| Before getting into who a histotechnician is and what | | | | visibility of tissue variation. There are special dyes |
| it is they do, it is important to make an important | | | | that are used to for this staining. It is the |
| clarification regarding histotechnicians and | | | | histotechnician's responsibility to ensure the sample |
| histotechnologists. In many occasions, the terms | | | | meets all testing requirements by analyzing and |
| histotechnicians and histotechnologists have been | | | | removing any samples that have either been |
| used interchangeably. And to a certain extent this is | | | | contaminated or have undergone changes that may |
| understandable considering that the two roles | | | | affect the integrity of the final results. |
| perform very similar duties. But there is a difference | | | | Tissue testing is an integral part of healthcare and |
| between the two - whereas both roles require | | | | research institutions. Histotechnician can therefore be |
| rigorous class training before one can join the job | | | | employed in a number of organizations including clinical |
| market, histotechnologists often undergo significantly | | | | laboratories, educational centers, research |
| more advanced studies that delve deeper into the | | | | laboratories, hospitals, veterinary clinics, |
| reasons for slicing up and testing tissue. | | | | pharmaceutical companies and law enforcement |
| Histotech's on the other hand are primarily trained to | | | | medical forensics units. |
| dissect and test tissues on the premise that they will | | | | Anyone aspiring to be one must be prepared to |
| be doing it on behalf of pathologists and other health | | | | work long and odd hours especially if they are |
| care professionals who are the ones responsible for | | | | employed in a healthcare facility. The compensation |
| checking the test results to identify the presence of | | | | of the position is one of the highest among clinical |
| diseases or conduct or call for further research. | | | | laboratory specialists in the US. |
| Looked at from the job hierarchy in a medical | | | | If you would like to be considered for a |
| institution, histologic technicians are answerable to | | | | histotechnician job, you must have attended a 12 |
| pathologists but are often supervised by | | | | month classroom and laboratory training. This training |
| histotechnologists. | | | | encompasses immunology, chemistry, laboratory |
| Histologic technicians are clinical laboratory specialists | | | | mathematics, medical ethics, instrumentation, |
| that prepare plant and animal (including human) tissue | | | | anatomy, computer technology, administration |
| for testing and disease diagnosis. The histotech will | | | | procedures and histology. It is recommended that |
| also preserve such test tissue with wax for future | | | | one take up this training as part of an associates |
| reference if need be. | | | | degree. However, a four year bachelors degree in |
| The preparation of the tissue will usually entail slicing | | | | histology or in histotechnology presents much better |
| up the sample into a number of sections, extract | | | | prospects for one's career. |
| excess water and fluid from each piece, placing the | | | | You can do more research to learn more about this |
| piece on a slide mounted on a microscope. Given the | | | | career. You need to do so by visiting websites that |
| size of the test tissue sample, the slicing process is a | | | | more information on becoming one. |
| very delicate one and is done by use of a microtome. | | | | Note: You are free to reprint or republish this article. |
| The sliced sections are tiny and microscopically thin. | | | | The only condition is that the links should be clickable. |
| The cut sections are then stained to ease the | | | | |