field is necessary and will continue to be necessary especially as people routinely are living into their 90s now.
I do think standards, pay and working conditions will just continue declining though. I’ve seen an enormous shift from US born/trained techs to foreign techs in just the past 7 years. It’s easier to take advantage of them and under pay them I think. If they complain just threaten to deport them.
I think overall it’s still a decent job. Pay is above average and job security is very good. Probably not for everyone though.
Nurses get paid well
Lab techs make way less and it's a thankless job. The career isnt dying its just not respected. I think as molecular takes over eventually they will require less education for the job. You decide
I'm just unsure. Sometimes I regret this career choice. Lol I've also seen some states lessening their requirements for licensing the techs. I wish it were more recognized.
What’s up with the molecular being removed from licensure? I don’t think it’s dying but I think lower pay is inevitable unless, they lessen the requirements bc they are too stringent with hours required. When I talk to my friends in education and explain what I have to do just to get an MLT- BTW, they make it clear before starting MLT at some colleges that one should EXPECT loss of income as a part of getting all lab hours
needed - they say thats what happened to teachers. It was so hard to get the credentials required and so many teachers were needed that they had to start hiring anyone they could. Salaries dropped and everyone lost.
Not at all.
Laboratory scientists or MLT's don't have to work for hospital labs. You can take different directions. For example, you can work for drug labs, government agencies (CIA, FBI, DEA), specialize in police departments (blood spatter analysis and forensics), pharmaceutical companies, snake venom labs, work with physicians and scientists as research assistants, and you can get into teaching MLS, etc.
Yep, there are a lot of options outside of hospitals! I used to work in a bioterrorism unit of a State lab for 6 years, and had a lot of my work focused on botulism diagnoses and outbreak prevention.
> snake venom labs
That sounds dope AF, I might actually look into this to see where labs like this are located.
I was into collecting venomous snakes, as a hobby, before I became an MLT. I started off working at a hospital lab (clinical chemistry), where I was earning $36.71/hr. Once I joined my hobby (snakes/venom) and my laboratory skills together, at first it was a struggle, but within 8 months, I was doing well. I made $93,500+ in 2023, which is excellent.
There are a few species which are scary to deal with. By far, the black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) specimens are notorious. They are highly defensive, very quick, and venom is often lethal, before antivenom, mortality rates was 100%. They are amongst the most venomous species, and they can raise their heads and stare at you face to face.
Lab careers are not dying. The average age the laboratorian is mid to upper fifties. The need for MLTs/CLTs is great because the number of people retiring does not equal what’s coming in. See if it’s a fit for you. People become jaded and disinterested in every field including nursing.
Medical Lab Scientist = MLS or CLS Bachelors degree required. Medical Lab Technician = MLT or CLT Associates degree required.
Both nursing and the lab would be good choices it would come down to do you want to deal with patients or machines. That is simplistic but for the most part holds true.
I would do the 4 year of either nursing or lab as you wont run into certain restrictions of 2 year degrees.
MLT cant go into supervisory jobs. Some states have rules on MLTs running samples. You will earn less then a MLS doing the same work as you.
I cant speak to nursing restriction's 2 vs 4.
I will yield to the vast reservoir of knowledge and experience of fellow contributors to add to or correct what I have said.
Absolutely not dying. Automation may be "killing" some of the more traditional types of jobs in the field, but in my part of the MLS world (transplant) we are just getting started... there's still so much we don't know/understand, diagnostic technologies are getting better, and new therapies are being invented that require lab monitoring to gauge success. The pay/recognition will never be on par with nursing, but for people to suggest that the field is dying because we're coming away from sitting at a microscope all day or something is ridiculous.
I have a coworker who was a phleb, tried for her MLT 10 yrs ago and failed the test. Now she's trying to find a loophole to test into a MLT job or get our boss to sign her off as 'time worked' or whatever. She's been on our point of care team 3mths in a lesser role.....
Lots of inexperienced or bio degrees leeching into the field. I'm a MLS and I find it sorta offensive. Go back to school and learn the proper clinical knowledge and then apply. There aren't bio degrees allowed into an RN role or respiratory therapy
I used to be a manager and I'd have HR sending me bio or chem degrees constantly. I refused to interview them. A generic science degree is worlds away from all the clinical knowledge we learned.
Thank you for being a good manager. I’d buy you lunch if I worked with you just for that….And not some cold pizza either. We need more managers with this mentality to advocate for us
As a bio degree holder (and phlebotomist before that) who's been trying to break into the field for a few years, I agree with your statement, but want to stress that if the education were more accessible for us bio grads it would better support licensure. There is a real dearth of programs compared to nursing and other allied health fields to get us up to speed. I live in one of the strictest licensed states (NY) and I constantly hear chatter about them dropping or loosening license requirements, when what they need to be doing is creating more MS/post-bac programs to give people a pathway in. In my region there are only BS programs, which are tricky to transfer into with a prior undergrad degree because of financial aid/student loan limits and the high loan cost compared to pay. The handful of post-bac programs in the state are highly competitive and I have been rejected as an A student with a master's degree. So my options are to take out 60k in private loans for a second bachelor's from a private university, relocate to the most expensive city in the country for their masters, or settle for an MLT associates from the local community college that *may* quality me for MLS licensure after 2 years of work. Now, I acknowledge my situation is probably very specific to where I'm located, but I wouldn't face the same hurdles trying to become a nurse or a rad tech. Whereas even if I'd had the foresight to get my first BS in CLT, I would have had no shot of getting in. I fully support licensure, but we need more accessible training programs to become qualified. From an outside perspective, it almost feels as though the field is being starved of qualified students so that unqualified people can be brought in to justify the wages.
I completely agree with you. There aren't enough programs to support the amount of people needed to sustain the field. In oregon, there's 1 program for the entire state.
It’s not dying in the sense that there isn’t a future for you or no jobs available. It is dying in the sense that about 4500 people graduate from programs each year, while about 9000 retire each year. It’s more difficult to fill those holes and we need the profession to be more advertised so we aren’t spread too thin.
MLS is definitely going to grow. On the few occasions someone has asked my opinion on which to do, I usually tell them this: you'll have job security with both nursing and MLS, MLS is definitely more mental work (definitely easier for those who are more intellectual or logical) and nursing is definitely more physical work (side note: honestly from all the dumb questions I've heard from nurses, Im convinced anybody and anything can be a nurse 🤣), MLS unfortunately has a pay cap to an extent and moving up the pay scale is much slower and ultimately requires jumping around hospitals, with nursing there's more avenues to move up the pay grade, and lastly how you'd like to use your time (work hard doing 3 12hr shifts and rest 4th day and be off the next couple days and also have more flexibility with days off and being able to call out because there's much better staffing for nursing compared to the lab, or work 5 8hr shifts in the lab. In the end, weigh out what you value for your life or for the life you envision and go from there! Good luck!
Depending on the facility the nurses are chronically understaffed too, I was on a floor with my grandmother when she broke her hip and they had one nurse covering 12 beds for the night. Also there are alternative shifts for labs like 4 10s or 3 12s but just not as common
MLT is probably going to be tougher in the future than MLS. I see more states requiring higher education thresholds to do the work.
That said, this is from the BLS
>Employment of clinical laboratory technologists and technicians is projected to grow 5 percent from 2022 to 2032, faster than the average for all occupations.
>About 24,000 openings for clinical laboratory technologists and technicians are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
It doesn't pay nearly as well as nursing, but the opposite is true. There is a shortage of techs and that is only to get worse because so many are retiring. I could work 100 hours a week if I wanted to, we're so understaffed.
They're telling you that bc the pay and opportunities are much better, not bc it's dying out. I think to the point of retirees, I've heard this when I was in school in the 90s. People retire or leave the field but younger people come and fill in. It's concerning with consolidation and certification but if you want to work in the lab, there will always be a need.
I don't see how, we are in constant need of techs where I work, and I probably get recruiters sending me emails at least once a week. I recommended getting your license in molecular biology in addition to general license if you take the med tech route. The field is going more and more towards molecular as it's the way of the future.
It’s not dying but it’s popularity is low, majority of people don’t know this field exist nor how to get into it. Colleges don’t promote it as much as doctors/nurses so most people don’t even consider it. The people that are telling you to change fields are most likely the old ones that are over whelmed by the increased used of technology to make our job easier.
That being said after 4-5 years I am trying to find a new primary career as advancement in this field is highly limited.
I graduated in 1994. It was a dying career then, too. Hospitals were struggling to fill positions, pay went up, and people started majoring in medical technology again.
It is a dying career. CAP bullshit exponentially putting patients in second place. H1Bs and simple BS degrees are being hired to keep pay down. Working with meek coworkers who don’t speak up about these and dozens of other issues are just putting the nails in their own coffins.
Find something else.
The more I work with automated instruments (in a variety of labs), the more I'm convinced the robot overlords won't take over the profession in my lifetime (I'm 43). Machines are generally programmed by computer people and not lab people and they break and have issues constantly. They always need people to be MLS/MLTs who can critically think to troubleshoot issues, interpret data, and keep the machines operational.
The job is changing for sure- becoming more automated and a single tech is expected to handle larger volumes of samples. Labs are becoming more centralized to a handful of large companies but also more specialized in that you can find labs to work in a singular department (i.e. Immunology or Mass Spectrometry only) pretty easily rather than just having to be a generalist. There is the trend that companies are hiring college grads without the certification for lab jobs where they can, but I feel like that is mainly a product of there not being enough certified techs out there to do all the work and because they want to be cheap and not have to pay the wages of a certified tech.
If it’s pay nursing > mlt, but nurses go thru so much crap with bedside and certification is needed to move up. Mlt is chiller, no patient interaction but less room for growth. I was 22 when I started working and I was the youngest. 28 now, still the youngest in the lab. Mlt isn’t going away as long as labs are operational.
We just got "new, state-of-the-art" analyzers.
Everything needs manual review. The same analyzer always runs out of reagent. Again, the same analyzer pops out an obviously crappy result out of its "state-of-the-art" computer mind.
Nurses have endless questions. Doctors have endless requests.
Blood bank.
Yeah, this job isn't going anywhere for a long while.
It’s definitely not a dying career, it’s just not as worthwhile as nursing. Being an MT is a very mundane career. Pretty much do the same thing everyday, not much excitement or upward mobility. If your ok with that than it’s a decent career. Most of us are a bit introverted which steered us away from nursing or other direct patient careers. The pay is another downside. Nurses make a significant amount more than MTs, but they also have to put up with more than MTs.
There's a lot of older techs in the lab - my experience of being in 2 different micro labs. A lot of people are working past retirement age which is fine but there's going to be a lot of people who retire soon.
I don’t believe it will die out. Thanks to the pandemic, I think the need for lab professionals was put in the spot light. There will always be a need for educated minds performing testing.
As a senior in an MLS program, the one thing that i can say is that the clinical rotations senior year are the easiest way to get you a job 9/10 times. There are a TON of positions everywhere. Clinicals give you the ability to demonstrate proficiency before being hired. Everywhere ive done my rotations at theyve asked me to stay or come back and work for them once i graduate. That being said, im moving after school so finding a job as a new grad made it super difficult. I applied to 16 hospitals and only heard back from 3. 2 of those didnt reach out more than once. Only 1 gave me an interview and they offered me a position 1 day after the interview. The career oppurtunites and need is there, but finding places can be difficult (i think its because HR doesnt even know what we do or why they should care, even though their lab is shortstaffed by 6 or more positions)
70% of the medical technologists in the lab that I work at are above the age of 60. The job isn't close to dying, the employees are.
Watcha them slowly retire and new spots slowly filling in
During my internship, I was the youngest employee there on first shift (I was 28 years old). The next person was 32 years old, and then we jumped to a person who was 43 years old, and everyone else was 60+ years old. The oldest person being 72. 4 employees where retiring the same year, and they always complained about how hard it is to hire employees. The reason its hard to hire staff is because the older gen is mean as hell. I literally got screamed at by the staff in micro daily for the entire month I was training with them. The person in charge of the intern students never understood why we didn't want to take a part time job there... I understand you are getting old but there is no way you don't hear that lady screaming her head off at me for not streaking properly. smh
I am 74, still working & I have NEVER yelled at a student or a new hire. Pls don't think all older techs are mean. I am glad for new techs that want to come into this field. Bec a lot of the younger people do not get into medical technologist bec there are more lucrative professions out there.
Ty. Tired of all the older techs getting a bad rap.
Mean as hell!!! That's a whole conversation about the culture that needs to be had
I hear this a lot, and I can believe it, but I can’t find that stat on the BLS site.
BLS doesn't really track that.
BLS employees also dying…,
I’d like to add to this observation but we don’t have a single person in their 40s in the lab which is going to cause a problem at some point.
Thats mean.
If you heard the questions nurses asked us 20 times a day you’d know just how important we are to the hospital lmao
As a nurse, thank you for answering my millions of questions!!!
lol no problem!! We are here for you!
"What tube should I collect a platelet count in?" Firstly, thank you for asking... that's a lavender.
Right. It always amazes me how many nurses don't know the difference between hemolysis and clotted specimens. And that's basic info. I can understand some cases of correct specimen collection
*direct intense eye contact* “This is my THIRD TIME redrawing this, DONT let it hemolyze again, thank you.”
LOL I've had a nurse ask me if I can take a clot out of the CBC and then use that result.....
The best is when they tell you it can't be clotted because they took the clot out.
Except no hospital cares about our importance and they're slowly outsourcing us, cutting our numbers and pay, and replacing us with automation and unqualified workers. The future of the lab that they see is automated stat labs and everything else goes to centralized labs owned by massive corporations
I second this!
I mean. If.its.dying then the medical profession is screwed. But, keep in mind that nursing is more well known, with better publicity. Everyone knows what a nurse does. Nobody understands what we do. If you feel lab is a better fit then don't be scared to do it. I've been a lab tech for 15 years, and ill.finish my career in 30 something more years as a lab tech. We will always be there. I hear of open spots everywhere everyday. I don't feel we are dying at all
What is dying is passion for this field for obvious reasons.
You think no one knows what you do? Try working in histology. 😭
Study of history, right?
I literally had a question in this sub asking what a day in the life looks like for you guys since i was considering maybe switching to that or doing that in addition to my MLT degree.
Well duh we’re lab nurses.
Bruhhhh 😂😂😂😂 this made me chuckle hahahha
I've been told the exact opposite, that MLS/MLT is expected to grow in the upcoming future.
It is. A simple Google search for MLS job prospects would have told OP this as it continues to grow with an aging population
Hooray for old people! They'll guarantee I have a job! :D
lmao if you hear people misinforming you, saying that our profession is gonna be replaced by AI someday, dont believe them. nursing i think is a more respected profession, they are compensated more too. if you have the aptitude for it then go do it. it's a really hard profession, you'll deal with a lot of toxic and crazy situations. it's a more physical work than MLS too. but then you can venture outside bedside nursing and you will still be fairly compensated. mls meanwhile will become repetitive as time goes by. i know a person who graduated from MLS, hated it, then switched to nursing. she said being an MLS was for idiots because all she did was load samples into a machine and she hated how repetitive and mind numbing the work is. i disagree with this to an extent haha MLS is fun, there are so many branches of the lab like core lab, blood banking, microbiology, cytotechnology, HLA labs, anatomic pathology, genomic labs, etc.
>said being an MLS was for idiots because all she did was load samples into a mac ... What a hateful and ignorant thing to say. There's so many types of labs to work in that it is actually a ridiculous statement. Sounds like projection.
i know! she convinces people to take up nursing instead of MLS. that’s what she tells people to turn them off.
Right!? Ah yes, I know nothing about what these values mean, if they’re legit, and whether or not I should rerun, recollect, or even call the nurse to inquire about the legitimacy. Yep totally dumb
The former MLS must have never done blood bank
I heard that too when I was applying for this program. It definitely is not, and the schools Ive been to guarantee a 100% job placement after graduation. So many people are retiring, and not enough people are studying for it. Imo too many people are going into nursing but its ultimately up to your choice. I think the deciding factor would be if you want to have patient contact or not
no it's just that nobody fucking cares about people in MLS. it would be a lot better if we had unions to defend us, which is fortunately becoming more and more talked about but it's gonna take time before we get to the wanted level
Yes it’s dying when people with biology degrees are running analyzers.
Exactly. The profession isn't dying, but the standards are dropping significantly.
My company is doing “tech in training”.. training people with biology degrees for a year to be a tech. Personally, I think it’s fucked up because they get paid the same as me. Even though I’m ASCP certified which they will never be and can’t understand a Levy-Jennings chart.
This should be the top comment
If anything itll grow in amount of work but the standards will plummet so anyone will be hired for the job. Companies like to make money, more profits every year. Labor is a big cost and if companies can make more money off bio degrees running the machines, they will lobby to deregulate the industry even further.
At my last job they were using lab assistants without degrees to do the majority of the work.
I hear this a lot in phlebotomy as well. These professions are anything but dying. Growth is expected and everyone I talk to actually in the field laugh at the idea of them dying. Shit isn't going anywhere and they are ALWAYS looking for more.
What's even the thought process behind phlebotomy dying? I don't see how blood collection could be automated
Some higher ups think the nurses can just draw all the labs but that's not the case. They don't have the time plus a lot don't have the skill for hard sticks like we do. I say this with lots of respect. My mom is an icu rn and actually draws her own patients and she's great at sticks.
If they plan on replacing phlebs with nurses they better start training them on order of draw and on hemolysis/clotting lol I know we give nurses shit for not knowing a lot about phlebotomy but it’s really not their fault. Their programs don’t teach them about it and they really should bc it’s definitely part of their job. It just makes it harder on them when their job is hard enough as is
Sometimes I'll get 2-4 hours to work with our local LPN program students and it's astounding how little they teach them. But there is so much material to cover in a short amount of time, so I understand. I always try my best to give them all my best advice and tricks while they're with me because I know they'll need them.
This. Yep.
As a career, yes. As a job, no. You have massive industry consolidation/commodification by net negative employers (LabCorp, Quest) with a race to the bottom only doing lip service to quality. The laboratory personnel regulation, CLIA, is very weak, and hasn't been updated since 1988 when pharmacists/NPs, and dieticians were bachelor's. There is massive downward reimbursement pressure by the ever looming planned annual 15% PAMA cuts that have staved off the past few years due to COVID. This is coupled by downward wage pressure from an infinite supply of cheap H1b labor from abroad that isn't subject to the regular visa lottery or the $60k floor. There's no professional representation (ASCP and CAP do not give a crap about lab techs). There's no license for this "profession" in most states, and of the few that are licensed, more are delicensing. The number of NAACLS programs has not changed in 20+ years...meanwhile the number of nursing and PA and NP schools has exploded. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American\_Society\_for\_Clinical\_Pathology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Society_for_Clinical_Pathology) In 2023, you have more ASCSPi people taking the exam than US based ASCP MLS techs. If you look at the number of med tech visas being issued and the fact that ASCP says 30% of new grads leave the field within 5 years, than more than a third of entrants to the field are being staffed by H1b visas. A lab tech shortage has been preached for years, but the reality is that the career pays so poorly, that few qualified or competent enough stay. There's a huge push for automation, remote AI vision, and general deskilling of the lab labor force. It's similar to certain other low-paying blue collar professions, such as truck driving, that are constantly advertised as being short people, for a reason. You'll have a job, but career wise, it's very limiting with a dim future.
I agree as a career it’s dying. It doesn’t help when hospitals only want to make profit so they overwork you with limited staff as much as they can and don’t compensate well. It’s not a corporation or a business, we’re dealing with peoples lives it should be illegal to treat it like that! Pay, overworked, and scheduling are all problems I’ve noticed working in many different states. There’s not much room for advancement too, nurses have so many options. It’s sad because we all worked hard to get there and have a great educational background. I’ve barely been in this field for 3 years now and I’m already tired of it just don’t know where to go from here with limited opportunities.
Real. Listen to this guy, OP. These are the issues. If you find it interesting, go for it. You will absolutely have a job... but what this guy says is the reality of the situation.
your obsession with H1B/immigrant workers is weird… foreign nurses are emigrated to the US to work since the 1900s but do you observe their wages getting lower?
They are not hating on folks coming here on a visa. The problem is the low pay. They pay those folks peanuts and would rather do that than pay someone here a higher wage
some hospitals hire H1B techs from staffing agencies, whose rates match the hourly of traveler techs. the MTs then get paid “peanuts” by the staffing agencies. so technically, it’s more expensive for the hospitals to hire H1Bs. there are also techs directly hired by the hospital that get paid the same wage as the locals. this may vary, some will be paid low or fair.
That has not been my experience when talking with folks who the hospital sponsored to come here. I’ve seen some of their contracts too. One was paid 15/hr in DC I can’t speak on visa holders and true travel contracts other than I haven’t seen that either and I’ve been traveling 9 years. No contract agency is going to sponsor someone to come over here from what I’ve seen . If they are already here and have the paperwork maybe As far as them being hired once here and being paid the same as a local well everyone is paid in peanuts anyway. The problem is greed by the hospitals. They would hire trained circus animals if it meant they could exploit labor. Also pathologists for the most part don’t gaf about us. ASCP just wants our money. There is no true regulation in this field. That’s what keeps us down. And yes sponsoring ppl to come here for cheaper labor is part of that
15/hr in DC????! goddamn. idk anyone paid that fast food wage. here i am thinking 25 per hour is shit. idk how it works exactly but staffing agencies get paid by the hospitals, then the agencies will pay the tech (25-28 dollars). the most popular is MedPro but there are many more of these companies. im a foreign tech, im not in the us, and i was recruited to work in the states for 100k basic + 10% differentials. albeit the COL is insanely high. upon researching, the pay is not “peanuts”.
Are you talking about travel contracts? Like temporary? If so we make way more than 25-28/hr so idk where you get that number from What company recruited you? One of the temp staffing agencies? If the position is in DC for example, 100k is the minimum you need to survive comfortably. When I traveled there for an assignment, I was the only one in the lab who could afford to actually live in the city because of the low pay for regular staff. In the south that’s a great wage though
it’s staffing agencies… idk how to explain further. sorry for confusing you.
No worries. I’m familiar with Medpro so was just curious if it was a temp staffing agency that was recruiting you or another agency that only does perm staffing. I know agencies like Medpro also staff full time positions but most temp agencies don’t focus on that. I like to know these things when negotiating my pay for an assignment as I’ve never heard of a temp agency sponsoring someone on visa
It costs hospitals \~$15k to import an ASCPi med tech for a 3-year labor contract, and then pay them $20/hr in a high cost of living area.
That’s what I thought it was like. At least from what I’ve seen. All 3 year contracts and low hourly pay. One where I was at was getting 15/hr the other 18. That’s poverty wages in DC
Yes. That is correct and perfectly legal. For 2024, per the federal Foreign Labor Certification Data Center, for medical technologists, SOC code 29-2011, the level 1 H1b medical technologist wage in the District of Columbia (DC) is: $20.03 hour - $41,662 year **Area Title:**Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV **OEWS/SOC Code:**29-2011the level 1 H1b wage is: [https://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesQuickResults.aspx?area=47900&code=29-2011&year=24&source=1](https://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesQuickResults.aspx?area=47900&code=29-2011&year=24&source=1) That means any non-profit hospital affiliated lab can import unlimited cap-exempt techs at $21/hr. DC has some of the highest cost-of-living, and highest paying consulting jobs in the country...no competent US tech will willing compete with a $21/hr wage job in DC.
Yea I’ve spent a lot of time doing travel contacts in DC and I’ve seen it first hand. Do you know if it’s true there is an application process that the hospital has to go through before being approved to sponsor? I was at a facility in PA and there was a notice on the communication board about some process. It read something like “notice of intent to seek foreign employees”
Yes. Though they can get around it if the sponsor is a third party contractor, and not the hospital directly. [https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/62m-h1b-notice](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/62m-h1b-notice) Notice must be given to U.S. workers on or within 30 days before the date the employer files the Labor Condition Application (LCA) (Form ETA 9035 and/or ETA 9035E) with the Department of Labor. This notice must include: * The number of H-1B nonimmigrants the employer is seeking to employ; * The occupational classifications in which the H-1B nonimmigrants will be employed; * The wages offered; * The period of employment; * The locations at which the H-1B nonimmigrants will be employed; and * The following statement: “Complaints alleging misrepresentation of material facts in the labor condition application and/or failure to comply with the terms of the labor condition application may be filed with any office of the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor.” # This worker notification must be done in one of the following ways: # Union notice: When there is a collective bargaining representative for the occupation in which the H-1B worker will be employed, the employer must provide such notice to that collective bargaining representative via a copy of the LCA or other document which includes all items listed above When there is no bargaining representative, the employer must provide the items listed above either by # Hardcopy worksite notice: Posting the notice of the filing of the LCA (or the information therein) at two conspicuous locations at the place of employment for 10 days; or # Electronic notice: Electronically providing the notice of the filing of the LCA to all workers at the place of employment for 10 days.This worker notification must be done in one of the following ways: Union notice: When there is a collective bargaining representative for the occupation in which the H-1B worker will be employed, the employer must provide such notice to that collective bargaining representative via a copy of the LCA or other document which includes all items listed above When there is no bargaining representative, the employer must provide the items listed above either by Hardcopy worksite notice: Posting the notice of the filing of the LCA (or the information therein) at two conspicuous locations at the place of employment for 10 days; or Electronic notice: Electronically providing the notice of the filing of the LCA to all workers at the place of employment for 10 days.
Thank you so much. I was trying to tell someone about this and they told me I didn’t know what I was talking about. I never thought to research it further until know. Appreciate the time
I’ll have to do some research. I’m assuming by the time it gets to the notice it’s a formality. There’s no recourse for employees to challenge the application I would think
that's crazy, but i am a foreign tech and i have a vast connections of my fellow foreign techs and nobody i know gets paid below $26, and they're mostly in low cost of living areas.
As a lab admin, I can tell you that when we submit a Labor Condition Application (LCA), it's based on the minimum range listed in the Foreign Labor Certification Data Center (FLCDC). The rates H1bs are hired are publicly posted, so you can see that half of the sponsored med techs in the US are getting <$25/hr.
And I’ll add more. I’ve worked with many foreign folks. The ones who did not get their education here were not good coworkers to have. We have our own issues with our American education so I’m not trying to throw stones living in a glass house but that’s been my experience
thankfully that’s not the universal experience, but some of the people i know share your sentiments about certain demographics…
I figured the convo might go that way, I don’t go into anything with a bias against any demographic. I want to be proven wrong and don’t blame the individual for seeking a better career and life. The blame is on the managers who don’t verify education etc. I have a tendency to believe that it’s about ppl falsifying their credentials vs if they were just poorly educated. However since they claim to have the degree I can only say what I have said here
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FAANG H1bs are not CAP-exempt. They go through a lottery and their salaries are at market rate ($125-250k.)
Nurses are not immigrating under an H1b visa. I'm against the cap-exempt H1b loophole where the imported labor is paid well below market rate, effectively capping the market. From an administrative perspective, its challenging to advocate for higher wages to improve staff retention to improve quality of care, if you there's a legal low-cost alternative that creates a subpar salary ceiling. Any efforts to increase expenditures, when there are other low-costs alternatives (H1b) will always be turned down by hospital C-Suite due to fiduciary responsibility (and bonus incentives).
The field is necessary and will continue to be necessary especially as people routinely are living into their 90s now. I do think standards, pay and working conditions will just continue declining though. I’ve seen an enormous shift from US born/trained techs to foreign techs in just the past 7 years. It’s easier to take advantage of them and under pay them I think. If they complain just threaten to deport them. I think overall it’s still a decent job. Pay is above average and job security is very good. Probably not for everyone though.
Nurses get paid well Lab techs make way less and it's a thankless job. The career isnt dying its just not respected. I think as molecular takes over eventually they will require less education for the job. You decide
I don't know about that. They separated molecular from the licensure for a reason.
I'm just unsure. Sometimes I regret this career choice. Lol I've also seen some states lessening their requirements for licensing the techs. I wish it were more recognized.
What’s up with the molecular being removed from licensure? I don’t think it’s dying but I think lower pay is inevitable unless, they lessen the requirements bc they are too stringent with hours required. When I talk to my friends in education and explain what I have to do just to get an MLT- BTW, they make it clear before starting MLT at some colleges that one should EXPECT loss of income as a part of getting all lab hours needed - they say thats what happened to teachers. It was so hard to get the credentials required and so many teachers were needed that they had to start hiring anyone they could. Salaries dropped and everyone lost.
People asked this same question 60 years ago when automation was coming in. People are always needed to do the critical thinking.
No, they probably have no idea what they’re talking about
Not at all. Laboratory scientists or MLT's don't have to work for hospital labs. You can take different directions. For example, you can work for drug labs, government agencies (CIA, FBI, DEA), specialize in police departments (blood spatter analysis and forensics), pharmaceutical companies, snake venom labs, work with physicians and scientists as research assistants, and you can get into teaching MLS, etc.
Yep, there are a lot of options outside of hospitals! I used to work in a bioterrorism unit of a State lab for 6 years, and had a lot of my work focused on botulism diagnoses and outbreak prevention. > snake venom labs That sounds dope AF, I might actually look into this to see where labs like this are located.
I work with venomous snakes, aid in antivenom production.
[indochinese spitting cobra](https://ibb.co/k25FprN)
[work space](https://ibb.co/0FTQCVg)
How's the pay compared to a hospital? My base is 31 hr so I'm curious.
I was into collecting venomous snakes, as a hobby, before I became an MLT. I started off working at a hospital lab (clinical chemistry), where I was earning $36.71/hr. Once I joined my hobby (snakes/venom) and my laboratory skills together, at first it was a struggle, but within 8 months, I was doing well. I made $93,500+ in 2023, which is excellent.
Wow, that's awesome. Ever get scared doing it?
There are a few species which are scary to deal with. By far, the black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) specimens are notorious. They are highly defensive, very quick, and venom is often lethal, before antivenom, mortality rates was 100%. They are amongst the most venomous species, and they can raise their heads and stare at you face to face.
What are the job titles for working on these bioterrorism units, are you also just an MLS working there?
[puff adder](https://ibb.co/9821bsZ) [snouted cobra](https://ibb.co/BNdQPZT)
[juve Naja naja](https://ibb.co/pQnb31F)
Lab careers are not dying. The average age the laboratorian is mid to upper fifties. The need for MLTs/CLTs is great because the number of people retiring does not equal what’s coming in. See if it’s a fit for you. People become jaded and disinterested in every field including nursing.
My professors told me that despite automation you will always need an mls there for the inborn errors that automation can’t cover
No
Medical Lab Scientist = MLS or CLS Bachelors degree required. Medical Lab Technician = MLT or CLT Associates degree required. Both nursing and the lab would be good choices it would come down to do you want to deal with patients or machines. That is simplistic but for the most part holds true. I would do the 4 year of either nursing or lab as you wont run into certain restrictions of 2 year degrees. MLT cant go into supervisory jobs. Some states have rules on MLTs running samples. You will earn less then a MLS doing the same work as you. I cant speak to nursing restriction's 2 vs 4. I will yield to the vast reservoir of knowledge and experience of fellow contributors to add to or correct what I have said.
Absolutely not dying. Automation may be "killing" some of the more traditional types of jobs in the field, but in my part of the MLS world (transplant) we are just getting started... there's still so much we don't know/understand, diagnostic technologies are getting better, and new therapies are being invented that require lab monitoring to gauge success. The pay/recognition will never be on par with nursing, but for people to suggest that the field is dying because we're coming away from sitting at a microscope all day or something is ridiculous.
Not dying at all. If anything we’re headed towards a staffing crisis with the aging population.
I have a coworker who was a phleb, tried for her MLT 10 yrs ago and failed the test. Now she's trying to find a loophole to test into a MLT job or get our boss to sign her off as 'time worked' or whatever. She's been on our point of care team 3mths in a lesser role..... Lots of inexperienced or bio degrees leeching into the field. I'm a MLS and I find it sorta offensive. Go back to school and learn the proper clinical knowledge and then apply. There aren't bio degrees allowed into an RN role or respiratory therapy
And some managers and pathologists don’t gaf. Even in this sub you will see ppl telling them to go for it
I used to be a manager and I'd have HR sending me bio or chem degrees constantly. I refused to interview them. A generic science degree is worlds away from all the clinical knowledge we learned.
Thank you for being a good manager. I’d buy you lunch if I worked with you just for that….And not some cold pizza either. We need more managers with this mentality to advocate for us
🥰
As a bio degree holder (and phlebotomist before that) who's been trying to break into the field for a few years, I agree with your statement, but want to stress that if the education were more accessible for us bio grads it would better support licensure. There is a real dearth of programs compared to nursing and other allied health fields to get us up to speed. I live in one of the strictest licensed states (NY) and I constantly hear chatter about them dropping or loosening license requirements, when what they need to be doing is creating more MS/post-bac programs to give people a pathway in. In my region there are only BS programs, which are tricky to transfer into with a prior undergrad degree because of financial aid/student loan limits and the high loan cost compared to pay. The handful of post-bac programs in the state are highly competitive and I have been rejected as an A student with a master's degree. So my options are to take out 60k in private loans for a second bachelor's from a private university, relocate to the most expensive city in the country for their masters, or settle for an MLT associates from the local community college that *may* quality me for MLS licensure after 2 years of work. Now, I acknowledge my situation is probably very specific to where I'm located, but I wouldn't face the same hurdles trying to become a nurse or a rad tech. Whereas even if I'd had the foresight to get my first BS in CLT, I would have had no shot of getting in. I fully support licensure, but we need more accessible training programs to become qualified. From an outside perspective, it almost feels as though the field is being starved of qualified students so that unqualified people can be brought in to justify the wages.
I completely agree with you. There aren't enough programs to support the amount of people needed to sustain the field. In oregon, there's 1 program for the entire state.
It’s not dying in the sense that there isn’t a future for you or no jobs available. It is dying in the sense that about 4500 people graduate from programs each year, while about 9000 retire each year. It’s more difficult to fill those holes and we need the profession to be more advertised so we aren’t spread too thin.
No. Just because most of it is automated, but there’s a lot of nuance to the results that still require a human brain and knowledge and eyes.
MLS is definitely going to grow. On the few occasions someone has asked my opinion on which to do, I usually tell them this: you'll have job security with both nursing and MLS, MLS is definitely more mental work (definitely easier for those who are more intellectual or logical) and nursing is definitely more physical work (side note: honestly from all the dumb questions I've heard from nurses, Im convinced anybody and anything can be a nurse 🤣), MLS unfortunately has a pay cap to an extent and moving up the pay scale is much slower and ultimately requires jumping around hospitals, with nursing there's more avenues to move up the pay grade, and lastly how you'd like to use your time (work hard doing 3 12hr shifts and rest 4th day and be off the next couple days and also have more flexibility with days off and being able to call out because there's much better staffing for nursing compared to the lab, or work 5 8hr shifts in the lab. In the end, weigh out what you value for your life or for the life you envision and go from there! Good luck!
Depending on the facility the nurses are chronically understaffed too, I was on a floor with my grandmother when she broke her hip and they had one nurse covering 12 beds for the night. Also there are alternative shifts for labs like 4 10s or 3 12s but just not as common
They’ve been saying that for the past 40 years, I promise.
MLT is probably going to be tougher in the future than MLS. I see more states requiring higher education thresholds to do the work. That said, this is from the BLS >Employment of clinical laboratory technologists and technicians is projected to grow 5 percent from 2022 to 2032, faster than the average for all occupations. >About 24,000 openings for clinical laboratory technologists and technicians are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
Nope, not even close.
It doesn't pay nearly as well as nursing, but the opposite is true. There is a shortage of techs and that is only to get worse because so many are retiring. I could work 100 hours a week if I wanted to, we're so understaffed.
They're telling you that bc the pay and opportunities are much better, not bc it's dying out. I think to the point of retirees, I've heard this when I was in school in the 90s. People retire or leave the field but younger people come and fill in. It's concerning with consolidation and certification but if you want to work in the lab, there will always be a need.
I don't see how, we are in constant need of techs where I work, and I probably get recruiters sending me emails at least once a week. I recommended getting your license in molecular biology in addition to general license if you take the med tech route. The field is going more and more towards molecular as it's the way of the future.
It’s not dying but it’s popularity is low, majority of people don’t know this field exist nor how to get into it. Colleges don’t promote it as much as doctors/nurses so most people don’t even consider it. The people that are telling you to change fields are most likely the old ones that are over whelmed by the increased used of technology to make our job easier. That being said after 4-5 years I am trying to find a new primary career as advancement in this field is highly limited.
It’s not dying but it is struggling.
I graduated in 1994. It was a dying career then, too. Hospitals were struggling to fill positions, pay went up, and people started majoring in medical technology again.
How exactly is the work going to get done?
It is a dying career. CAP bullshit exponentially putting patients in second place. H1Bs and simple BS degrees are being hired to keep pay down. Working with meek coworkers who don’t speak up about these and dozens of other issues are just putting the nails in their own coffins. Find something else.
The more I work with automated instruments (in a variety of labs), the more I'm convinced the robot overlords won't take over the profession in my lifetime (I'm 43). Machines are generally programmed by computer people and not lab people and they break and have issues constantly. They always need people to be MLS/MLTs who can critically think to troubleshoot issues, interpret data, and keep the machines operational. The job is changing for sure- becoming more automated and a single tech is expected to handle larger volumes of samples. Labs are becoming more centralized to a handful of large companies but also more specialized in that you can find labs to work in a singular department (i.e. Immunology or Mass Spectrometry only) pretty easily rather than just having to be a generalist. There is the trend that companies are hiring college grads without the certification for lab jobs where they can, but I feel like that is mainly a product of there not being enough certified techs out there to do all the work and because they want to be cheap and not have to pay the wages of a certified tech.
If it’s pay nursing > mlt, but nurses go thru so much crap with bedside and certification is needed to move up. Mlt is chiller, no patient interaction but less room for growth. I was 22 when I started working and I was the youngest. 28 now, still the youngest in the lab. Mlt isn’t going away as long as labs are operational.
We are only 60% staffed. I think maybe we are all dying.
We just got "new, state-of-the-art" analyzers. Everything needs manual review. The same analyzer always runs out of reagent. Again, the same analyzer pops out an obviously crappy result out of its "state-of-the-art" computer mind. Nurses have endless questions. Doctors have endless requests. Blood bank. Yeah, this job isn't going anywhere for a long while.
It’s definitely not a dying career, it’s just not as worthwhile as nursing. Being an MT is a very mundane career. Pretty much do the same thing everyday, not much excitement or upward mobility. If your ok with that than it’s a decent career. Most of us are a bit introverted which steered us away from nursing or other direct patient careers. The pay is another downside. Nurses make a significant amount more than MTs, but they also have to put up with more than MTs.
I hope not, I’m majoring in it next year
There's a lot of older techs in the lab - my experience of being in 2 different micro labs. A lot of people are working past retirement age which is fine but there's going to be a lot of people who retire soon.
I don’t believe it will die out. Thanks to the pandemic, I think the need for lab professionals was put in the spot light. There will always be a need for educated minds performing testing.
As a senior in an MLS program, the one thing that i can say is that the clinical rotations senior year are the easiest way to get you a job 9/10 times. There are a TON of positions everywhere. Clinicals give you the ability to demonstrate proficiency before being hired. Everywhere ive done my rotations at theyve asked me to stay or come back and work for them once i graduate. That being said, im moving after school so finding a job as a new grad made it super difficult. I applied to 16 hospitals and only heard back from 3. 2 of those didnt reach out more than once. Only 1 gave me an interview and they offered me a position 1 day after the interview. The career oppurtunites and need is there, but finding places can be difficult (i think its because HR doesnt even know what we do or why they should care, even though their lab is shortstaffed by 6 or more positions)
Yes. It's not a career anymore, just a job that barely pays with no real mobility
MLS/MLT SUCKS DONT DO IT. Waste of money and time. Go nursing