Medical Laboratory Technicians
On the Job
Medical Laboratory Technicians perform routine laboratory tests to diagnose, treat, and prevent diseases. They may work under the supervision of a Medical Laboratory Technologist.
Physical Demands
This career requires good eyesight.
Typical Work Tasks
People who work in this career often:
- Enter patient or treatment data into computers.
- Conduct research to increase knowledge about medical issues.
- Test biological specimens to gather information about patient conditions.
- Inform medical professionals regarding patient conditions and care.
- Analyze laboratory findings.
- Analyze laboratory specimens to detect abnormalities or other problems.
- Analyze test data or images to inform diagnosis or treatment.
- Train medical providers.
- Operate laboratory equipment to analyze medical samples.
- Collect biological specimens from patients.
Typical Working Conditions
- Having face-to-face discussions.
- Working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions.
- The importance of being accurate or exact.
- Wearing common protective or safety equipment such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, hard hats, or life jackets.
- Working with a group or team.
- Exposure to disease or infections.
- Repeating the same motions many times.
- Freedom to make decisions without supervision.
- Meeting strict deadlines.
- Exposure to contaminants (like gases or odors).
This page includes information from the O*NET 24.2 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Source: You can learn about our data sources in the About Us section.