Lab Technologists

I recently met a registered medical laboratory technologist through work, so I decided to do some research on the career and post what I found.

What Does a Lab Technologist Do?

• Perform laboratory analyses and provide information to physicians
• Help physicians to diagnose and treat patients, as well as monitor and prevent disease
• Use medical devices to observe biological samples
• Determine the validity of the results they obtain
• Design new procedures to reflect the rapid pace of change in their workplace. 

How Do I Apply?

• There are two routes of going about it: college (apply on the Ontario colleges website) and university (apply on OUAC)

University Route

• Three universities in Ontario offer a program: Michener, UOIT, and Windsor
• You can get in right from high school. You need to take English, math, and science courses to apply. Check out each school for more details.
• The minimum GPA cutoff is high-70s

College Route

• Click here for an extensive list of programs
• In general, you need to take senior-level science courses in high school. The medical lab programs seem to be one of the more competitive programs at college
• Check out each program to see what is involved in the admissions process

A New Chapter

I've decided that this blog will remain dedicated to different careers in healthcare. I am going to start a new blog about my own personal journey through life and my new OT career path!

Please check it out here!!

An Update on My Life!

Hello world! I am super excited to say that I've accepted an offer to McMaster for my Masters in Occupational Therapy!!! I can't wait to meet everyone in September and to get back to school! I left the interview not knowing how it really went, but I guess I must have done well after all.

I think I might try to write more about the OT career from this point on as this is the career choice I've made (and I've written about almost as many healthcare careers as I can think of). I'm not sure exactly what direction this blog will take.

If any fellow future Mac OT students are reading this, shoot me an email!!! :)

Healthcare Professionals - Income

One thing I found important when I was trying to plan a career in healthcare was salary. I know it's not the most important, but it's definitely something to look at! I will update this as I come across new careers and numbers.

Average Income per Year in Ontario
Registered Nurse: $70 000
Occupational Therapist: $70 000
Physiotherapist: $70 000
Dietician: $70 000
Cardiac Perfusionist: $80 000
Naturopath: $75 000
Osteopathic Physician: $185 000
Pharmacist: $90 000
Massage Therapist: $40 000
Respiratory Therapist: $65 000
Physician Assistant: $80 000
Pathologist Assistant: $80 000
Medical Imagers: $60 000
Chiropractors: $70 000
Chiropodist: $55 000
Dentist: $120 000+
Speech-Language Pathologist: $65 000
Audiologist: $65 000
Social Worker: $50 000
Genetic Counsellor: $75 000
Cytotechnologist: $50 000
Veterinarian: $72 000
Optometrist: $120 000
Paramedic: $50 000
Midwife: $65 000
Doctor: $340 000
Denturist: $45 000
Lab Technologist: $50 000
Optician: $41 000
Denturist: $50 000

Medical Imaging

I'm going to try to group all of the medical imaging programs together in this post and break them down by category.

Ultrasound

• What it is: imaging technology that uses high-frequency sound waves to display real time images of the soft tissue structures in the human body
• Used to differentiate between normal and pathologic findings and to monitor pregnancies for fetal abnormalities, fetal growth and well-being
• What Does an Ultrasound Tech Do?: performs ultrasound examinations, acquires sonographic images of the normal human anatomy as well as any abnormal or pathologic conditions and completes a technical report of their findings
• How Can I Apply?: Michener, Algonquin, Cambrian, and St Clair all offer the ultrasound program. You can apply on the Ontario Colleges website
• Check out each of the schools' individual requirements. Some of them just require a high school diploma with high school science courses, and others require post secondary education
• Michener interviews top-ranked applicants

Radiation

• What It Is: the production of images of internal organs and structures by passing a small, highly controlled amount of radiation through the human body, and capturing the resulting image on an image recording device.
• What Does an Radiation Tech Do?: perform diagnostic imaging examinations, including mammography and computerized tomography and are responsible for accurately positioning patients and ensuring that a quality diagnostic image is produced.
• How Can I Apply? Confederation, Mohawk, Algonquin, Cambrian, Fanshawe, and Michener offer radiation technology or radiation therapy programs
• Check out the prerequisites from each school. Most require a high school diploma, but Michener requires 1 year of university. All school have science course prerequisites required.

MRI and cardiac sonography programs require applicants to either be a registered healthcare professional or have another degree in medical imaging.