Hi Histonetters -

FYI - The April edition of "Laboratory Medicine" (which I received this
week)
contains an editorial I wrote concerning shortages of histotechs and the
elimination of the high school diploma on-the-job-training route to take the
HT exam.

What my opinion boiled down to was - if you need to hire someone in your
lab, and have to train them yourself, but you are so short staffed that you
don't
have time to train someone, why not hire someone with the associate or
baccalaureate degree who has had biology and chemistry classes so you
don't have to start from scratch teaching someone to pipette, or to weigh
out
chemicals on a balance, or to make a Molar solution, or to differentiate
between a bacteria and a fungus, etc.

I know that Histonet is an easy place to air your agreement or disagreement
or concerns with my editorial/opinion, but I would like to ask the
Histonet community to PLEASE send your opinions to the Editor of
"Laboratory Medicine". I would LOVE to see lots of Letters to the Editor
concerning this, and to see this discussed in "Laboratory Medicine."

I know this has been discussed on Histonet before. But we are a small
community. I wrote this editorial/opinion in the hopes that this issue can
be
discussed on a larger scale, with comments from non-Histonet histotechs,
as well as Histonetters, plus also all other lab personnel (pathologists,
med techs, cytotechs, etc.)

So PLEASE, send your comments (FOR and AGAINST), plus any
questions or concerns, to the Editor. Thanks.

(BTW - this is coming out just before my vacation. So if there are any
comments on Histonet, I won't be able to respond for the next two weeks.
Talk about timing . . . )

Peggy A. Wenk, HTL(ASCP)
William Beaumont Hospital
Royal Oak, MI 4073