I found this picture from the book “Belief and Work of Seventh-Day Adventists” that can be downloaded freely from the General Conference Archive Site. The book is published on the year 1934 and so I assume the picture was at around the same year.

Hmm…, for comparison, this is the picture of Manila Sanitarium and Hospital, or Manila Adventist Medical Center as it is called now, that I took last year 2004 when I was still in the Philippines.

There is a really interesting portion at the end part of the wiki article on Medical technologist. It’s about the decreasing number medical technologist education program causing decreasing medical technologist available. This of course leads to increase in demand for medical technologist in the US and other countries (not specifically mentioned though).

I tried to look for the exact publications from where the citation is taken, however the wiki doesn’t provide any.

Honestly I was writing a post about my view of medical technology last week then I saw the portion and I decided to postpone my writing first and discuss about this interesting insight rather.

The article then mentions that the average age of the medical technologist now is at late 40s, almost 50. Considering the low number of young medical technologists who will succeed the profession, this will lead to another increase of demand in medical technologist.

“Wow!“, that was my initial impression when I read the article, “I hope this is true and so my fellow medical technologists can now have more opportunities and better salary.” Unfortunately there is something paradox at the end of the article. It says

“..yes, the job pays less than others in the medical field.”

Quack! Although once again the article doesn’t mention to what other profession in medical field, it seems that it probably refers to nursing.

Hmm, interesting… So however needed is the medical technologist, it still cannot beat the other medical field professions in terms of salary.

Please note that although I always bring the issue of salary, I’m not saying that it is the most important part of one’s carreer. But simply because it is the most common measurement of a profession. Also from the fact that some of the visit to my website is because people are searching about the pay in medical technology field.

As summary, a part of the article is worth to take note, and I believe it is the best part:

“The best way to minimize this problem is to make secondary and post-secondary educators and advisers aware of both the benefits and the job security of degrees from accredited Med Tech programs, and advising their students to get informed about the profession….  a degree in Medical Technology may open doors to high wages, travel, management experience, or even pave the way to another career, such as Pharmacy or Physician.”

Brother Ivan wrote six parts comments in the post and I believe it is too valuable to be comments only, so here I create a dedicated post for his comments. I hope it can bring new insights for all of us.

On medtech alternatives career:

I would like to say that AUP medtechs who deviated from the practice had the best opportunities abroad. I was one of the AUP medtechs who deviated to cardiovascular techologist, echocardiographer, perfusionist and electrophysiologist. But I’m proud to be an AUP medtech, our training is the best compared with other medtech school.

PAMET recognized that some Registered Medical Technologist was deviating from the practice. When I applied for the job and got accepted, I was thinking of what will happen to my medtech degree and experience in the future, but i continued my training. It was back to zero and it was a new field that some medtechs tried but didn’t like it. I couldn’t blame them as that was my feeling when i was starting in love of laboratory work. My advise to AUP medtech is, take the new trend shifts to Cardiovascular Technologist as this is the most in demand allied profession today and lots of opportunities is available in this field.

But before you can be a cardiovascular technologist, you should be a Registered Medical Technologist first, because it is the only profession allowed, and recognized by Department of Health to perform this job. Try to apply to Philippine Heart Center as this is the only hospital and institution that trains people for this job. We, AUP medtech, who left legacy on this hospital built a banner for AUP medtech to follow us and be one of us as Cardiac Physiologist/Cardiovascular Technologist, which is a highly specialized field.

I highly recommend that if you have motivation to shift to this career ( Cardiovascular Technologist), you won’t have any regret as the salary is excellent. If you want to work in U.S., take the licensure exam for this job that is given by the Cardiovascular Credentialling International (www.cci-online.org), or take a registration for RCCP (Registration Council for Cardiac Physiologist ) if you want to work to U.K.

On this field you have several options to specialize as you can be a Cardiac Catherization techician, Cardiac Pacing Tech,  and echocardiograpy tech or electrophysiologist.

On CD life:

In CD life you just need to have a good time management, and to read in advance. Analyze and understand what you read, concentrate on tables, go to JADE bookstore at U.N. avenue and Miranda bookstore at Morayta, or C.E. bookstore. CD life is fun if you make studying a fun habit, develop mnemonics technicque when memorizing some values and subjects by relating it to song or things that you can easily remember. Make a group studies, discuss some questions with your classmates, and make your own notes of the subject and topic you are reading will save you time.

And lastly quote and believe on this promise ”For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:6, KJV).

Clinical Instructors (CIs) have books for the exam which students usually don’t have. You can find some of them at these bookstores that I mentioned above. When I was still in CD I wondered why some of the questions on the exam were quite different from what we read and I found out that CIs used different books. Just observe that questions from these books will come out during the PAMET quiz preparation, thus CIs usually give these books to the students representative for the quizbee.

Just when I checked the traffic to my blog today I noticed that one of them is the google search result with keywords
“medical technology course what is it about?”. Hmmm.. it really sounds familiar, because everytime people ask me what my bachelor course is and I tell them that it’s bs medical technology, they either do not know what medical technology do or never even heard the course at all.

Usually I tell them that it is better known as clinical laboratory science (which more than half of them still do not know what is it), which means that the medical technologist usually work in clinics and hospitals laboratory.

We are the one who check all patients’ body fluids such as blood, urine, stool, CSF (cerebrospinal fluid), seminal fluid, synovial fluid, etc.

Most of the person who ask me will then remember one or several times in their life where they went for check up to laboratory, so at this point they usually already get what medical technologist do.

It is forgivable that most of the people do not know what medical technology is or what medical technologist do. Because in fact, the medical technology students do not know what their course is all about till they are in clinical division.

During the first and second year of the course, medtech students are still just like any other science course students. In AUP, medtech students is even more like nursing students because of the many similarities in classes requirement. I’m not sure in other college and universities, but I believe it won’t differ so much because of the regulated national Philippines curriculum.

Back to the question, what is medical technology? Here are several definition of medical technology, depending on to whom should we explain:

In laymen’s term:
“Hospital and Clinic blood suckers…”

In Freshmen and Sophomore’s term:
“Can you tell us the difference between medtech students and nursing students..?”

In Clinical Student’s term:
“Nightmare…”

In Intern Student’s term:
“Liberation…!”

In Medical Technology Graduates and Registered Medical Technologist (RMT)’s Term:
“Finally, after all the pains and unforgettable sleepless moments…”

-Fin

Warning: This article contains strong and provoking words that may discourage some of the readers who are currently taking bachelor of science in medical technology and/or bachelor of science in laboratory science as it is called now.

BS Medical Technology (BSMT) or also known as medtech was one of the best science course one can take in Adventist University of the Philippines (AUP) during my study there. The sight of medtech clinical students (CD) wearing white uniform and black pants for the guys with a silver name tag shining sent an exclusive image for those who wear it.

The course was designed to only allows the smartest and the brightest to survive. It was famous for its hectic schedule, long laboratory hours, and difficult curriculum. All of these create a mysterious impression of the course itself and its students altogether.

Having all of these characteristics plus the banner that constantly announced the course’s top notchers in the Philippines medical technology board exam, the course receives high respect from the campus community. Thus the future seems bright for the medtech graduates.

However, the question is, is it true? Is the future really going to be dazzling for the medtech graduates, who are mostly the brightest students of the campus? This is the question that I’m trying to answer through this article.

Medical Technology Graduates Different Professions

Three years after I graduate from medical technology and I realize it is still a short period for concluding about the course’s graduate performance. However, from my observation there is no much difference though the period is lengthened. Most of the medical technologist are working in hospital and clinic laboratories, which does not provide much room for career advancement besides to become the laboratory department head.

Then there are medical technologist who work in hospitals but not necessarily in laboratories, they might work in other hospital departments.

The remaining of the medical technology graduate does not work in hospital nor clinic at all.

Different Motivations

Every individual has different motivations, something that drives the individual to choose what he/she choose. There are certainly many different reasons why someone chose medical technology as bachelor’s degree course.

I personally chose BSMT because I was going to take medical school (which deferred permanently) and also because for the course pride. I thought I deserve to be in one of the most respected course in AUP. I wanted to be one of the elite.

I know some of my batchmates who have motivation that is not so difference with mine.

Other medical technologists I know have different stories about how they took the course. One that I personally know said that she took medical technology because it was the course that has the shortest ‘pila’ (queue) during registration day.

There is no right or wrong when it comes to motivations why someone take BSMT. However, if money was one single motivation then I suggest the person to take a course shift form immediately and that person will thank me later on.

Why? Not because BSMT cannot bring money, but because it is too much hassle if making money is the only motivation. There are certainly other course that consumes less time and resource, and allow the graduates to work in a profession that can bring a lot more money than BSMT.

When The Brightest Is Not The Richest

This is the part that may disappoint most of the BSMT students.

I think I’m going to tell you upfront that some BSMT graduates I know make less money than other course graduates. Not only that, the BSMT graduates also have lower work opportunities than other course graduates.

Why?

It’s just the way it is. That’s how the real world value the medical technologist profession. In investing terms, the BSMT sadly gives lower Return On Investment (ROI) compared to other course degree.

But how could this possible?

I’m not really sure about the exact answer. But partly, it could be because of the market law of demand and supply. Somehow the demand for medical technologist is not that much compared to other profession, and thus the medical technologist’s salary may not be as good as the other profession.

But how about in US? I heard the salary there is good..

Yes. Fortunately the medical technologist salary in US is good enough compared to other coutries such as Philippines and Indonesia. But are all medical technologist will be able to go to US? I’m not sure about that. Plus, if you notice, other profession in US can give the same salary with medical technology, if not better.

The Lessons, Wisdoms, and Thoughts

Keep in mind that the reason why I write this post is not to discourage the BSMT students nor to disrespect any BSMT graduates. Medical Technology, in my opinion, is still one of the best course one can take in AUP.

If you have passion to be a Medical Doctor, then by all means try to take medtech as your undergraduate course. It is so far the best course you can take to prepare for medical school because you will find most of the medtech subjects repeated in the medical school. Most of the brightest medical school students I know are medtech graduates.

Or if you have passion to be a Medical Technologist, I also strongly recommend you to listen to your heart and take BSMT. There is no one more successful than someone who be the person who that someone wants to be. The field of medical technologist is indeed an interesting and challenging one.

But if you are not sure and you neither wants to be a medical technologist nor medical doctor, I suggest you to take other course that suits you better. Because the pain that needs to be undergone in medtech clinical division and internship is really not for everyone.

I personally believe that money is not everything and is not a measurement of success. Although I brought the issue of salary, it is not my intention to measure medical technology course using salary. I only wanted to present the fact that the medtech students should know.

Lastly, this post is not about discrediting BS Medical Technology course. But it is rather about asking one’s motivation taking BSMT, the course that I’m really proud to have as my bachelor’s degree.

I just had a thought to write something for the medtech intern recently. In the previous two articles, I only address tips for the clinical division students. I believe I should share some guidelines also for the interns since the world of CD and of intern are quite different.

My Intern times may have past almost three years ago, but all the lessons, pain, troubles, and fun will always be fresh in my mind. Like the one year I spent in clinical division, my one year (ok, plus several days I got because I had absent and sick leaves) is paradoxically one of the best “toxic” year in my life. Think about it, what other course could have force you to travel around Philippines and mess around in one year (I had my intern in Mindanao Sanitarium and Hospital, Manila Adventist Medical Center, and Cagayan Valley Sanitarium and Hospital).

If there is one thing that pay all of the hardships in clinical division, it’s certainly the internship year. But be careful, it’s not a “honey and milk” year. And I hope my tips can give some insights for those who are going to intern and those who are already there as well. Let’s get going:

Tip #1.

You Don’t Know Everything Yet, So Don’t Ever Think You Do

I know, the feeling of passing the formidable one whole day medtech comprehensive exams is almost like the feeling of being accepted when you court your crush. You just can’t believe that, after all the sleepless nights, it is now over. You now then may think that you have know all what you need to know to be a good medtech. Besides, that’s what the compre exams for right? To prove that you “know everything.”

Think again cowboy… (and cowgirls). My first advice to those who are entering intern world, keep yourself humble all the times. Even, passing the compre in the first take doesn’t prove you know them all.

Tip #2.

Respect Your Staff, Senior Interns, All Hospital Workers, and oh yeah.. Your Fellow Interns

Okay, maybe this sounds like a cliche, but I just want to emphasize it, especially for those who have been more than 6 months in intern. Because it’s maybe easy to forgot this one when you are already close to the people in the hospital. You may then start to treat them like your other friends.

But keep in mind that though you have befriend them, you are still an intern, and at all times you should always respect them. Don’t overtease them, much worse, embarras them. Besides, your grading in the intern will be affected much with good relation with your staff and not with your perfect attendance. So woulnd’t it be good to treat them once in a while just to make sure that you keep them happy with you.

One more, you also should always respect your fellow interns because all of you are at the same level, so why should you think you are more special.

Tip #3.

The CD Smartest Is Not The Intern Best

One very interesting thing you will see in Intern is this one. You will see that your smartest batchmate (if it’s not yourself) is not always be the best in intern. In intern, it’s time for “Less Theory, More Common Sense and Real World Skills.”

To be honest, those CD theories aren’t much worthy in intern. Think of it this way, do you think the patient care you know the the name of the middle vein if they are in pain because you are “fishing” for it?

Or do your staff care if you can explain the principle of all chemical test in chemistry section if you mislabel one of the specimen?

I know you get my point.

Tip #4.

Don’t Take It Personally, It’s Only Work

Your staff just got mad at you because you had little mistake in following their instructions, and now you are in bad mood. That’s normal, nobody likes to get mad at. But don’t take it personally because they do it to shape you into a better medtech. I believe they don’t like to get mad also if they don’t need to (unless it’s their hobby).

Having internship is medtech’s great advantage because we have a taste of work life before we officially work. And in work, we don’t get good result by doing bloopers. Your staffs are there to train you to be a capable and skillful medtech (although sometimes you may think that they are there to exploit you). Do you think they need you to do their job? No way, you may even disturb them most of time.

My “favorite” teacher, Sir Eldz, always say, “They don’t need you; You need them.”

Be patient, learn from all your mistakes, listen to your staffs, and you will thank them later on.

Tip #5.

Have Fun, Enjoy!

Internship is not all toxic hours, attending “hundreds” of ER calls, or dealing with endless urinalysis tests. Regardless all the stress, internship has a lot of fun that you can experience. Sure you will need time to adapt with the staffs, senior interns, and all people around you. But like in the 4th tip of Survival’s Guide to AUP Medtech, these people around you are also fun to be with.

During intern, we always play bowling, billiard, and volleyball with some of the staffs when we have the chance. We joined the MAMC volleyball tournament and PAMET bowling competition together. If you are assigned in the rural, such as Mindanao, Palawan, and Cagayan Valley, your staff will gladly accompany you around to see the beautiful Philippines.

It’s not hard to have fun in internship, just be open to others, participate, and enjoy everything!

What’s The Bottom Line?

(Sorry Sir Eldz, I got to borrow one of your favorite line again.. )

Internship life it’s not harder than the CD life, but nor it’s easier as well. It’s just different, so practically what worked in CD may not work in internship, just like what worked in pre-Clinical may not work in CD. It’s also full of fun and surprise from the day one.

For me, besides CD, internship is another fun part of medtech life and full of expereince that I will never forget.

I hope with the five tips above I can help the interns-to-be and encourage those who are facing challenges in adapting with internship life. If you have questions or comments, feel free to write in the comments section below, or email me.

Hi all! Meet you again in this fifth tips to survive in the AUP Medical Technology Clinical Division life.
Thank you for your interest to read what I want to share with you in this article. To all who are currently in the CD, I hope my first four tips have made you survive the CD so far. Anyway, I realized that I have not share one of the most important tip based on my personal experience in CD.

In this fifth tip to survive the CD, I will talk about the mental qualification that you definitely need to have to pass the CD without getting insane, if you aren’t yet…. Hahaha! Just kidding!

First I want to ask a question. Have you ever wonder why you had so much hard times trying to survive in the CD? Stupid questions huh! Unless you are the direct descendant of Albert Einstein or Thomas Alfa Edison, you most probably have. And if I can give you the answer, it is this: You don’t realize or understand yet what it takes to be a Medtech CD students.

The Medtech CD Qualifications That They Never Told You

Alright, have you ever read the job offer above before? I’m sure you have not. But does it sound familiar? Well, offcourse it does! Because when you were applying for CD, you were actually applying for the job offer above my friend. Okay, I may exaggerated the qualifications a little bit, but you know they are not very far from it anyway.

Remember the time when you were applying for CD?
If the practice hasn’t changed yet, the Medtech Department Head or any CI available will check for the credits that you have completed, your average GPA, your Major subjects grade, and all other academic requirements that you need to pass to be qualified to enter the CD.

Now, you are in CD already and you wonder why you, who had wonderful grades before this crazy CD life, are barely surviving in the CD classes?

Well, academically, yes, you are qualified for the Medtech CD. But when it comes to CD, what you needed most is actually the mental qualification. It is a lot more important than your academic qualification. Why? Because your life will be totally challenged in the CD and it’s a whole different world compared to the pre-Clinical classes times.

AUP Medtech CD Is Not The Same As Pre-Clinicals

One interesting fact about AUP Medtech CD is this, you can notice that those students who are academically excellent during pre-Clinical classes may not always doing good in the CD classes. And the other way around is also true. Those who are unnoticed during pre-Clinicals could have their name at the top in the exam scores written on the white board.

Is there something wrong here? Not really…

As I have told you, the life in CD is totally different compared to life in pre-Clinical. If you think you could use your study methods in the pre-Clinicals in the CD (if you ever actually study during pre-Clinicals..), well, I’m very sorry to dissapoint you by saying that it just won’t work anymore. You should change your mentality to the CD mentality.

So what can you do to have the mental qualification needed in the CD life?

Well, here was a simple exercise that I did…

In the first article, my experience in CD was not that honey and milk, especially during the first few months. One time, a thought came into me, “Probably there is something wrong with what I’m doing now.” So, I tried to write down what an ideal Medtech CD student should do on one column, and what I’m actually was doing on the next column.

Here is the result of what was written back then (I still keep this list until now ;D):

After I wrote the comparison, I was laughing. Because it really showed me that basically, I was not mentally qualified to be in CD. Even worse, I don’t even have a thought that I will be a Medtech! That’s why I had hard times trying to survive there. It’s clear to me that I should change my actions and believe, especially the last item, to be as close as possible to the Medtech way of life if I want to pass this cruel CD life.

It was not easy though, and I was not able to change them instantly. But at least now I know what are the things that I should try to change to perform better in CD classes.

So What Should I Do?

Now, I advise you to take pen and write in your notebook the comparison table similar with what I had. Complete the right column with your own answer because yours may not as pathetic as what I had. Try also to add some other more ideal student Medtech CD way of life that you could thought of.

Try to make fun of it, yet keep the right column honest so you will get the clear difference of the two columns.

This method has worked effectively for me and I know it would work as effectively for you. After knowing the necessary actions that you should take, surely your performance will start to get better and better. It probably doesn’t mean that everything will become easy, but you will know how you should change your study habit and personal believe to get better scores. You will find that surviving in the CD is not that impossible after all…

Closing Words

Allright, that’s it for the fifth tip to survive in the Medtech CD life. I hope it could help you to pass the seemingly impossible Clinical Division with higher and higher scores each day. I know this tip is not perfect, so if you have any comments or want to share something about this article, please put your comment in the comment form below and submit it.

Also if you find my articles are useful, please show your thanks by putting your comments here or write an email to me (tridjito(/at)yahoo(/dot)com) if you don’t like others to read your comments. Nothing encourage me more than knowing that I can be a help for you.

Hello there!

First of all, I wanna congratulate you for reaching the CD (Clinical Division) stage of the Medical Technology of AUP!
Honestly, CD is not meant for all people. In fact, not all who entered CD will successfully pass it in the supposedly one year time period. And worst, few will even left.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not discouraging anyone here but merely presenting what really happened from the past.

And you know what? I’m not exempted from that thought of quitting the CD when I was there.

It was 2 months after I entered CD and I was kinda frustated with everything. I was frustated with my scores, my lack of sleep, my losing friends, my social life, my sanity… In short, my life was a mess!

And I thought to myself, “Should I quit this?”
I only had two options; the first one is to quit, and the second is to move on and fight till I die (whoa… very dramatic ha!)

But the first option is not a good option for me, cause I have spend two and a half year as Med Tech and I’m just too close to the finish line. So I chose the second option.

Allright, enough for the story, let’s discuss on how to survive in the cruel world of Clinical Division.

Tip #1

Think of sacrificing your life for one whole year in CD

This is the most important mindset that every CD student need to have.

Why? Because for me, it is better to spend one year of totally unable doing what I enjoy rather than two years or more of trying to do it without ever fully enjoying because of the CD subjects.

I’ve had seen some people who stayed longer than a year in CD because they prioritize to do what they enjoy first rather than the subjects.

And I don’t think its a good deal for me. I’d rather finish something that I don’t really enjoy as soon as possible and then able to do what I really really enjoy afterward.

Tip #2

Don’t be foolish and ignorant, learn from your Old Batch

Try to talk to the old batch and make friends with them. They have survived the CD for half year and in the cruel world of Clinical Division, it equals to several light years for mere human (Hahahaha! )

But seriously, it is always wise to break the ice and get to know your old batch. Don’t ever think that you are better than them because you think you are smarter than them.

What if they think they are smarter than you and act unfriendly to you? Well, think of it as the side effect of being several months in CD. Don’t take it personally and try to humble yourself. Just play their game. If they want to be respected and adored, just do it! It will make them happy and think you are their ally.

Trust me, you will get very very valuable knowledge from the old batch and besides, you will get them as your friend also!

Tip #3

Learn about each CI teaching style

So you already have a good relationship with your old batch and they are your friend, now what?

Ask them about each CI (Clinical Instructor) teaching style and most importantly, quizzes and exam style…

You can receive different comments from different old batch so try to ask some of them instead. Ask what the brightest old batch opinon and ask the wacky-and-not-so-bright as well so you won’t have a bias view point and insights from both side of the coin.

Understanding the CI style has been proven as a great advantage when I was in CD. Because I will know:

when they like to give the quizzes,
what kind of questions that most probably will come out, and even better,
how to get the letter A grade (yes, it is not impossible to get A grade in CD, although now you might think that it is just a fairy tale.. ;D)

Now by knowing each CI style, you have higher chance of surviving the CD without losing your sanity.

Tip #4

If you can not hang around with your previous friends anymore, hang around with your CD friends (your batch, old batch, or CI)

One of the consequences of entering the CD life is that you will no longer have time to hang out with your friends like you used to. But don’t worry, it doesn’t mean that you will lose them permanently. Although for about a year, you will live in a close-to-seclusion from them. Hahaha!

But hey, look around your classroom! You have your batch, old batch, and even CI to be your friends that you can hang out with. They are human and they can be cool also, whatever you previously thought them they are.

I enjoyed hanging around with my batch when I was in CD. We had potlucks after the church on Sabbath, we had several outings, we had barbecue party together, in short, we had so many great times! In fact, I still contact some of them until now although I’m no longer in the Philippines.

I pity the CD students that never enjoy their CD life with their batch because they lost so many things.

To all Med Tech

For now, these are the four tips that I can thought of in helping people to survive the CD hardship in AUP. I hope after reading this article, I could be a help for you and make you smile. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments section and I will do my best to answer it .

This article is dedicated to all Med Tech who have passed the CD life, still trying to survive in CD, and who will have their share in CD. As the last word, however hard CD life could be, I wanna tell you that it will be one of the most memorable time in your life.