Laboratory Technician Careers

Laboratory technician careers are somewhat similar with their tasks. It is more often than not that the only difference is the workplace. For one, many laboratory technician jobs are located in patient service centers and others are in centralized laboratories where specimens are tested. Most of the hospitals in the United States have their own laboratories. They have a laboratory for blood testing and a different one for other specimens. These laboratories operate at least 24 hours a day. So before you decide to be a laboratory technician, you must know the pros and cons of being one.

Laboratory technicians who are located in a patient service center will most likely deal with different patients directly. This scenario is likely to happen to ultrasound technician as well. These patients come to the laboratory for blood testing and a lot more. Laboratory technicians may work hand in hand with a phlebotomist to get the work done on time. In some cases, the laboratory technician and the phlebotomist work together to draw blood from patients who are uncooperative. These instances can happen in both patient service centers and hospital laboratories.

Centralized laboratories are also offering employment to laboratory technicians. Specimens are delivered in two different ways in hospitals. The phlebotomist can make rounds in the hospital and bring back the specimens to the laboratory. And in an outpatient basis, the patient comes into the laboratory to give a sample of the specimen. What happens in a patient service center is very similar to this.

One of the perks of working in a centralized laboratory or a patient service center is that your shifts are more consistent. Some even get lucky as they get to work on normal hours and they even have the weekends off. Laboratory technicians who work in centralized laboratories or patient service centers can earn more money if they get this kind of shift. If they are indeed very hardworking, they take shifts in hospitals during the weekend. The benefit in working for hospitals is that they pay more especially if you work on an undesirable shift.

Laboratory technician careers are very hands-on. Technicians work with machines, they count cells and they also process specimens. Usually, a head technician supervises the laboratory and also handles any problem that may come up. Head technicians also process specimens, but they are more involved in administrative work like scheduling and hiring people.

Crime laboratory technicians or police science technicians are involved in the process of solving crimes. They study and analyze evidences that were collected from the crime scene through scientific laboratory methods. Their findings are used as strong evidences against the criminals. They can help to prove one’s innocence or guilt. Crime laboratory technicians usually work with the local and state police officers or the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Crime laboratory technician is just one of the interesting facets of laboratory technician careers. If you are a crime laboratory technician, you can also have specializations. Ballistic crime laboratory technicians are focused on matching bullets with guns. Physical and chemical analysis technicians are for examining a material from the victim’s body or clothes. They are also responsible in analyzing other evidences like the chip of paint from a car or a broken piece of glass from a table. If you are a fan of CSI, then you’d surely want to be a crime laboratory technician.