How Do You Become One of Those Hospital Lab Technicians?

Thargor

Im badly in need of a career change from the pharma industry, I was wondering if it would be possible to transition into one of those lab technicians in hospital labs? I actually did an internship in Roscommon Hospital Pathology lab years ago in college for 3 months and it was the only job I ever had that I liked.

Im 31 so dont want to go back and do a 4 year degree again, I dont think I could stick studying for another 4 years, would it be possible to do a one year course in some kind of medical conversion course?

Are there jobs to be had in the industry? Say in private labs outside the hospitals etc? Any help appreciated thanks.

Dingle_berry

1st off the term technician implies no degree or qualification. There haven't been technicians in Irish diagnostic labs since the 70s or 80s.
Second, the reason that there are dedicated degree programmes in place for the profession is because there is a lot of specialised specific knowledge required for it. No other science degree covers pathology as in depth.
Third, to an extent, all labs are similar and all lab jobs are similar. There's PPE, SOPs and repetition. If you got bored of a pharma lab what makes you think that you won't get bored of a diagnostic lab? We strive to treat every sample identically to the one before and after it - otherwise no one could tell if a change is significant or not.

The professional body used to offer a (expensive and time consuming) 'conversion' course but this has been suspended, at least until state registration is up and running.

Thargor

Thanks Dingle Berry, you think its a non-runner then? I just remember enjoying the work so much more than what I do now, also opportunities to be on call overnight and that kind of thing, is there any way of making the leap short of going back to college?

Dingle_berry

Thargor wrote: »

Thanks Dingle Berry, you think its a non-runner then? I just remember enjoying the work so much more than what I do now, also opportunities to be on call overnight and that kind of thing, is there any way of making the leap short of going back to college?

The only way other than college at the moment is to go somewhere else like the north or UK, join the profession there and hope that when state registration comes in here that they'll recognise your qualification.
Again, this sounds like a case of 'far away hills are green'. It would be just as repetitive.
On call isn't as great as it looks. Almost 60% of what you earn from it goes on tax. Depending on the hospital you could work an almost 24hr shift. Sometimes more than once a week. You may have to cover more disciplines than your own.

Tree

Dingle_berry wrote: »

The only way other than college at the moment is to go somewhere else like the north or UK, join the profession there and hope that when state registration comes in here that they'll recognise your qualification.
Again, this sounds like a case of 'far away hills are green'. It would be just as repetitive.
On call isn't as great as it looks. Almost 60% of what you earn from it goes on tax. Depending on the hospital you could work an almost 24hr shift. Sometimes more than once a week. You may have to cover more disciplines than your own.

My new way of describing what a biomed scientist does to my colleagues lately is "think of it as QC on humans, this person is in range, that person is out of range". Bear in mind, the labs are increasingly automated and you'd be in competition for a small number of jobs with people who were out of college with the recognised degree.

You might like to look into CRO's instead? You'd be halfway between pharma and diagnostics.