[Histonet] "Brit" Hitotech/Firestorm?

[Diana McCaig]

What are you all using to compare the wage scales.  Biomedical scientists do
not get paid as well as we do in North America if you factor in their cost
of living.  I understand there is a recent trend to increase the wages in
order to keep them on board as there is a lot of migration to various labs
throughout a career where in NA we tend to stay put.
Diana McCaig, MLT 


	-----Original Message-----
	From:	Larry Woody [SMTP:slappycraw <@t> yahoo.com]
	Sent:	Friday, August 05, 2005 1:35 PM
	To:	mtitford <@t> aol.com; histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
	Subject:	Re: [Histonet] "Brit" Hitotech/Firestorm?

	You may want to try some of the big biotech companies where there is
a need for people with more skills in the lab and the compensation can be
better than a medical lab.

	mtitford <@t> aol.com wrote:Rogerson Kemlo carries on the discussion
about histotechnologist training.

	In regards to hospital histology labs in the USA:

	I don't want to start a firestorm of criticism here, but I think
there is a real danger that in Great Britain those technologists performing
in the histology laboratories may be over qualified.A few months ago here on
the Histonet, someone in the U.K. was bemoaning the lack of histology
technologists in the U.K., and how short staffed they were. Was that because
the bar had been set too high? Was the level of education required too much
for the compensation received? Has a "closed shop" (to use a union term!) in
effect, been created?
	Here in the United States there are hundreds of community type
hospitals and smaller medical centers that have histology laboratories. In
those laboratories work histotechnologists doing a fine job with a lot less
education than a fully qualified histotechnologist in the U.K.. At the other
end of the spectrum are histology laboratories here doing more advanced
procedures where degrees and extra training are required.
	However, histotechnology training in the U.K. and USA are inherently
different. When I lived in the U.K. years and years ago (and it may have
changed now), all the hospitals were government owned, lab personnel got a
day off each week with pay to attend IMLT classes, and the classes were
free. To work in a hospital laboratory you had to be "State Registered".
	In the USA hospitals are owned by all sorts of organizations. You
don't get "day release" to attend classes. If you do attend classes, money
has to come from somewhere to pay for it. Further you may live miles/hours
from the nearest college where you can attend classes.Since the different
organisations may be "for profit" or even "Non-profit", they want to save
money by not paying too higher salaries. Most often they pay what other
hospitals in the area pay for the same type work.
	The 50 states have different requirements for working in their
hospital laboratories. 
	Hospitals have coped with these differences by making histology
laboratories a separate section of the laboratory, with
technicians/technologists trained just to work in that lab.
	I think a histotechnologist from the U.K. could easily find a
position in the USA, but they might feel underappreciated and underpaid!
(maybe even under challanged!)
	Well, that's my two bits worth!

	Mike Titford
	USA Pathology
	Mobile AL USA
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