Critical Values - January 2009 - (Page 6) Your Letters OJT versus CLA Ms. O’Neal’s letter in the October 2008 issue of Critical Values (Vol. 1, No. 4, p. 6) regarding onthe-job training (OJT) and the clinical laboratory assistant (CLA) certificate was very timely for me. Last week I met with the managers of our city’s two largest laboratories, one of which is the local hospital lab, the other a large clinic lab. Both are experiencing a shortage of MTs and MLTs. One solution we are examining is to train phlebotomists to become “lab assistants” and do more of the waived and moderate complexity work, supervised by the remaining technical staff. Rather than in-house training, however, we, the local community college, would like to provide a “Lab Assistant” course to train the phlebotomists in those tests, as well as lab safety, terminology, quality control, and other laboratory basics. This would alleviate the employers’ burden of designing, delivering, and documenting a training program. However, the employers desire some type of outside agency certification of their training. Unfortunately, there is no longer a good level of certification for individuals with the skills mentioned. I would be very interested if any of your readers are aware of certifications available for laboratory assistants. I would be much more interested, however, if the ASCP would consider bringing back the CLA credential. ASCP has always been the “gold standard” for laboratory certification, and there is certainly a need to recognize and certify all those individuals who are doing the work and filling in the gaps left by retiring techs. Nancy G. Worsinger, MS, MT(ASCP) Lead Instructor, Allied Health Nash Community College Rocky Mount, NC OJT Won’t Work for Me While [on-the-job training] may sound like a good idea “on paper,” I have to wonder how practical it is in consideration of the work force shortage and the fact that we are lucky to get the testing done, let alone try to train someone at the same time. It is hard enough training a new person with a college degree and some practical experience. The thought of trying to train someone off the street is just not acceptable. It might work in a very large facility that has the luxury of an education and training staff, but that is not possible in any of the facilities I am familiar with. John C. Staley, MT(ASCP) Transfusion Service Supervisor McKay-Dee Hospital Center Ogden, UT 6 Critical Values welcomes your letters. Letters may be edited. Send them to ascp@ascp.org, with “Critical Values—My Letter” in the subject line.
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