Medical Lab Coats

Disposable Lab Coats & Medical Lab Coats Source

medical lab coats

Please help; a career in UK medicine/ science?

Hello! I am 23 and have recently taken an interest in science and medical technology after sadly neglecting it at school.

At the moment I have a menial job as a typist for a large office. However, my local city hospital is advertising for 'Laboratory Techncian: Cytology', starting at £13k.

I know that a laboratory techinician performs the more basic tasks in a research environment; what exactly, however, can I expect with this job? Will I be exposed to any 'science' at all, or will I simply be a dogsbody?

What is career progression likely to be? Might I have the opportunity to study for academic qualifications to move me up the ladder? How might my career map out, with a start as a lab tech in Cytology?

Perhaps most importantly, will I get to wear a white lab coat?

Any serious insight welcome.
David- thanks, great answer! I already have an undergraduate degree but it is in an unrelated field (archaeology).

I work in a hospital in a research lab in the U.S. I have a bachelors degree in Biology + 5 yrs experience.

To get where I am you would need a bachelors degree in biology. I think for most places you will find that at least a bachelors in a science field is necessary. If this i not the case, then going up the ladder could be very tricky. As you will be behind all of those with postdocs, doctorates, Masters, Bachelors and then you.

So to jump in would be difficult and to move up would be EVEN harder, as anyone with a bachelors + will not like it if you earn more than them, so you never would.

If you have a degree in anything, you could go back to school and get your masters in about 1 year, or if not, you could go and get your master starting from 0 in about 4 years. This would qualify you to work in a lab. If you would like to one day run a lab, you will need a Ph.D (add on 3 years in the U.K. or 5 in the U.S., and potentially a post doc or two - add a further 2-3 years). So as you can see there is lots of work to do!

During this time, you would definitely get to wear a lab coat! and you would also get to be working in science - just not making any money Science is not a huge money maker, even if you run your own lab, you will not necessarily make a huge amount of money and you really MUST LOVE SCIENCE.

I would be interested to know in what way you like science. The higher up you go in science, the more you know about less and less! You need to assess what it is that really interests you about science, if it is the prospect of earning 13K a year, then sure go for that job, if it is a career in science then you need to head to school.

It is unlikely you will learn that much about science in your job and I expect it would be quite menial, however it would let you know whether research is for you. Life in the lab is certainly not like CSI would have you believe.

I hope I have not left you feeling down about it. My sister was 27 when she went back to school to study ecology, she loves it and is going to do a Ph.D in it.

My final piece of advice is at 23, the career train has barely left the station, so there is plenty of time to catch up. However if you never even try and catch up with it because you believe it is too far gone, you will never catch it.

Very Very final piece of advice! Work out what really interests you either in science or about a career choice and make the right baby steps, no-one lands there ideal job on day one.

Best of luck

How To Become an Esthetician

Is it hygienic for food service or medical workers to wear their aprons and/or lab coats to and from work?

I was talking to someone about this a few minutes ago. Is it a big deal for nurses or food service workers to wear their lab coats and/or aprons in the street and then into their place of employment? This would be before work, and during breaks, lunches, ect. thanks
p.s. What if the person wears the apron or coat from their home, to the car, and straight to work?
Also, why do restaurants and hospitals only provide one or two aprons and lab coats if they are concerned with hygiene. Seems like they would provide at least five for people who work full-time.

I was a USDA QA Tech for a long time in a poultry production cook plant. And according to government guidelines it is not permissable to wear any thing that is a supposed santitary covering out of the production area. period. You may not do this. You also must wash your hands upon the entering into any area that production is taking place as well as wear hairnets and gloves that will not allow any surface of exposed skin contact with the product. This causes potential contamination of the product and if it found to be in noncompliance all product must be thrown away. I mean all of it that was on the line at the time of the documented incident and then all the surfaces must be washed down and sanitized before they can be used again. Poultry Quality Assurance Techs ar ethe people who keep you from getting sick from contaminated food stuffs in the market. Don't think that because they work at the "Chicken Plant" that they are not on top of the game. If they were not., People would be getting ill constantly.