Health Care Technician vs. Health Care Technologist

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What's the Difference?

Essentially, the difference between health care technicians and health care technologists lies in their education level and technical responsibility. Health care technicians generally have an associate's degree, while technologists have a 4-year bachelor's degree.

However, health care technicians and health care technologists often have overlapping job duties. In many labs everybody does everything, as long as they're qualified to do lab work. The slang term "lab tech" is often used for both medical technologists and medical laboratory technicians.

Health Care Technicians

Health care technicians are specialists with an education to jobs that require expert knowledge in their field. Education programs are generally between 1 and 2 years in length and stress practical skills. Health care technicians perform less complicated tests than technologists. Some of the types of duties a health care technician performs may include the following tasks:

Prepare specimens
Operate automated analyzers
Perform manual tests with detailed instructions

Health Care Technologists

Health care technologists are specialists with a 4-year bachelor's degree in their field. This advanced knowledge often allows them to work in a supervisory role. Some of the duties of a health care technologist include the following:

Doing problem solving
Data interpretation and analysis
Establish and monitor programs
Project management and decision making
Type and cross match blood samples for transfusions

Many health care technologists move into more advanced levels of their profession as their careers progress.

Health Care Technician & Technologist Salaries

Median annual wages of health care technicians and health care technologists are as different at the duties these two, often confused, professions perform.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the following salary ranges for the middle 50 percent in 2009: