Volume 89 - Spring/Summer 2005	Download

CEO's Corner NAACLS Survey by Olive M. Kimball, PhD, EdD Chief Executive Officer

CEO's Corner
By Olive M. Kimball, PhD, EdD
Chief Executive Officer

This was the second year during which, by means of an electronic survey, NAACLS received the annual report from programs. This was independent of the survey usually sent by the American Medical Association, the results of which are used in the Health Profession Education Directory. Beginning in March of this year NAACLS program directors were notified that the survey was coming. After the survey went out email reminders were sent. These were followed by phone calls and later by a very few "letters of last resort."

Table 1 shows the actual numbers of programs by level for 2003 and 2004. (From the 2004 (last year) and 2005 (this year) surveys.)

It can be seen that the numbers of programs have just about stabilized for the two years. However this follows a dramatic shift in numbers of viable programs for CLS/MT relative to 1994 when there were 383. From our current records, the number of program closures this year for CLS/MT is 5 as opposed to 32 closures in 1995, 24 in 1996 and 1997 and 24 again in 1999. While there has been a dramatic decline in program numbers, there is now a tapering off of withdrawals. For CLT/MLT programs the number of closures has also tapered off, for in 2005 there were three that closed in contrast to the peak in 2003 when 19 closed. Meanwhile, there continue to be a few new programs starting up.

Looking at numbers of graduates we can see from Table 2 that CLS/MT graduates increased in 2003 and 2004. However, they are still way below the numbers over the last decade, for in 1995 there were 3,572 graduates. The peak number of CLS/MT graduates occurred in the seventies when there were 6,519 graduates in 1977.

Despite the large number of program closures for CLT/MLT over the past ten years (there were 259 active programs in 1995) new programs continue to be accredited and the overall number of graduates is again increasing. It should be noted, however, that nearly 1000 graduates are from military programs and few of these graduates become certified and eventually go into non-military laboratories. Therefore, the actual number of possible new hires for civilian clinical laboratories is considerably less than 2000. Interestingly, last year programs were asked for an estimate of the number of graduates they would have this year. In most cases the numbers that actually graduated in 2004 were higher than estimates.

The number of histotechnician programs remains somewhat steady with very few initials or closures. However, the number of graduates appears to be higher than ever recorded with the average number of graduates per program now at seven or eight. That indicates an upswing in interest and this was confirmed by one or two histotechnician program directors on the survey who commented on an increase in class size. The average number of graduates seems to be increasing for CLS/MT as well and even more strikingly for phlebotomy. Several comments from CLS/MT program directors indicated increased enrollment but for some the quality of applicants is still an issue.

Attrition for programs varies considerably and there was apparently some confusion on the part of responders to the survey. Some provided attrition numbers over the entire program length and some by academic year. However, pathologists' assistant and histotechnologist programs had less than one percent of attrition for their programs but the overall attrition for a number of programs increased over the past year. CLT/MLT attrition seems to continue to be high (nearly 37 percent last year) and it was underscored by survey comments that were included such as:

• Fewer applicants
  
• Decline in academic ability
  
• Students have too many other responsibilities while enrolled

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