Please read the following. Your comments and suggestions would be
greatly appreciated!

1. I want to work as a HT/HTL in the State of Florida.
2. I have a BS degree in biology and 1 year experience working at a
university, in the faculty of medicine working with ANIMAL tissue
(processing, sectioning, staining etc.) which I don’t need any special
licenses or ASCP accreditation to do.
3. Because of #2, I qualify to take both the HT and HTL exams offered by
the ASCP BOR and can sign up to do that immediately.
4. Supposing I take and pass the ASCP exam for becoming a HT, I still
need a license to work in Florida.
5. The Florida Department of Health www.doh.state.fl.us states that the
qualifications for Histology technician licensing are as follows:
“ For the category of histology, applicants must have 4 hours board
approved HIV/AIDS continuing education and board certification gained by
examination in histology through the Board of Registry of the American
Society of Clinical Pathologists certification program at the
Histotechnician (HT) level with a minimum of a high school diploma or
equivalent AND COMPLETION OF A [Florida DOH] BOARD APPROVED HISTOLOGY
TRAINING PROGRAM (or FOUR years experience plus certification).”
6. If you follow me thus far, here is the catch 22. I must move to
another state to get 4 years of experience (obviously I can’t get the
experience here without a license), OR I have to quit my job and sign up
for the training program. There are only 2 places in Florida that offer
the approved training program, Dianon Systems Inc. and Suncoast
Pathology and these training programs are 1 year long.
7. If you are still with me, you might be saying to yourself “oh well,
that’s the price you have to pay…” However, imagine you are a HT in
another state and you have worked for 3 years as a HT. You want to move
to Florida. You could not get a licence here unless you took the
training program. How ridiculous….who is going to take a training
program for something they have already been thoroughly trained to do?!?

8. SIGNIFICANCE:
Firstly, this could be why I see postings on histonet asking why there
are so many job openings in Florida.
Secondly, this is a major deterrant for people with degrees wanting to
become HT/HTLs. I have already taken 5 years of university in the
biological sciences as well as some Master’s degree courses in advanced
molecular techniques. I really like histology but I not interested in
taking a 1 year technician program that I could have taken when I
finished high school.
Thirdly, will this lead to further shortages of HT/HTLs with degrees in
the work force?