To me just getting a higher certification is not grounds for higher pay. The
person would have to take on more responsibility to earn that. If they are
doing the same work, I suggest that is a waste of the higher-certified
persons knowledge and skill.

At the last hospital I worked in we had two grades for techs. We had a
larger lab with 11 techs, so it was easy to designate different duties. One
was "bench tech" and that covered all the routine work, including immuno's
done under supervision. We also had a "Senior Tech" position which covered
supervising bench techs in a given area. For instance, We had three senior
techs (four if you count cytology), one over routine cutting, staining and
special stains, and one over the grossing/frozen section area and one over
IHC,ISH Kidney and muscle work. Each senior tech was responsible for
managing the workflow, handling problems, developing technologies, training
new techs, and covering for abscences if necessary. They had a significant
pay difference between these two positions. The supervisor was another level
above the senior tech.

At a smaller lab I worked at (4 techs and a lab assistant) it was not as
clear cut as far as supervisory jobs went. But we did have distinctions
between lower grade and higher grade. The base was lab assistant, who got
all the grunt work. Then if a person got their HT they were promoted and
handled routine histology work and didn't have to do the lab assistant type
work. If a person got their HTL then they were eligible for special training
in IHC, ISH, and EM. They were also made responsible for some aspect of the
lab; maybe specials, grossing, IHC etc. We all did the routine work, but
then had the special responsibility for a given area. That responsiblilty
included QA/QC, writing procedures, developing new techniques, training
others, etc. The pay difference was significant between HT and HTL. There
was no policy that there had to be a certain number of HT's or HTL's; in
fact the lab director would have been happy as punch to have all HTL's
working in the lab (besides lab assistants, which we always had). This
seemed to work well, even in such a small lab. When I left we had three
HTL's and one HT and the lab ran very smoothly. I will say that the lab
director (pathologist) was always interested in all kinds of training for
the people in our lab and would pay out of his own pocket to help people out
(the hospital would pay nothing!). I realize now that I was in a very
special situation at that institution.

Tim Morken
Atlanta 

-----Original Message-----
From: Soto, Roxanne [mailto:RSoto@covhealth.org]
Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2002 6:55 PM
To: Histonet (E-mail)
Subject: HT/HTL


Hi everyone,

Can anyone tell me what you do with job classification between technicians
and technologists?  Do you have a distinction?  If an HT and an HTL sit down
side by side and do the same exact work everyday, no more, or no less,
should there be a distinction between them?  And by distinction, I am job
code and pay grade.
Thanks for any input.
Roxanne Soto HT(ASCP)
AP Supervisor
FSL (SJH, SFH, EMH)
414-447-2272
rsoto@covhealth.org







Privileged/Confidential information may be contained in this message.  The
information contained in this message is intended only for the use of the
recipient(s) named above and their co-workers who are working on the same
matter.

The recipient of this information is prohibited from disclosing the
information to any other party unless this disclosure has been authorized in
advance.

If you are not intended recipient of this message or any agent responsible
for delivery of the message to the intended recipient, you are hereby
notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or action taken in
reliance on the contents of this message is strictly prohibited.  You should
immediately destroy this message and kindly notify the sender by reply
E-Mail.

Please advise immediately if you or your employer does not consent to
Internet E-Mail for messages of this kind.  Opinions, conclusions and other
information in this message that do not relate to the official business of
the firm shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by it.