Health Care Technician

As a health care technician, you may choose to become more skilled in your particular area of expertise and take classes to advance your career. Some health care technicians decide to focus on the administrative angle and take on a more managerial role. Some of the most popular areas of expertise include:

Health Information Technician: One of the most rapidly growing areas of health care is health information technology. A job as a health information or medical records technician involves organizing and managing patient health information, as well as coordinating with medical professionals such as doctors to confirm diagnoses and ensure correct and consistent data. There are also specialty fields within health information technology which require additional training, for instance medical billing and coding.

Clinical Laboratory Technician: A health care technician who works in a clinical laboratory performs many of the tests that we rely on to detect and diagnose disease, from identifying bacterial infections to matching blood types for transfusions. A phlebotomist, for example, is one type of clinical laboratory technician. Clinical laboratory technicians prepare specimens and administer tests under the supervision of clinical technologists or laboratory managers.

Pharmacy Technician: Pharmacy technicians generally work in a retail setting or in a hospital, and they perform a variety of administrative tasks critical to helping licensed pharmacists prepare and dispense prescription medications. Within a hospital or a care facility, pharmacy technicians may also record prescription information onto patient data forms, prepare insurance claims, and deliver patients' medication to doctors and nurses.

Although some health care technician careers only require a certificate from a community college, hospital or vocational program, the majority of health care technicians hold at least an associate's degree. Those with an interest in administration or management should pursue a bachelor's or a master's degree in health services management, health administration or business. You will also want to check with your accredited health care technician program to determine whether you need any additional certification or licensure; pharmacy technicians, for instance, must be registered with the state board of pharmacy to practice in most states.

Health care salaries for technicians vary depending on the area of specialty and the industry in which the technician is employed, with government jobs, scientific research and pharmaceutical development among the most lucrative industries. Medical and clinical laboratory technicians earned a median annual salary of $40,987 as of November 2009, according to Salary.com. Medical records and health information technicians earned a median annual salary of $30,936, and, in Salary.com's 2010 national average survey, pharmacy technicians earned $32,080 annually.