Travel Medical Laboratory Technician Jobs

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median medical lab tech salary in the United States in 2019 was $50,030, with the top 10% earning more than $70,330. Wages tend to be highest in California, followed by Massachusetts, Alaska, New York, and Connecticut, with the lowest wages found in Texas, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Mississippi.

Experience also plays a role in salary, with medical lab technicians with 10 or more years of experience earning around $60,000 per year on average. In addition, medical lab technician career specialists in specific fields, such as immunology or hematology, can find opportunities in specialty clinics and tend to earn higher salaries than those working in other areas.

Travel medical lab technicians can find employment in many facility types from cutting edge hospitals to smaller clinics in busy cities and rural areas.

A Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT) is a healthcare professional who works with specialized laboratory machinery and is responsible for the collection, processing, and analysis of laboratory and tissue samples. The main role of a medical lab technician is to perform laboratory tests, such as urinalysis, hematology, chemistry, immunology, and microbiology tests. This is done in order to obtain test results that allow for proper diagnosis and treat diseases, as well as to monitor the progress of a patient's treatment. A technician in the lab oversees compliance with regulations and maintains laboratory equipment as well.

Most MLTs are generalists, meaning they perform sample collection and analysis work in the Core Lab, do basic microbiology, and probably basic blood banking. Core Lab consists of Chemistry, Hematology, Coagulation (Coag for short), and Urinalysis. Blood Bank and Microbiology are the other two areas. Typically, people that can perform extensive microbiology (like reading plates) are only micro techs and are not proficient in the other areas of the lab. The larger the facility and facility budgets, the more specialized they are likely to be and work in just one or two departments.

Subsets Chemistry, Hematology, Coag, Urinalysis, Microbiology, Blood Bank

To become a Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT), you must first have a high school diploma or equivalent. After that, you must complete a MLT training program and earn certification.

Most training programs can be found at community and junior colleges, technical schools, and universities. These programs typically last between one and two years and include both classroom-based courses and laboratory experience. In the classroom-based courses, you will learn about laboratory procedures, medical terminology, and safety protocols. In the laboratory experience, you will learn how to properly use and maintain laboratory equipment.

Once you have completed your MLT training program, the next step is to obtain certification. You can become certified through the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP). To qualify, you will need to pass the ASCP’s Board of Certification (BOC) exam. You can prepare for the exam by taking practice tests and studying the BOC’s study guide.

While compensation offers can vary depending on the contract or agency offering, pay packages for travel laboratory jobs typically have four major components: hourly taxable wages, meals and incidentals, housing, and travel.

Hourly Pay

Full-time lab technicians working at healthcare facilities receive a salary, but most travel allied health employers offer hourly wages. Every pay package for MLT travel jobs must include a taxable hourly wage, and the amount can vary depending on the shift, location, and specialty required of the assignment.

Housing

Housing payments can be included in a payment from a staffing agency. This is typically offered in two ways when you take on an allied travel job. Either the company is providing prearranged housing, or the traveler is taking the housing stipend to find their own accommodations.

It is more beneficial for the traveler to take the housing stipend for two primary reasons. First, they will have a choice of where they will stay. Everyone’s definitions of comfort and acceptable are different. The second reason the housing stipend is more beneficial for them is that it can be given as a nontaxable amount.

Meals and Incidentals

Also known as per diems, meal and incidental stipends provide a daily budget for daily living expenses. These standards vary depending on the cost of living in cities and states across the country.

Travel Expenses

Travel is the last portion of the pay package. Many recruiters may not even offer travel reimbursement and instead put that money into the per diems or housing for their traveler, so they are receiving the benefits over the entire contract, not just at the very beginning or end of the contract.

While a travel stipend can be used to cover the cost of a flight for the traveler, it is often used to subsidize the traveler’s expenses to and from an assignment. Travel expenses can be offered as a reimbursement rate per mile, though many agencies will opt to offer a flat rate to and from an assignment.

Many travel medical lab technicians find work through recruitment agencies, travel companies and marketplaces, which means you have better access to job boards to choose your schedule, location, and salary. When you begin browsing for jobs, be sure to consider the housing options, the benefits, the guaranteed hours' policy, and the recruiting company’s overall reputation.

The good news is that Fusion Marketplace has everything you need when it comes to finding the perfect travel laboratory jobs. Here, you have the freedom to compare benefits, packages, and staffing agencies—all in one place. So find your next job today.