Activities	According to the American Medical Association's Health Care Careers Directory (2009-2010), Specialists in Blood Banking (SBB) perform both routine and specialized tests in blood centers, transfusion services, reference laboratories, and research facilities. SBB use methodologies that conform to the AABB (American Association of Blood Banks) "Standards for Blood Banks and Transfusion Services."
Outlook	Faster-than-average-job growth
Median Income	$50,000 per year (According to the AMA Health Care Careers Directory - 2009-2010)
Work Context & Conditions	According to the AMA's Health Care Career Directory, blood bank specialists may work in many types of facilities, including community blood centers, private hospital blood banks, university-affiliated blood banks, transfusion services, and independent laboratories. They also may be part of a university faculty. Blood bank specialists may have some weekend and night duty, including emergency calls.
Minimum Education Requirements	Bachelor's Degree Technical Certification Program, Post-undergraduate Education
Skills	Monitoring, Critical Thinking, Operation and Control, Quality Control Analysis, Active Listening, Time Management, Troubleshooting, Equipment Maintenance, Active Learning, Complex Problem Solving, Operation Monitoring, Reading Comprehension, Science
Abilities	Oral Expression, Deductive Reasoning, Problem Sensitivity, Written Comprehension, Near Vision, Information Ordering, Inductive Reasoning

Job Category		Healthcare Practitioners & Technical
Job Description		According to the American Medical Association's Health (AMA) Care Careers Directory (2009-2010); specialists in blood bank technology demonstrate a superior level of technical proficiency and problem-solving ability in such areas as: testing for blood group antigens, compatibility, and antibody identification; investigating abnormalities such as hemolytic diseases of the newborn, hemolytic anemias, and adverse reactions to transfusion; supporting physicians in transfusion therapy for patients with coagulopathies (diseases affecting blood clotting), for example, or candidates for organ and cellular transplantation/therapy; and performing blood collection and processing, including selecting donors,collecting blood, typing blood, and performing viral marker testing to ensure the safety of the patient. Accordingly, supervision, management, and/or teaching make up a considerable part of the responsibilities of the specialist in blood banking educational program.
Working Conditions		Specialists in blood bank technology work in many types of facilities, including community blood centers, private hospital blood banks, university-affiliated blood banks, transfusion services, and independent laboratories. They also may be part of a university faculty. They may have some weekend and night duty, including emergency calls. Qualified specialists may advance to supervisory or administrative positions or move into teaching or research activities. The criteria for advancement in this field are experience, technical expertise, and completion of advanced education courses.
Salary Range		According to the AMA's Health Care Careers Directory (2009-2010); salaries for specialists in blood banking range from a national average of $50,000 for bench techs and $60,000 for supervisors to $70,000 for managers.

Education Required		Clinical laboratory technologists generally require a bachelor's degree in medical technology or in one of the life sciences; clinical laboratory technicians usually need an associate degree or a certificate. The usual requirement for an entry-level position as a clinical laboratory technologist is a bachelor's degree with a major in medical technology or one of the life sciences; however, it is possible to qualify for some jobs with a combination of education and on-the-job and specialized training. Universities and hospitals offer medical technology programs. Bachelor's degree programs in medical technology include courses in chemistry, biological sciences, microbiology, mathematics, and statistics, as well as specialized courses devoted to knowledge and skills used in the clinical laboratory. Many programs also offer or require courses in management, business, and computer applications. The Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act requires technologists who perform highly complex tests to have at least an associate degree. Medical and clinical laboratory technicians generally have either an associate degree from a community or junior college or a certificate from a hospital, a vocational or technical school, or the Armed Forces. A few technicians learn their skills on the job. The National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS) fully accredits about 479 programs for medical and clinical laboratory technologists, medical and clinical laboratory technicians, histotechnologists and histotechnicians, cytogenetic technologists, and diagnostic molecular scientists. NAACLS also approves about 60 programs in phlebotomy and clinical assisting. Other nationally recognized agencies that accredit specific areas for clinical laboratory workers include the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs and the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools.
Recommended High School Courses		Social Studies, Biology, Mathematics, English, Chemistry, Physics, Foreign Language
Postsecondary Instructional Programs		Education and Training, English Language, Public Safety and Security, Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Customer and Personal Service, Computers and Electronics, Mechanical
Certification and Licensing		In order to become certified as a Blood Banking Specialist by the ASCP Board of Registry you must meet the academic requirements, the experience/training requirements and then successfully complete a certification examination. Certification examinations are administered year-round using computerized adaptive testing. See the web page of the American Society for Clinical Pathology for more information. The Technologist in Blood Banking, BB (ASCP) Certification Examination is for categorical certification at the technologist level. The BB certification examination is intended primarily for those individuals employed in blood banking who have baccalaureate degrees but are not certified medical technologists. Some certified Medical Technologists, MT(ASCP), may also take the BB certification examination, because the certification allows them to demonstrate more comprehensive knowledge of blood banking.

Interest Area		Investigative Involves working with ideas and requires an extensive amount of thinking.
Work Values		Achievement Get a feeling of accomplishment. Working Conditions Good working conditions.
Skills		Monitoring Assess how well someone is doing when learning or doing something. Critical Thinking Use logic and analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. Operation and Control Control operations of equipment or systems. Quality Control Analysis Conduct tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance. Active Listening Listen to what other people are saying and ask questions as appropriate. Time Management Manage one's own time and the time of others. Troubleshooting Determine what is causing an operating error and deciding what to do about it. Equipment Maintenance Perform routine maintenance and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed. Active Learning Work with new material or information to grasp its implications. Complex Problem Solving Solving novel, ill-defined problems in complex, real-world settings. Operation Monitoring Watch gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly. Reading Comprehension Understand written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents. Science Use scientific methods to solve problems.
Abilities		Oral Expression Able to convey information and ideas through speech in ways that others will understand. Deductive Reasoning Able to apply general rules to specific problems to come up with logical answers, including deciding whether an answer makes sense. Problem Sensitivity Able to tell when something is wrong or likely to go wrong. This doesn't involve solving the problem, just recognizing that there is a problem. Written Comprehension Able to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. Near Vision Able to see details of objects at a close range (within a few feet of the observer). Information Ordering Able to correctly follow rules for arranging things or actions in a certain order, including numbers, words, pictures, procedures, and logical operations. Inductive Reasoning Able to combine separate pieces of information, or specific answers to problems, to form general rules or conclusions. This includes coming up with a logical explanation for why seemingly unrelated events occur together.

Related Jobs		Biologist, Microbiologist, Technologist, Medical and Clinical Laboratory, Technician, Biological, Biologist
Job Outlook		According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, job opportunities for medical and clinical laboratory technologist are expected to be excellent, because the number of job openings is expected to continue to exceed the number of job seekers. Employment of clinical laboratory workers is expected to grow faster than average for all occupations through the year 2018, as the volume of laboratory tests continues to increase with both population growth and the development of new types of tests. Technological advances will continue to have two opposing effects on employment. On the one hand, new, increasingly powerful diagnostic tests will encourage additional testing and spur employment. On the other hand, research and development efforts targeted at simplifying routine testing procedures may enhance the ability of nonlaboratory personnel—physicians and patients in particular—to perform tests now conducted in laboratories. Although hospitals are expected to continue to be the major employer of clinical laboratory workers, employment is expected to grow faster in medical and diagnostic laboratories, offices of physicians, and all other ambulatory health care services.
More Information		American Society for Clinical Pathology, American Medical Association - Health Care Careers, AABB
References		Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, Clinical Laboratory Technologists and Technicians, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos096.htm O*NET OnLine, Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologist on the Internet at http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/29-2011.00 American Society of Clinical Pathologist, on the Internet at http://www.ascp.org/Certification/pdf/booklet.pdf American Medical Association's Health Care Careers Directory (2009-2010) at http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/16024.html