Hello,
In my humble opinion about the shortages.
#1  Most people in high school and college have never heard the word
"Histology" or have any idea what it is or what we do.   The word needs to
get out to high school counselors and college ones about the need so people
who may want a career in some medically related field know we are out there
and jobs will be available after training.

#2 Yes, money is very important too so IF the salaries could be higher I
believe more people might look twice (or maybe even three times) at the
advantages of going into the scientific field, especially laboratory work.

#3 With all the hospital mergers going on, there is just not enough time in
the day for proper "on the job training" like there used to be.  We either
need to have more schools for histology training , not just a college
class, or else make it worthwhile to the hospitals to provide a dedicated
person just for this training, and not expect the busy histotechs to try to
do this job of training in addition to all the regular jobs that they are
already doing.

Thanks for listening.

Karen Dulany HTL (ASCP)
Omaha, NE