Re: BOR exam
Tim,
Yes sir, Tim. I feel as though I have been recruited for Uncle Sam. Good
speech. Have you ever considered going into Politics?
All kidding aside, I am talking to them at the local college about the
possibility of starting a histotech school in our area.
Marsha
On Fri, 31 Aug 2001 10:17:33 -0400 "Morken, Tim" writes:
> Marsha wrote:
>
> < please
> tell me what is the answer to this particular problem in histology?
> >>
>
> Those of us in the USA need to look outside the lab to see what is
> really
> going on. In the US, at least, there is a shortage of workers in all
> fields,
> from computer technology to manufacturing to fast food service. All
> types of
> businesses are feeling a worker crunch. Even nursing and medical
> schools are
> seeing a decline in applications. It has to do with a lower
> population of
> young people. In the medical field it is only going to only get
> worse
> because our older population is growing and more people are going to
> be
> using medical services than ever before. On top of that the
> percetage of lab
> techs reaching retirement age is accelerating. so it's not just the
> histotechnology field that is feeling the pain.
>
> There are limited technical ways to deal with this. We can automate
> everything possible or we can limit testing to the essentials (yeah
> -
> right!).
>
> In the long term, however, the only way to deal with it is to market
> the
> field to bring in more people. I think the lab profession, and
> especially
> histology, has failed miserably in this area. How many on the
> Histonet have
> ever done anything to help recruit new people. I am not completely
> blameless
> in that regard.
>
> I think, however, that pathologists and laboratory directors have to
> take a
> large share of the blame for our situation. In the past it was usual
> to
> simply pick a random person and get them to start working in the
> histo lab.
> In the past a person could work in a histo lab for decades and never
> do more
> than cut sections, do H&E's and a few simple special stains. Now
> days, of
> course, we do much more complicated testing, but the general method
> of
> recruiting seems to be the same: If someone hangs around a histolab
> and
> shows a bit of interest, they may very well end up becoming a
> histotech.
>
> Pathologists and laboratory directors (people who have the official
> responsibility for the lab) have failed to let schools know that we
> need
> people in this field. As a result, even though there is a huge
> shortage, and
> the pay is pretty good, no one from high school through college even
> knows
> the field exists.
>
> I would challenge all of you to do something to help recruit people.
> Work
> with your local or state histo society to present information at
> recruiting
> fairs. Make presentations at schools (science teachers are always
> happy to
> have someone give practical examples of the applications of the
> things the
> teach). Offer tours of your lab. NSH and ASCP have recruiting
> materials
> available. If WE don't do this, who will?
>
> Tim Morken
> Atlanta
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Marsha R Price [mailto:mprice26@juno.com]
> Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 6:33 AM
> To: Sayeed@www.urol.bcm.tmc.edu
> Cc: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
> Subject: Re: BOR exam
>
>
> Sayeed,
> What you are saying is true, there are some techs who have not been
> successful at passing the written part of the BOR, that have superb
> skills.
>
> I think we are all in agreement on this :
> 1. The two year training program is a necessity, it is a great
> program
> 2. We need to add college courses to the 2 year ojt program to
> prepare
> these individuals for the written exam.
> 3. We need to form more histo schools to help with this extreme
> shortage
> and offer incentives to encourage people to become a histotech, like
> they
> do the nurses.
> 4. I think 4 hours in the histo lab and 4 hours in the class room
> would
> be good (Plus the students could help with the busy morning workload
> while receiving their training)
>
> I did not realize how serious the shortage was until I started
> interviewing for a job recently. I decided to resign my supervisory
> job a
> little over a year ago to obtain more college education. I then
> thought I
> might try to work a little prn or part-time or even relocate if the
> perfect job in the perfect place came up.
>
> What I am witnessing out in the histo world is sad and I feel for
> all you
> supervisors and Pathologists that are trying desperately to fill
> these
> spots. I have had all kind of offers but none that I would uproot my
> family over or that would benefit me whatsoever.
>
> Have we stopped to ask why are these vacancies still there? I
> answered
> that in the above paragraph, there are not enough attractive offers
> that
> will motivate someone to relocate or even work prn etc.
>
> For example, this one place I applied at was offering to pay RN's to
> go
> to school to become an RN if they would agree to sign on with them
> for 1
> year after the completion of the RN program. This particular
> hospital was
> also desperately short on histotechs (I couldn't help but notice how
> desperate they were because they practically grabbed hold of me and
> asked
> if I could start right away like this moment, I was trying to
> politely
> pry there arms off of me without making them breakdown in tears) and
> had
> one of the few histology schools available in our country but were
> not
> offering to pay histotechs to go to school nor were they offering
> relocation fee, sign on bonus etc. The supervisor was nearly in
> tears and
> said that she not only was finding it difficult to find histotechs
> but
> IMPOSSIBLE.
>
> I am seeing this particular scenario in the story I described above
> in
> practically all states that I have interviewed in.
>
> So, please tell me what is the answer to this particular problem in
> histology? I know that I am apparently not the only one declining
> their
> offers, or they would not have the need to interview me.
>
> I would love to hear some feed back on this.
>
> Marsha Price
>
>
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