Number
of Schools Teaching Histology
Volume
Of Specimens
Number
of Jobs
Result
of understaffing on quality of care
Shortage
of histology |
| |
| Laboratories
Unable to fill all vacancies: |
| Some
of the solutions to fill vacant positions ultimately obscure
the actual “shortage” of workers. Unfilled positions
eventually are removed from the budget and registry workers,
temporary workers, and overtime is used to meet the demand
for more workers. Key informants generally agreed that there
is a shortage of “MLTs/CLT”, HTLs, and HTs, although
there were mixed perceptions regarding whether there is a
shortage of CTs. |
|
From
“The Clinical Laboratory Workforce: The Changing Picture
of Supply, Demand, Education, and Practice July 2005 |
| |
| Allied
Health Reinvestment Act |
| Hospitals
and health care facilities across America are experiencing
a critical shortage of allied health professionals, including
occupational and physical therapists, clinical laboratory
technologists, imaging technicians, and radiology technologists.
Vacancy rates reported by hospitals range from 12 to 15 percent
in these health care positions, and the expectation is that
the shortage will worsen. The Bureau of Labour Statistics
projects from 1998 to 2008 that the U.S. will need a total
of 93,000 new professionals in the clinical laboratory science.
|
| |
| |
Changes
in the Number of Job Openings from 2001 to 2002
In general, there
was an increase in the number of job openings for most of
the types of training. Most program directors in medical technology,
medical laboratory technology, histotechnology, and blood
banking reported an increase in the number of job openings
for graduates. All directors of histotechnology programs reported
an increase in the number of jobs. Not surprisingly, histotechnology
is one of the areas with the greatest reported shortages.
Only phlebotomy programs saw a decrease of greater than 10
percent in job openings.
From “The Clinical Laboratory Workforce: The Changing
Picture of Supply, Demand, Education, and Practice July 2005
|
| Requirements
to become certified HT: |
| Certification
requirements: |
Histotechnician
(HT) – to be eligible for this examination category,
an applicant must satisfy the requirements of a least one
of the following qualification routes:
1. Successful completion of a NAACLS
accredited Histotechnician Program.
2. Associate degree or at least 60 semester hours (90 quarter
hours) of academic credit from a regionally accredited college/university
with combination of 12 semester hours (18 quarter hours) of
biology and chemistry, and one year full- time acceptable
experience in histopathology within the last ten years under
the supervision of a pathologist (certified by the American
Board of Pathology in Anatomic Pathology, or eligible), or
an appropriately certified medical scientist.
3. High school graduation (or equivalent, and two years full-
time acceptable experience in histopathology, within the last
ten years, under the supervision of a pathologist (certified
by the American Board of Pathology in Anatomic Pathology,
or eligible), or an appropriately certified medical scientist.
As of January 2005, Route 3 will be discontinued.
This indicates rRequirements to become a Certified HT are
increasing.
Histotechnologist (HTL) - to be eligible for this examination
category, an applicant must satisfy the requirements of at
least one of the following qualification routes:.
1. Baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited college/university
with a combination of 30 semester hours (45 quarter hours)
of biology and chemistry, and one year full time acceptable
experience in a histopathology laboratory within the last
ten years, under the supervision of a pathologist (certified
by the American Board of Pathology in Anatomic Pathology,
or eligible if you want this in italics, you have to do the
same for the ones above), or an appropriately certified medical
scientist.
2. Baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited college/university,
including the above course requirements, and successful completion
of a NAACLS accredited Histology Technician or Histotechnology
program. |
| |
| Number
of Schools Teaching Histology: |
| ASCP
Urges House Appropriations Committees to Restore Title VII
Funding |
On
March 24, ASCP urged the House Appropriations Committee to
increase funding for the Title VII Allied Health Professions
programs, which provide seed money for establishing or expanding
allied health educational training programs. Congress cut
fiscal year (FY) 2006 funding for the programs by 68 percent--
from $300 million to $94 million. Funding for the allied health
and other disciplines program was specifically reduced from
$11.8 million to $4 million.
ASCP's testimony addressed the important work performed by
American's laboratory professionals and their role in diagnosing
and identifying treatments for patient disease. ASCP urged
increased funding to help address workforce shortages and
the alarming decline in the number of accredited training
programs over the last 10 years. , pointing out that the U.S.
Department of Labor is projecting that each year until 2014,
15,000 job openings will be available due to growth or replacements.
With fewer that 5,000 individuals graduating each year from
accredited laboratory education programs, it is unlikely that
most of these openings can be filled. The number of training
programs has decreased more than 30 percent; from 637 programs
in 1994 to 435 programs in 2004.
ASCP's testimony was in concert with the Allied Health Professions
& Nursing Education Coalition in asking Congress to fund
the Title VII programs at $550 million in FY 2007 to help
address diversity, distribution and supply issues related
to allied health professionals.
ASCP e-Policy News - April 2006
Overview
For
a number of years there has been a growing concern among
educators and the health care industry, primarily hospitals,
that there is a shortage of clinical laboratory workers.
These workers perform critical functions in health care
delivery through the collection and analysis of bodily fluids
and tissues. Yet the profession has suffered from a lack
of public recognition, declining enrollment and education
program closures, Coroberating information for Number of
schools teaching Histology relatively little real wage growth,
and a lack of career development opportunities within and
outside the laboratory setting. To study these issues, the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources
and Services Administration, Bureau of Health Professions,
National Center for Health Workforce Analysis issued a grant
to the University of California, San Francisco, Center for
California Health Workforce Studies.
|
|
From
“The Clinical Laboratory Workforce: The Changing Picture
of Supply, Demand, Education, and Practice July 2005 |
| |
| Decline
in Number of Educational Programs |
| Educational
programs in clinical laboratory science programs have been
declining since 1975 (overall program enrollment is discussed
in a later section). Figure 4 displays the number of NAACLS
approved educational programs from 1975 through 2003 (28 years)
for medical technologist (MT), medical laboratory technician
(MLT), histotechnology (HT), and phlebotomy (PBT) programs.[39]
|
| NAACLS-Accredited
Educational Programs in Clinical Laboratory |
 |
| Sciences |
| Source:
Data supplied by NAACLS |
| In
1970 there were 791 MT programs. By 2003 about 70 percent
of these programs had closed, leaving only 240 programs in
the country. The number of MLT programs (associate degree
or less) increased from 210 in 1970 to a peak of 281 in 1985;
and subsequently declined to 210 in 2003. Histotechnology
programs also peaked in 1985 at 43 programs, and diminished
to 24 programs by 2003. Data on the number of approved phlebotomy
programs is available from 1987 to 2003 (16 years) showing
growth from 9 to 58 programs. Program closures are due to
many factors including decreased attractiveness of MT as a
career choice, the advent of prospective payment systems,
and managed care and budget cuts, coupled with an increase
in the expense of running a clinical laboratory training program.[40]
|
From
“The Clinical Laboratory Workforce: The Changing Picture
of Supply, Demand, Education, and Practice July 2005
|
| Volume
Of Specimens: |
| Summary
of Factors Related to Supply |
In
summary, concern about the inadequate supply of clinical laboratory
workers was the major impetus for this study. For the past
two decades the number of educational programs and graduates
has been shrinking. Factors thought to be related to program
closures include: difficulties in student recruitment; the
high cost of training programs combined with shrinking revenues
for hospital laboratories; low wages relative to other health
careers; and the lack of career growth and opportunity. Key
informants expressed concerns about the quantity and quality
of students applying to clinical laboratory educational programs
although data from the program survey suggest that the quantity
of students may have stabilized and student quality has remained
largely unchanged. There is concern about the image of the
clinical laboratory worker, particularly compared to more
highly visible occupations such as nursing. This factor contributes
to the difficulty that both educational programs and employers
face in recruiting bright and capable students. Finally, there
is concern that the aging of the U.S. population and increases
in technology will increase the number of laboratory tests
and will create the need for even more workers.
From “The Clinical Laboratory Workforce: The Changing
Picture of Supply, Demand, Education, and Practice July 2005
|
| Number
of Jobs: |
| Massachusetts
Enacts Direct Billing Law |
|
The
Massachusetts Society of Pathology and College of American
Pathologists have pushed through legislation securing direct
billing for anatomic pathology services in Massachusetts.
Legislation became active on July 24th requiring that all anatomic pathology services be
billed by the physician or clinical laboratory performing
the testing. The legislation essentially requires the
billing to be conducted by the organization performing
the tests. This has two effects:
New labs are started by doctors with no other
alternative, these require histologists.
The places creating slides for doctors are now earning more
money and can afford to pay there histologists more.
HB 4812 goes into effect
90 days from the date the bill was signed into law.
Taken from ASCP E-Policy News: Volume 3 Issue 13 September
2006
|
Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects about 138,000 openings
for medical technologists (MTs) and medical laboratory technicians
(MLTs) by 2012.[5]Many hospitals, which had been the primary
site of educational programs in the clinical laboratory sciences,
closed their programs during the 1970s and 1980s due to both
declining reimbursements and enrollments.
From “The Clinical Laboratory Workforce: The Changing
Picture of Supply, Demand, Education, and Practice July 2005
|
| Result
of understaffing on quality of care: |
Key
informants’ views on the impact of clinical laboratory
workforce shortages varied. Some asserted that the impact
of the shortage is “a public health issue.” Others
noted the impact on hospital care:
Hospitals curtail services, provide less timely services,
have decreased quality of care, have increased errors, and
have delays in diagnosis. There is also an increased volume
of testing outside the hospital and increased operational
costs for recruitment and hiring. |
|
From
“The Clinical Laboratory Workforce: The Changing Picture
of Supply, Demand, Education, and Practice July 2005
|
| Shortage
of Histologists: |
| Job
opportunities |
|
In today's market there are new opportunities and new places
of work. There are now lots of large and small labs. Small
labs provide histologist the opportunity to control all
aspects of the lab. Larger labs give histologists the wealth
of knowledge of people who have been in the job for years.
Temporary work has become very lucrative for those who have
the skills set required, if you are diplomatic and able to
chop and change your shift, work style and able to pick up
and move at a moments notice your opportunities are wide
raining and varied. |
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|
|
