Higher Ed, Allina Team to Solve Critical Medical Lab Tech Shortage

ST. PAUL, Minn.--(Business Wire)--
During National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week, April
20-26, we honor the more than nearly 2000 medical laboratory
professionals across in Minnesota who perform and interpret lab tests
that save lives and keep people healthy.

But Clinical Laboratory Technicians (CLT) and Clinical Laboratory
Scientists (CLS) are becoming scarce commodities for health care
employers. 43 percent of the schools in the U.S. that have trained
them have closed due to the high expense of running the programs and
lack of sites willing and able to provide the 720 hours of required
clinical training. "It is truly a workforce crisis," says Jane Renken,
manager of Workforce Planning/Sourcing for Allina Hospitals & Clinics.

Minnesota's critical need for lab techs and scientists will be
addressed by an industry-education partnership and a $3.2 million U.S.
Department of Labor grant program announced this week.

Saint Paul College is at the hub of a multi-institution
partnership that has received the grant. The grant program includes $2
million from the federal Community-Based Job Training Grants
Initiative and local matching grants from the industry partnerships
totaling $1.2 million for a project total of $3.2 million. The primary
purpose of the grant is to expand enrollment and graduation completion
of skilled professionals in the Medical/Clinical Laboratory
profession.

"We will work with other MnSCU partners to facilitate career
advancement through program articulation, fast track, e-learning and
expansion strategies in two-year Clinical Lab Technician and four-year
Clinical Lab Science programs," according to Dr. Marilyn Krasowski,
Dean of Health and Services Programs at Saint Paul College. "The grant
allows us to work with Allina Hospitals & Clinics and other health
care providers to increase clinical experiences. Right now, the lack
of industry capacity to provide students with the required 720 hours
of clinical experience per student is a major impediment to meeting
industry needs for lab techs."

"Allina is committed to playing a major role in providing clinical
experience opportunities for new lab oratory technologists," said
Allina president and CEO Dick Pettingill. "As Minnesota's largest
non-profit healthcare provider, many of these new technicians and
scientists will work in our hospitals and clinics. However, no matter
where these new medical lab professionals work, we all depend on their
expertise to provide timely and accurate diagnostic information. This
program will help make sure patients receive the best possible
laboratory services available."

Clinical Laboratory Technicians (CLT) and Clinical Laboratory
Scientists (CLS) represent only about 1.2 percent of the healthcare
workforce in Minnesota. Yet, despite the overall small number,
technicians and are in high demand with a projected 2000 new CLT and
CLS hires needed between 2005 and 2015 to accommodate growth and
attrition (retirement).

While CLTs and CLSs are small in number, their work provides
between 70 and 80 percent of all objective data used to determine a
patient's diagnosis and treatment.

"We are excited about the opportunity to play a significant role
in the development of solutions for the workforce shortages
experienced by the Clinical Laboratory Science Profession," said
Michelle Briski, Department Chair, Medical Laboratory Program at Saint
Paul College. "The job opportunities, now and into the future, are
abound in this field due in part to the large numbers of incumbent
workers expected to retire in the near future."

For Allina Hospitals & Clinics
Jim Brown, 651-846-1305
or
Tim Burke, 651-241-8943

Copyright Business Wire 2008