• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.105-121
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• 2021

To investigate and accommodate opinions on the revision of the official occupational title of the medical technologist, the Korean Association of Medical Technologists (KAMT) requested 22,638 people registered as its regular members to participate in an online survey and select their two preferred options from the alternative job titles presented. Survey responses were collected from 3,999 people (17.66%). To examine job title preferences among the KAMT members, each respondent was asked to choose two terms from the choice set. As a result, 6,958 responses were obtained, and out of the total responses, 5,555 (79.83%) indicated a choice for a job title that included the word 'analyst' as the preferred alternative. The survey results showed that "Diagnostic Laboratory Analyst" was the most preferred alternative selected by the largest proportion of respondents (2,417 responses, 34.73%), followed by "Clinical Laboratory Analyst" (1,710 responses, 24.57%), "Biomedical Pathology Technologist" (758 responses, 10.89%), "Biomedical Analyst" (730 responses, 10.49%), "Biomedical Laboratory Analyst" (730 responses, 10.03%), and "Clinical Laboratory Scientist" (646 responses, 9.26%). Therefore, based on the responses of the surveyed members, results of consultation and literature review, the Standard Classification of Occupations (SCO), and the current status of the job titles used in major countries, it is suggested that the occupational title of medical technologists should be changed by adopting "Diagnostic Laboratory Analyst", "Biomedical Laboratory Analyst", or "Biomedical Analyst" as their new official job title.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to find terms that can give identity to the major and occupation of clinical laboratory technologist (also known as medical technologist). The term clinical pathology includes all branches of pathology, namely anatomical pathology, chemical pathology, hematology, microbiology, and all respective subspecialties. Unfortunately, several countries exclude anatomical pathology from the term clinical pathology, a problem that gets compounded when the title is translated into languages other than English. Clinical pathology (US, UK) is a medical specialty. Similar terms are laboratory medicine (Germany, Poland), medical/clinical biology (France, Netherlands) or clinical analysis (Spain). Depending on the person questioned, medical technology is defined slightly differently by individuals, companies, and institutions. The definition also depends on the language in which the question is asked. Medical technology can be translated to define clinical laboratory technology, allied health sciences, medical equipment, biomedical engineering, and health technology. The terms 'clinical pathology technology and pathological technology' are not used in allied health sciences. The names of 'medical technology·medical technologist' can be replaced by 'biomedical laboratory science·biomedical laboratory technologist' or 'clinical laboratory analysis·clinical laboratory analyst'. In this study, it is proposed to change the name of academic and occupation to 'medical biology·medical biology technologist' that combines the term biomedical.