How to Become a Histotechnologist or Histotechnician

Histotechnologists are generally medical laboratory personnel who prepare samples of body tissues for analysis by a pathologist. They typically attend college, major in histotechnology, and then find work in a hospital or other clinical setting.

Histotechnicians are generally employable after completing a 4-year bachelor's degree. While there are obviously some advanced degrees in histotechnology, those are not required for legal employment like psychologists, lawyers, medical doctors, and some other professions.

The curriculum of these histotechnology programs focuses heavily on chemistry, biology, and other physical sciences. Accredited programs will also have classes with plenty of hands-on instruction for the tasks performed by histotechnologists or at least training opportunities with internship or other training programs.

The National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences accredits histotechnology degree programs in the United States. To find an accredited program, go to the NAACLS website's "Accredited and Approved Program Search" page. See the link to this page in the Resources section below.

On that search page, you will see a search engine for finding laboratory-science programs in several disciplines. When using this search tool, select "HT" as the Program Type. This will return the list of accredited histotechnology degree programs. it is advisable to attend one of these accredited programs because it will increase your chances of employment and later certification and enhance your overall career prospects as a histotechnician.

At the time of this article, there were 41 such approved programs located throughout the country. This is a fairly small number, so your options may be limited if you want to attend an accredited program.

The American Medical Association did a study in 2005 to estimate histotechnologist salaries. The median figure they came up with was a range of about $45,000 to $50,000. Thus, while becoming a histotechnician is not likely to give you one of the highest paying jobs, it is certainly not one of the lowest, either.

Tip: You can also increase your career potential by getting histotechnologist certification. Check out the American Medical Association's "Histotechnologist" page for a list of organizations that provide histotechnology certification.

Resources:

NAACLS Accredited and Approved Program Search

American Medical Association: Histotechnologist