Medical Technology, BS: Frequently Asked Questions

Examples of recent positions advertised in national publications which
cite MT as the background include:

• Scientific Areas:
  Tissue Typing Specialist
  Histocompatibility Specialist
  Analytical Cytometry Specialist
  Research Staff (Bioanalytical Sciences)
  Cell Transplant Team (molecular biology)
  Technologist in: hematology, microbiology, clinical chemistry, blood banking, immunology Team Leader, Rapid Response Lab

• Other Areas:
  Laboratory /Instrument Sales
  Laboratory Inspector (JCAHO etc.)
  Change Control Coordinator (Quality Assurance)
  Manager Lab Inpatient/Outpatient Services
  Technical Support Sales Purchasing Specialist
  Laboratory Resource Coordinator
  Product Development Specialist
  Laboratory Information Systems
  Quality Assurance
  Infectious Disease Control
  Laboratory Customer Sales/Services

There are several ways in which the MT program at Upstate offers a unique education as a Medical Technologist/Clinical Laboratory Scientist.

• The MT Program at SUNY Upstate Medical University is accredited by the National Accrediting Agency from Clinical Laboratory Science. This means that it meets the rigorous national standards for programs in Medical Technology, it is housed here on this campus, the faculty are practicing laboratory professionals and our campus directs all aspects of the curriculum.

• We have our own university hospital here on campus that serves as the Level-1 trauma center for the 15-county Central New York region. It houses the burn center, regional oncology center, trauma center, Central New York AIDS Treatment Center, Center for Forensic Science, and a pediatric intensive care unit, to name a few of the specialized patient services. In addition, it houses more than 80 specialty clinics with services that range from high-risk pregnancies to neurology and orthopedics. This means that we can offer our MT students a wide variety of experiences across the whole scope of laboratory testing.

• The faculty teaches both lecture and student laboratories and also goes with the student into the clinical setting to perform patient care testing. This keeps the faculty clinically current as they teach in the state-of-the-art laboratories of our University Hospital.

• Part of the MT curriculum includes a set of core courses that are taken with the other students in the College of Health Professions. These courses are Pathology, Health Care Ethics, Research Methods, and Professional and Technical Writing. This gives our students the opportunity to work together with students from the other health professions programs in the College as they become members of the health care team.

• Many of the basic concepts and laboratory vocabulary are already familiar to MLT and they can build upon this foundation.
• By advancing their education in this program beyond their MLT credential, those graduates will have greater future potential to expand their role within the clinical laboratory, such as becoming a lab supervisor or manager.

Graduate MT's can sit for specialty certification in such areas as:

• hematology
• microbiology
• clinical chemistry
• hematology
• flow cytometry
• cytogenetics
• virology
• laboratory safety

This is a national recognition of competence in a wide variety that relates to areas of laboratory practice.