When you hear the term “med tech” or medication assistant, it usually refers to the certified medication technician who generally operates in nursing houses and intermediate or long-term care centers, helping nurses by handing out medications. It’s a low-level, however crucial job. A med tech is a solid entry-level position that could help you make a little cash while you continue your education in nursing or if you’re going on to medical school. At the same time, accreditations like the med tech credential give you hands-on experience you typically have to enter med school and to land the much better certified nursing aide, or CNA, jobs. As a med tech, you supervise of distributing the everyday dose of medicine.
Required Education
End up high school or get your G.E.D., or basic education diploma. Then, finish a course to become a certified nursing assistant, more frequently called a CNA. It’s usually a six-week course that you can take through your local community college or other medical training center. After passing the CNA state examination, then you need to get your name on the unlicensed health-care employees registry in your state.
Practice
Operate in an assisted living home, for a home healthcare agency, hospital or doctor’s workplace as a CNA for six months and after that enlist in the med tech class at your local college. In some states, it’s a 60 hour course followed by another state test; it might only take 16 hours in other states. Consult your local nursing board to learn more about your state’s precise med tech training requirements. In some states, like Maryland, you don’t even need to be a CNA to become a med tech.
Exams to Get Certification
Skip the whole CMT, or certified med tech, course work and take the test if you’ve been working in the health-care field for a long time as a signed up nurse or LPN. In numerous states, you can even skip the classwork and go directly to the exam if you’re enrolled in nursing school since you’ve pretty much covered all the info you’ll find out in the med tech class.
How to Stay Certified Med Tech?
Restore your credentials every two years with your state’s registry and do all the required hours they need. In some states, you may have to work as a CNA for only 8 hours in the two-year period to stay existing on the pc registry, while other states might require you to work up to 100 hours in that very same period. To renew, you just require a signed kind from a manager mentioning you worked the required variety of hours.
Suggestion
You may be able to avoid the CMT coursework if you’ve in fact been doing the work of a med tech in a psychological health center or other place that isn’t as extremely managed as retirement home. Get a letter from your supervisor and take it to the state screening board and ask to take the test. You’ll need to know fundamentals about medications and their effects on patients, fundamental medical terminology and infection control.
Caution
Anticipate to spend a few bucks for all these courses and state examinations. In some states, you even need to pay to be listed on the health-care pc registry, while in other places, they are free. Courses for CMT can be as high as $200, then you have to spend for books and the state examination. You may want to speak with your nursing manager to discover how much extra you can earn with the credntial to make sure it’s worth the time and money.
