MLT or Nursing? Indecisive about my future!

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hi there, i am in my late twenties, and i have just finished all of my nursing prerequisites after a grueling 5 years of part time enrollment, and many student loans. i started school with the intention of becoming a nurse, however someone told me about the medical laboratory technology program last year, and i switched to it because i was afraid that i would not get into nursing school, and the mlt program was alot shorter.

i dropped out of the mlt course after the first semester because i felt like i wasn't sure if i wanted to completely give up on nursing. after applying to a few nursing schools, i got on one waiting list, but never got an admission offer. now i feel discouraged because of this, as well as the hiring freezes on new nurse grads. i'm stuck trying to decide between mlt and nursing once again.

mlt will only take me another year and a half to finish, they are in demand, the work is less stressful, and i am guaranteed a spot in the program because i was already admitted to it, and almost all of the mlt graduates last year had job offers by the time they graduated. however, they are paid much less than nurses, and its not very "hands on" like nursing. i would be struggling to pay rent and loan bills while making only about $16-$18 an hour.

nursing, on the other hand will take me two and a half years if i get in for the spring 2012 semester, which doesn't seem bad until i add it too the 5 years its taken me to get this far already. in addition, the nursing degree i'd be getting would be a ba degree, whereas the mlt degree would only be an as degree (i'd need about 5 years total to get my mlt bachelors due to additional prereqs). i just feel like nursing is what i really want to do, but right now, the economy and my ever-growing student loans are guiding my decision more.

many people tell me the decision is simple: go to nursing because its what you want to do. i agree, except that i will have to start paying alot of loans once i graduate. here is where the major downfall of nursing comes in: i have done alot of research online, and there is so much media now saying that hospitals are no longer hiring new nursing graduates. :eek: i am a phlebotomist, so i do have some medical experience, but all of the jobs for rns say you specifically need "rn experience", and most ask for at least two years. thats my fear, i am so afraid that i will graduate, and not get a job, and be stuck with $800 a month loan bills that i wouldn't be able to pay, and muchless be able to pay rent as well!

any opinions or advice would be helpful; its hard to make a decision when i keep hearing clashing media and statics about the nursing shortage and the hiring freezes.

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Specializes in Professor,Med Surg, Long term care Research, Admin.

You have to decide what will be the best direction to go into. No one can tell which is better for you than yourself. Whatever you decide will be fine. I have been able to do both programs and I can say both had their challenges. I went to lab school thinking it would be easier. I was wrong I still had to study my butt off not to get put out the program. I thought I would be a hermit in the lab but ended up in a small hospital doing everything. I ran the second shift by myself. I did phlebotomy, xrays and bloodgases. I also did lab test in the chemistry, hematology, bloodbank and microbiology department. After all that and tons of patient contact I was stressed out. I said to myself I might as well be a nurse with all I'm doing. I went to weekends to support myself while I went to nursing school. In some areas it was hard to get hired in but I eventually did. What I'm basically saying each decision has its own challenges. It is what you make of it. If you go straight into nursing the job market may have changed by the time you finish.

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Thank you for your reply! Has anyone seen any real data as far as what to expect in to coming years for the nursing job outlook? I know that everyone says there will be a huge shortage by 2020, but I believe that statistic was compiled before anyone took the recession into account.

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I have been doing ALOT of researching lately, and I have decided to go for the medical laboratory route. In addition to many sleepless hours of internet browsing for statistics and articles, I have also called 6 hospitals in my area for information on job prospects for the two fields, and 4 of the hospitals agreed that they are not taking new nursing grads in the foreseeable future, 1 hospital said they would take new grads as "new nursing student assistants" who only make $12.57 an hour, and 1 hospital said they could not discuss the matter after transferring my call three times (lol).

I hate to give up on nursing, but I have to ensure that my student loans are being paid once I graduate. According to most of the online research, the opinions that the hospitals gave me are consistent with the general job market...there are nursing shortages, but the economy has brought about creative ways for hospitals to "mask" those shortages by piling on more work to current nurses, and by taking on part timers. The hospitals also have their choice of seasoned nurses who have crawled out of retirement that require little to no training, or new grads who need alot of time, money, and carry alot of liability that the hospitals don't want to deal with. Sorry for the pessimism, but I am disheartened that my dream job of almost 15 years is not looking like the "smart" thing to do (at least for me).

I hope things will change, but I keep thinking that when the economy does turn around, all of those new grads will still be out there to compete with for jobs IN ADDITION to the ones who refuse to retire. Please note, this is just my opinion on whats best for me considering my loans and the current job market, and in reference to New grads, if you are not a new grad, kudos, because many hospitals are begging for those people with at least 2-5 years of experience...my question is, how do you get that "required registered nursing experience" that hospitals all require you to have, if no one will hire you?

Here are some articles that I have found on the matter, for anyone else considering this matter (the last one is troubling for me because its right in my local area):

http://postbulletin.typepad.com/pulse_on_health/2011/01/nursing-shortage-or-nursing-glut.html

http://www.strategiesfornursemanagers.com/ce_detail/234741.cfm

http://nursing.advanceweb.com/article/nursing-job-shortage.aspx

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/16/nurse-shortage-replaced-b_n_424804.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-07-09-1Anurses09_ST_N.htm

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Specializes in Critical care.

This is exactly the type of thing that keeps me awake at night. I am throwing caution to the wind and still going for it...it may not be smart but its something I have always wanted to do and now I can. I applied to a BSN program through a city hospital so i am hoping that will help to get hired as they often hire on their students. In the meantime I am starting my CNA course in 2 weeks so that I can have that experience and maybe even get into a hospital that way.

We'll see, I sympathize with your decision...its a tough one. Good luck!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Transferstudent,

You've obviously made a very wise decision. Keep in mind that nothing's forever - you can certainly decide to move into nursing in the future if things change.

There are many other health careers that are comparable to nursing but have much better job prospects in the immediate future. COTAs and PTAs are great fields right now. The radiologic technologies (nuc med, sonography, etc) are always in demand also.

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@amkrafka: I wish you luck in the future! Perhaps things will change:)

@HouTx: Thank you for your support! I will try the lab for a bit and see how that goes; I do not mind blood or samples at all. I have looked into Physical Therapy Assistant programs, but for some reason they never caught my attention. As for COTAs, I will definitely have to look into that career some more. Thanks for the tips:idea:

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I"m glad I found this...i'm in the same boat...all pre req's are done and I am looking at nursing, radiology and the mlt but the more I look at the med lab tech the better I like it...I'd rather the pay scale of nursing and unlike most people I am ready to move to anywhere in the country that has an RN job but the only new grad I know that got a job quickly was already working on the unit as a CNA.....I hope your student loans are regular stafford..just go half time (6hours) in the fall/spring and they will stay in a school deferment forever..it's unlimited...at least you can hold them off until your income catches up...

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After all of that indecisiveness, I made the decision to do the MLT Associate Program. I work as an MLT in a Microbiology lab, and I wish I had done nursing lol! I like my job, but as a lab worker, I feel like I am at the bottom of the hospital ladder. I get paid almost half as much as a nurse (which I feel I was not told how little I would be making, the school said I'd be making as much as a nurse...WRONG!!!). I will say that I am glad I did not do Bachelor's in Medical Laboratory Science... in Maryland, alot of hospitals treat Associates (MLT) and Bachelors (MT) the same; same pay, same responsibility, same title. I am an MLT, but I get paid the same as an MT, and my work title is MT. This varies per hospital, but my point is that the pay is very low for MLTs, and ridiculously low for MT who have HUGE loan debts, but get paid only $20 to $25 an hour.

I decided to come back and comment here if anyone else reads this who is trying to decide. Your state may be different (I know CA pays higher), but in general it seems like a dead end job. Hospitals treat you like a factory worker (especially if you end up working in chemistry, its just putting samples in and out of an instrument all day). For the most part, my main issues are the low pay though, because the phlebotomists here get paid $15 an hour, and I get paid $20 an hour! Thats a $5 difference between someone with a high school diploma or GED vs people in the lab with mostly Bachelor's Degrees (only 2 people here are MLTs)!

My biggest advice is don't believe the hype that schools tell you. Yes, you will get a job easily, but thats because most younger MLTs or MTs choose to move on to another field such as PA, nursing, ect because the pay is so much lower than what they expected, and also (and this is key), people in the lab are not in the public eye, so we tend not to get raises as much, or get good hours/ vacation/ ect because we don't have the support of the public, or unions, ect.

In the end, yes I did graduate sooner, but I paid the price with a dead end career, VERY low pay, and the cost of getting the degree really does not pay off at all. I had to defer my loans because my pay is too low to cover them!

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@TRANSFERSTUDENT I would like to thank you so much for your post! you have no idea how much it means to me to have someone I can relate to. I've been searching MLT/MT & LPN/RN day and night to the point exhaustion, I honestly think I am driving myself completely insane. I am in my early 30's and I am paying for school out of pocket, so it is important for me to pick the "right career" on my first try ("if you start right, you will end up right"). MLT to MT was my first choice, because of the hard sciences behind it (I LOVE SCIENCE and putting theory to practice sounds like such an awesome idea) I've been reading A LOT of negative reviews about the profession (mostly the pay), but I still wanted to be part of this profession and I wanted to bring my positive character into this profession.

I am also interested in RN, however I am afraid that I won't be able to handle the stress that comes with this rewarding career. I am not confident that I will be able to handle the patient interactions or the MD to RN relationship. I've never tried so I have no reason to be "afraid" of it, but I can't check the anxious feeling. I actually work as a DME intake specialist (I've been a Front Desk patient coordinator for many years now) and I deal with patients day in and day out. A lot of my patients are unhappy and they end up taking a lot of their frustrations on to me (which I completely understand...if I couldn't sleep either I would not be a very pleasant person myself)...but this makes me think, "will i deal with angry patients every single day for the rest of my life as an RN"

To make this long story short, I think I've decided to suck it up! lol dive in head first and be positive about it ...I think will go for LPN (see how I handle the constant patient interaction) and then go for my RN (or if it doesn't work out I'd go for MT). I wanted to ask you since it's been a few years, how is it going with your MT career? did things get better? did you end up going back to school for RN? is the pay still the same now?

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I'm late here but I'm hoping you'll see this and give me some insight. I came across this as I'm an MLT student and I also live in MD and I'm curious as to what hospital you worked at and if things ever got any better in that field. Thank you

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