Fwd: RE: [Histonet] Salary Scales

[Morken, Tim]

Kim wrote " In Ireland, Histology is one equal branch of medical
technology (microbiology, hematology, Clinical chemistry and Blood
transfusion)."

Yes, in most of the world Histotechnology is "just" another branch of
medical technology. I was exposed to that while working in Saudi Arabia
and found that I was a bit embarassed about the education level of the
US techs vs the techs from the rest of the world (we had 10
nationalities working in our lab and every one besides the US was
Bachelors-level educated with Histotechnology as a specialty - and all
were excellent). 

Somewhere along the line in the distant past the U.S. Med Tech schools
and associations dropped Histology as a "legitimate" discipline and we
have been paying for it every since. I suspect it had to do with the
fact that licensed med techs can report out results - even if it is just
numbers it gives them responsibility no Histotech has. Since
Pathologists do all the reporting out of histology the histotech is seen
as a worker, not a scientist. It doesn't help that for many years, (even
now in some places) people were practically dragged off the street to do
histology work. Of course pathologists have fought licensing for
histotechs forever - essentially a financial issue for those private
labs that train their own. I know techs in private labs who say their
pathologists are unwilling to support working towards an HT
certification because if the person gets it they either will want more
pay or will leave to get higher pay.

Of course we on this list all know that in the last 25 years
hisotechnology has come up to the level of any med tech area in terms of
technology. But, we still don't report anything out. We do complicated
technical work, but unfortunately it is still seen as an area where a
reasonably dexterous person can do the work without much knowledge. 

What I have seen is that those histotechs who are willing to do the
extra work to learn the field at the expert level (that is, able to
advise pathologists, not just take orders) are quite well off in terms
of ability to command the pay they want and the job they want. It does
take work, and some sacrifice, but well worth it in the long run if this
is the field you will be in for many years. 

Tim Morken


-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Kim L
Mercer
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 10:50 AM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: Re: Fwd: RE: [Histonet] Salary Scales

In Ireland, Histolgy is one equal branch of medical technology
(microbiology, hematology, Clinical chemistry and Blood transfusion).
Just thought you'd all like to hear that.I was shocked when I came to
this country an saw that histotechs were treated differently.
Kim