Histotechs???

[TheCritic]

What type of educational background do most histotechs have? Most being the key word.

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[Gut Shot]

Speed eating.

Ha ha, just kidding! If you're reading this, I love you gals!

 

[pathstudent]

i think there is a 2 year community college certification program type thing. It also seems like something you could learn on the job. There is an incredible demand for histotechs right now both in hospital labs and now with the proliferation of pod labs. I am sure it varies from region to region but supposedly it is not impossible to make $30-35 per hour. Assuming you work 50 out of 52, 40 per week, that is 60-70k per year.

So two married histotechs can pull about as much as 1 new assistant professor of pathology at your average medical center.

For people that are unable to pursue years of education and don't mind taking S all day long, it is not a bad way to go.

 

[mlw03]

there is massive demand for all sorts of health care assistant type jobs, and when i talk to high school age people who don't know what they want to do, i really push this sort of stuff: x-ray techs, RN/LPN, lab tech, etc. these jobs aren't sexy, but they pay well and are really important to providing good patient care. but for whatever reason people think it's better to go to college for 4 year, major in art history or something else useless in a job market, rather than get some useful technical training. to be 21 years old making $45K per year as a histotech or x-ray tech is a ton of money. if they're smart about saving they'll be well ahead of us pathologists who won't make six figure salaries until we're in our early 30s and will have six figure debt. this is one of my personal crusades: a 4 year university is not for everyone!! get some useful skills from a technical school or a community college, and then laugh your butt off making better money than the people who went off to college and majored in midevil literature and now are working as sales consultants.

 

[djmd]

For people that are unable to pursue years of education and don't mind taking S all day long, it is not a bad way to go.

Wow good luck working with that attitude...

Good histotechs can good lab better, bad ones can wreck the best of labs.

 

[mlw03]

in my brief experience nobody gives the histotechs crap. if anything, i've seen residents and PAs go out of their way to make sure to put tissue in casettes to make things as easy as possible for the people cutting the blocks.

 

[Gene_]

this is one of my personal crusades: a 4 year university is not for everyone!! get some useful skills from a technical school or a community college, and then laugh your butt off making better money than the people who went off to college and majored in midevil literature and now are working as sales consultants.

I've been saying this for years. I'm tired of seeing academically unmotivated B/C high school students going to college and wasting 4 years when they could learn something career specific in a shorter amount of time. Histotechs where I"m at are well though of - except by me when I get a nasty note about suture/mammotome clips.

 

[yaah]

Academic histotechs don't make $60-70k, more like around $40k in a non-supervisory role. I doubt private ones make that much either, except in unusual situations as you alluded to.

There are degree programs but I have met histotechs who had no special training other than "on the job" training. Of course, they may not get paid as much.

I do think histotechs get less respect than they should, especially good histotechs. In a way it's kind of a thankless job because you often only hear about it when things go wrong.

 

[EUA]

in my brief experience nobody gives the histotechs crap. if anything, i've seen residents and PAs go out of their way to make sure to put tissue in casettes to make things as easy as possible for the people cutting the blocks.

HA! Maybe at your institution.

 

[coroner]

The histotechs at our lab (non-managerial) make $18.85/hr. And those are the ones w/ years of experience. Don't know what starting or managerial type positions makes.

 

[LADoc00]

The histotechs at our lab (non-managerial) make $18.85/hr. And those are the ones w/ years of experience. Don't know what starting or managerial type positions makes.

Hmm 18 bucks an hour is isanely low. No idea where you are...Thailand?

Histotechs CAN, and I do know some who do, make 6 figures or roughly 50-60an hour. The high I have heard of is 75 an hour. I would say shooting for 30/hr starting is not totally unreasonable depending on the COS of the area.

The key is to also acquire grossing skills since those are becoming premium for many groups, essentially you are part histotech/part path assistant.

I had many optionals for personnel structures for my corp and decided against a pure PA billet, lots of reasons why. For one, PAs are very expensive. Why not hire a lab asst or histotech who can do both immunos/special stains AND gross smalls?

 

[coroner]

Hmm 18 bucks an hour is isanely low. No idea where you are...Thailand?

No, but there's a restaurant a few block from here that serves up a pretty mean dish of chicken satay.😉

Histotechs who make 50-60/hr...WTF??? Those are ICU nurse wages with 20+ yrs. of tenure at a lot of places. Hell, even at low six figures why go to med school let alone Path when they're making as much as somebody in forensics or academics.

I guess one reason for the lower wages here are because they've all been here 15 yrs. or longer and they were grandfathered in before the requirement to get a B.S., so they only got an associate's degree. Also none of them gross. As far as grossing skills, since when did techs do that? That's why there are PA's and of course, us residents.

 

[CameronFrye]

No, but there's a restaurant a few block from here that serves up a pretty mean dish of chicken satay.😉

Histotechs who make 50-60/hr...WTF??? Those are ICU nurse wages with 20+ yrs. of tenure at a lot of places. Hell, even at low six figures why go to med school let alone Path when they're making as much as somebody in forensics or academics.

I guess one reason for the lower wages here are because they've all been here 15 yrs. or longer and they were grandfathered in before the requirement to get a B.S., so they only got an associate's degree. Also none of them gross. As far as grossing skills, since when did techs do that? That's why there are PA's and of course, us residents.

Our histotechs are certainly not making 50-60/hr. However, some of them do gross derms and smalls (and cut frozens).

 

[LADoc00]

No, but there's a restaurant a few block from here that serves up a pretty mean dish of chicken satay.😉

Histotechs who make 50-60/hr...WTF??? Those are ICU nurse wages with 20+ yrs. of tenure at a lot of places. Hell, even at low six figures why go to med school let alone Path when they're making as much as somebody in forensics or academics.

I guess one reason for the lower wages here are because they've all been here 15 yrs. or longer and they were grandfathered in before the requirement to get a B.S., so they only got an associate's degree. Also none of them gross. As far as grossing skills, since when did techs do that? That's why there are PA's and of course, us residents.

California is seriously borked...there was a SF Chronicle article about how bay area nurses were going to strike over salary, then quoted their mean salary as 142,000/year LMAO.

But yes, I know a histotech who is around 21 years old and making 45/hr+overtime at 1.5x

that is way too much I agree, but 18/hr is wayyyyy too low.

Here are the numbers where I am and Im by no means the highest compensating in the area:
transcriptionist/path specific secretary with lots of experience...22-25/hr.
lab assistant who grosses, does cyto preps............................18-20/hr
histotech manager.............................................................40/hr
cytotech.........................................................................38/hr
basic histotech.................................................................30/hr
pathologist......................................................................80-100/hr

 

[pathstudent]

California is seriously borked...there was a SF Chronicle article about how bay area nurses were going to strike over salary, then quoted their mean salary as 142,000/year LMAO.

But yes, I know a histotech who is around 21 years old and making 45/hr+overtime at 1.5x

that is way too much I agree, but 18/hr is wayyyyy too low.

Here are the numbers where I am and Im by no means the highest compensating in the area:
transcriptionist/path specific secretary with lots of experience...22-25/hr.
lab assistant who grosses, does cyto preps............................18-20/hr
histotech manager.............................................................40/hr
cytotech.........................................................................38/hr
basic histotech.................................................................30/hr
pathologist......................................................................80-100/hr

Yeah that is what I have heard too. The routine histotechs where I am make $35 an hour (an academic medical center). A starting assistant professor pathologist makes 130K/year(~$65/hr if one was working 40 hrs/ week, 50/52). So two married histotechs would be making a higher income than one new academic pathologist. And like I said they can do a 2 year community college type training certificate while it takes 12-13 years of post high school education to become a pathologist (and often times one racks up 6 figure debt in the process). It is time for CMS to double the reimbursement rate for ap pathology. At this rate it won't be long before PAs and histotechs make more than pathologists.

 

[LADoc00]

Yeah that is what I have heard too. The routine histotechs where I am make $35 an hour (an academic medical center). A starting assistant professor pathologist makes 130K/year(~$65/hr if one was working 40 hrs/ week, 50/52). So two married histotechs would be making a higher income than one new academic pathologist. And like I said they can do a 2 year community college type training certificate while it takes 12-13 years of post high school education to become a pathologist (and often times one racks up 6 figure debt in the process). It is time for CMS to double the reimbursement rate for ap pathology. At this rate it won't be long before PAs and histotechs make more than pathologists.

There is a GREAT article on the front of today's biz section for the SF Chronicle with a breakdown citing numbers very similar to mine.

The gist of it is: an associate's degree from a community college can net you in the high 30s to low 40s per hour. Time to degree: 18-24 months Cost: <$500+parking

While a pharmacist is between 40-50/hr. Time to degree: 8 years (I think) Cost: >$150,000.

Do the math on that after calculating opportunity cost for years 2 thru 8 on the pharmacy tract.

Even more interesting do the math on a forensic pathologist pulling down 60-80/hr working for a county sheriff with a time to degree of 13 years and an investment cost of 200+K.

Either someone is pulling a "New Math" based economy OR there are lots of overpaid extender types and many underpaid provider types in today's healthcare market.

 

[pathstudent]

^Supposedly PAs and histotechs are in short supply. THat likely explains how they can earn slightly less than a starting pathologist (PAs) and more than 1/2 as much as a pathologist (histotechs).

I think PAs earn more than pediatricians and FPs. It won't be long before they earn as much as pathologists make.

 

[SaltySqueegee]

These extender types have the "$hit-end" of the stick when it comes to the monotony though... right? I'd like to think the time I'm putting in means I'll actually enjoy my job in the future?

 

[LADoc00]

These extender types have the "$hit-end" of the stick when it comes to the monotony though... right? I'd like to think the time I'm putting in means I'll actually enjoy my job in the future?

not really IMO. My assistants gross new cases everyday just like I sign out new cases AND I have to deal with all the business crap, I spent >60 min with bank of america reversing BS charges on my accounts and getting new checks.

I dont think there is a huge difference in "enjoyment" factor between MDs and extenders as people would like to imagine. The only real aspect is where you lie on the totem pole. Funny that although the difference between the bottom end employees at major corporations and the CEO compensation is greater than 1:350, the difference between the MD and their nursing staff is actually approaching 1:1, totally insane IMO. What we are seeing has NO precedent in a non-socialist supposedly capitalist economy, the effects could be immense.