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Histologist vs histologic technician

The differences between histologists and histologic technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a histologist, becoming a histologic technician takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a histologist has an average salary of $59,183, which is higher than the $49,962 average annual salary of a histologic technician.

The top three skills for a histologist include ASCP, patient care and immunohistochemistry. The most important skills for a histologic technician are ASCP, patients, and tissue specimens.

Histologist vs histologic technician overview

HistologistHistologic Technician
Yearly salary$59,183$49,962
Hourly rate$28.45$24.02
Growth rate17%-
Number of jobs1,4636,785
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 58%Bachelor's Degree, 53%
Average age4144
Years of experience42

What does a histologist do?

Another name for a his/her tologist is his/her tology technician, or his/her totechnician. They are health care workers who work in a medical laboratory. They are trained specifically to prepare tissue samples for a pathologist to analyze. Their duties include cutting tissue samples from organs and other tissues and staining them with specific dyes to help with microscopic analysis of the sample tissues. They may either work with humans, animals, or plant specimens. Their analysis helps with the diagnosis of disease abnormalities.

What does a histologic technician do?

A Histologic Technician prepares tissue specimens for routine and special procedures to confirm a patient diagnosis. They work in hospital laboratories, government agencies, public health departments, and other institutions.

Histologist vs histologic technician salary

Histologists and histologic technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

HistologistHistologic Technician
Average salary$59,183$49,962
Salary rangeBetween $34,000 And $101,000Between $33,000 And $75,000
Highest paying City-Sacramento, CA
Highest paying state-Alaska
Best paying company-Battelle
Best paying industry--

Differences between histologist and histologic technician education

There are a few differences between a histologist and a histologic technician in terms of educational background:

HistologistHistologic Technician
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 58%Bachelor's Degree, 53%
Most common majorBiologyBiology
Most common collegeUniversity of Southern CaliforniaStanford University

Histologist vs histologic technician demographics

Here are the differences between histologists' and histologic technicians' demographics:

HistologistHistologic Technician
Average age4144
Gender ratioMale, 29.0% Female, 71.0%Male, 30.4% Female, 69.6%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.5% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 22.2% White, 57.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 17.1% Asian, 12.0% White, 54.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage8%8%

Differences between histologist and histologic technician duties and responsibilities

Histologist example responsibilities.

  • Manage a group of three laboratory technicians performing ELISA assays and protein purification.
  • Perform routine histology functions, special stains, frozen sectioning and Immunohistochemistry.
  • Perform routine histology tasks including embedding, sectioning, and routine staining.
  • Provide routine histology embedding, microtome processing and staining.
  • Place on slides using a Microtome.
  • Order all supplies for IHC department.
  • Show more

Histologic technician example responsibilities.

  • Perform routine histology/cytology procedures and IHC and manage 7-20 staff members.
  • Develop and implement health and safety protocols and procedures in accordance with CLIA and OSHA regulations
  • Develop a higher grade eosin for stainline.
  • Enter patient specimens into the EMR system/file patient records.
  • Cut all control slides for research and run all immunofluorescence slides.
  • Perform processing, embedding, microtomy, cryostating, routine and special stains.
  • Show more

Histologist vs histologic technician skills

Common histologist skills
  • ASCP, 15%
  • Patient Care, 9%
  • Immunohistochemistry, 6%
  • Tissue Samples, 5%
  • Lab Equipment, 5%
  • Frozen Sections, 4%
Common histologic technician skills
  • ASCP, 15%
  • Patients, 12%
  • Tissue Specimens, 5%
  • CLIA, 4%
  • IHC, 4%
  • Sectioning, 4%

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