Meaning & use
medical technician
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountablemedical
A trained worker who runs medical equipment or carries out tests and procedures to help doctors diagnose and treat patients.
Grammar: Countable: a medical technician, several medical technicians.
Patterns
- work as a medical technician
- a medical technician at a hospital
The medical technician prepared the blood samples for testing.
He trained for two years to become a medical technician.
A medical technician set up the scanner before the patient arrived.
nouncountablemedicalmilitary
In some countries and armed forces, a paramedic or first responder who gives emergency care at the scene of an accident.
Grammar: Countable, often used in emergency services contexts.
Patterns
- emergency medical technician
A medical technician bandaged his arm on the roadside.
The ambulance carried two medical technicians.
She served as a medical technician in the army.
Word forms
| plural | medical technicians |
|---|
Common combinations
- qualified medical technician
- Only a qualified medical technician may run the machine.
- emergency medical technician
- An emergency medical technician arrived within minutes.
- hire a medical technician
- The clinic needs to hire a medical technician.
- laboratory medical technician
- The laboratory medical technician logged each sample.
Synonyms and how they differ
- lab technician
- A lab technician works with samples, so the term is narrower than medical technician.
- paramedic
- A paramedic treats patients in emergencies, which is only one possible job for a medical technician.
- radiographer
- Radiographer is the British name for the person who takes X-ray images, so it names one specific kind of technician.
- clinical assistant
- Clinical assistant suggests general help to clinicians rather than technical equipment skills.
Word family
- technician noun
- someone skilled in technical work
- technical adjective
- relating to practical or scientific skills
- medicine noun
- the science of treating illness
- medically adverb
- in relation to medicine
Commonly confused: medical technician or technologist?
medical technician vs technologist
A technologist often has a higher degree and more responsibility, while a technician follows standard procedures.
Practice
A medical technician is most likely to ___.
Choose one answer.
Technicians work with equipment and tests. Performing surgery is for surgeons, which is the tempting but wrong choice.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “medical technician”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.