Health care experience!

[icecrystal]

I am a medical technologist.

Are there any schools out there that will accept this as

health care experience?

[icecrystal]

Actually I did not apply last cycle. I applied two years ago. I turned in my apps late in november and a lot has changed

since. I was thinking of calling as well. But I wanted to see what people on the forum has to say.

[cinntsp]

There are plenty of schools that want med techs. Check their websites to see if they require hands on care, prefer certain hce, etc.

 

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[rev ronin]

As a med tech, how do often do you see patients? How often do you work with providers and nurses to implement a treatment plan? I'm guessing none at all, based on what the med techs I know do--swap out equipment, maintain it, repair it, etc.

 

I don't see med techdom as direct patient care, I see it as healthcare-related experience.

[icecrystal]

How often do I see patients? not very often. How often do i work with providers to implement a treatment plan? Everyday. When a patient needs a blood transfusion, it's the med techs that do the typing and prepare the blood that goes into the patient. When a patient needs a organ transplant, it's the med techs that do the testing and find the right organ for the patient. Without lab support, there is no way to start or monitor the patient's treatment plan. I have had rotations in Micro, hematology, blood bank, chemistry, immunology, serology etc. These experiences are unique and valuable. I can gain the knowledge that nurses, NAs etc have through PA shadowing, volunteering, or during my PA rotations. But they cannot gain the experiences that i have gained. I think you are very ignorant to have said that.

[icecrystal]

At the place I work at, the phone never stops ringing. I work on hundreds of samples a day. I believe my job impacts a lot of patients. Very stressful

[icecrystal]

PAs are unhappy that people don't know who they are, the level of responsibilities and involvement they have, yet some PA programs are teating med techs in such a manner.

[JasonD]

As a med tech, how do often do you see patients? How often do you work with providers and nurses to implement a treatment plan? I'm guessing none at all, based on what the med techs I know do--swap out equipment, maintain it, repair it, etc.

 

I don't see med techdom as direct patient care, I see it as healthcare-related experience.

 

You have med techs (MT) confused with medical equipment technicians. A more accurate name for med tech is clinical laboratory scientist -- they work in labs. Depending on the size of the hospital, MT's can have none or a lot of patient contact.

[jen0508]

med techs (like pharmacy techs) play a role in patient care, however in my eyes direct patient care means direct as in INTERACTING with patients.. being involved with care behind the scenes (in the lab or pharmacy) is indirect patient care. med techs in PA school know their stuff when it comes to lab diagnostics, etc and pharm techs kno their drugs but this will be learned in PA school regardless (granted it will not be taught to the level that med techs know it, just like microbiology is not taught to the level i knew it from doing micro research). Now patient interaction (bedside manner) is not something that can be taught in the classroom, it comes from experience. btw saying you can gain the knowledge nurses have through PA shadowing is way off. if you want to stand up for your profession don't do that by dissing other professions! just my 2 cents :)

[cinntsp]

To the OP: I really suggest not paying attention to the folks on these forums that aren't med techs themselves when it comes to the quality of our HCE. They don't really know what we do other than that we work in a lab or what education is involved. Our clinical knowledge and training is plainly evident in PA school when it comes to case studies, the speed of correlating lab values and patient history to reach a diagnosis, etc. People in general don't realize the depth of our training in that regard. Some schools are absolute in their desire for patient care experience but there are many that aren't. I was told at my interview(for the school I'm attending) that I'll have plenty of time to get up to speed on patient care but my clinical knowledge would be a huge advantage throughout the didactic year(and it has been so far) and will be of huge help in clinicals and throughout my career.

[icecrystal]

well said wutthechris! this is exactly what i was trying to get at. I had no intentions to disrespect other professions. We all work hard as a team to care for our patients. However I do feel like I was being disrespected first.

 

Thanks for your comments PAMAC. University of Utah looks great. I will apply there.

[vaston]

Med Techs Unite!

 

I worked as a Medical Technologist for 6 years, some in a general hospital lab, a few in a research immunology lab and the last few years in a blood bank. My direct patient contact HCE consisted of phlebotomy, but I worked with patients every day during my time in the hospital lab and blood bank. I was accepted to and attended the Emory University PA program. During that time I was asked by several people (faculty and students) to provide after-class sessions on lab results and interpretation all throughout my didactic year. I was particularly popular during our hematology lecture series :).

 

One of my favorite memories during clinical year was when I was on my hematology rotation and was asked to identify a precursor cell on a blood smear. I blew the socks off a hematology fellow when I QUICKLY and correctly identified a metamyelocyte. I also 'happened' to know the correct treatment plan for the patient.

 

Bottom line: IMO the Clinical Laboratory Science degree does MORE to help prepare someone to practice general medicine than most any other undergrad degree. Biology Majors are not trained to identify the s/s + labs for metabolic acidosis. Med Techs are. You are taught not only lab results for disease states, but you are also taught the signs/symptoms and unusual presentations for many diseases.

 

Are all Med Techs cut out to be Providers? No. In fact, the profession tends to attract very introverted people that prefer staying in the lab. But for those of us that used it as a spring board for more responsibility in medicine, the training is top notch and extremely useful.

 

icecrystal: Don't be discouraged by the general ignorance of our profession. You have the tools and knowledge that will make you an excellent PA :)

[Just Steve]

As a paramedic I have often been of the camp that pharm and med techs are great patient care team members, but are not on the tip of the spear. They serve important, even critical roles in the patient's outcome but they are not doing the in-depth patient interaction, investigation, care planning, nor are their names in the chart when things go to court (gross negligence of their duty is an exception of course).

 

That being said...Angie is an inpatient PharmD who taught part of our pharmacology lectures. Her knowledge of labs and meds and how each interact to any number of different patient scenarios is simply mind boggling. I have met some really smart people in my life and she by far sits in the top 3%. I can only hope to be able to have a modicum of her knowledge AND her warm personality. I'd kill to have her on my team when things are complicated, for sure.

[vaston]

As a paramedic I have often been of the camp that pharm and med techs are great patient care team members, but are not on the tip of the spear. They serve important, even critical roles in the patient's outcome but they are not doing the in-depth patient interaction, investigation, care planning, nor are their names in the chart when things go to court (gross negligence of their duty is an exception of course).

 

As a friendly (emphasis intended, no offense is meant here) rebuttal to this statement, I must respectfully argue your point. Please remember that Paramedics are not the 'tip of the spear' for Inpatient medicine, Cancer medicine, Hematology, Infectious Disease, Outpatient Medicine, Family Practice, Pediatrics, Pulmonology etc, etc.

 

There are many spear tips in Medicine, Paramedics are a the tip in ER. They play a vital role and save lives on a daily basis. They are expected to know a little about a lot. ER PA's and Docs have to know a lot about a lot. But beyond the emergency world there is SO much more. Lets not forget the world of medicine is massive and does not end at the doors of the ED. Just Steve, you have not seen MT's much simply because our presence is not a large one in Emergency Medicine.

 

I don't mean to suggest that Med Techs are at the 'tip of the spear' for each of those specialties, but they sure as heck play a vital role in each. In many cases, such as Cancer, HIV/ID, Hematology and rural Hospital Medicine they are very much the tip of the spear and are indispensable in those fields. MT's get a large amount of direct patient contact in each of those specialty fields. I know I did.

 

So, give credit where credit is due.

[Guest hubbardtim48]

There are several med. techs. in my cohort. One of the professors is a MT and we love her! :)

[Guest hubbardtim48]

I agree with the OP's post about your rev ronin. Look at UNDs admissions website about direct patient care and they accept med. techs and one of the professors is a med. tech and REALLY REALLY smart about all the labs, testing etc....you can say that PharmD's don't have direct patient care, but they are VITAL in the role of health care. Correct me if I am wrong icecrystal, but don't med. techs sit through procedures? I do know know any exact produces, but I think I heard that somewhere. But back to your rev, you need to look into health related fields before you say sh!t about of careers....

[Guest hubbardtim48]

UND does also.

[GatorRRT]

To me, the most beneficial aspect of previous HCE is knowing what "sick" looks like. That's something that you're only going to acquire with years of DIRECT pt care. Med techs are indispensable with their knowledge of labs, but that's something every PA student learns through school. Recognizing "sick" can't be taught from a text book.

[cinntsp]

To me, the most beneficial aspect of previous HCE is knowing what "sick" looks like. That's something that you're only going to acquire with years of DIRECT pt care. Med techs are indispensable with their knowledge of labs, but that's something every PA student learns through school. Recognizing "sick" can't be taught from a text book.

 

That has little to do with the thread. The OP is asking whether schools accept med tech experience and the answer is largely yes(including "top" programs). Accepting high GPA students with no HCE at all is becoming more common so the assumption has to be that learning to recognize "sick" can be done quick enough to be a competent provider, or at least not kill anyone, upon graduating.

[GatorRRT]

That has little to do with the thread. The OP is asking whether schools accept med tech experience and the answer is largely yes(including "top" programs). Accepting high GPA students with no HCE at all is becoming more common so the assumption has to be that learning to recognize "sick" can be done quick enough to be a competent provider, or at least not kill anyone, upon graduating.

....neither is 3/4 of this thread, but thanks for the redirect. The OP took this in the direction of "med techs get no respect"......well get used to it. The only universally accepted and respected positions in healthcare are RN and MD. It's not that I don't think med techs aren't iimportant; their job simply doesn't require the assessment skills or direct pt care that a RN, paramedic or Rt does; which is why a majority of folks have difficulty considering it direct pt care.

[icecrystal]

Thanks for sharing your success story vaston. And it's a great one too. I will not give up. I plan to apply to a lot of schools this year. I am sure I will get in somewhere =D

 

the med tech program i attended does not require us to sit through procedures Hubbardtim. I think the programs are a little different depending on where you go. I did draw blood at a draw station for 2 days though. And I gotta say I was not bad at it at all.

[hgpaddoc]

As a fellow med tech I wanted to share one of the ideas I had to increase my patient contact in a way that would appeal more to the schools that think you need to be bedside. I work strictly in a blood bank at my facility and up until recently I had zero patient contact hours over my 4 years as a med tech. I started to get really frustrated that I was getting turned down at schools because of my lack of "direct" patient care. In the one interview I was offered last year the very first question I was asked was, "Is your experience as a med tech the extent of your health care experience?" This interview was at MEDEX. After I was not accepted there I knew I needed something more involved if I was going to be succesful but at the same time my family depends on the income I make as a med tech so I cant just leave my job and work as a phlebotomist, ect....So my solution was to ask my department manager if I could take over conducting the AABB transfusion audits for the hospital. This would entail me following a unit out of the BB, up to the patients bed side where I observe and participate in every step of the transfusion from the inital ID check all the way through the end at the patients bed side, making sure that the nursing staff was correctly following all of thier SOP's. I typically spend about 5 hours a week doing this. It's not enough to rack up hundreds or thousands of hours of dirent patient contact but it is something to build on. When the schools who do accept med tech hours as HCE see that, they will see an applicant who knows what his application is lacking and who is doing what he can to stengthen it.

 

I am not sure if this is a possibility at your facility but it does show that there are ways to make it happen.