What different settings can medical technologists be employed in?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2006, medical technologists and technicians held 319,000 jobs in the United States. The bulk of these professionals worked in a hospital setting. Other possible settings for employment in this field include diagnostic and medical labs as well as doctors’ offices. Typically only large physicians’ offices employ medical technologists due to it typically being more cost effective to outsource lab needs. Some reproductive endocrinologists’ offices have full time lab personnel on staff due to the high volume of lab analysis they need to have completed in a timely manner. Those medical technologists who work in smaller lab settings typically perform a variety of tests and are referred to as generalists, whereas those employed by large labs typically specialize or focus on a certain area of testing. For instance, there are microbiology techs that examine microorganisms, clinical chemistry techs who specialize in the chemical and hormonal content
