healthcare careers

Minnesota students interested in medical laboratory science have more educational options than ever. It's quite a turnaround from eight years ago when there were only two programs and the state's largest four-year laboratory science program was at risk of being closed.

Thanks to Minnesota' Healthcare Education and Industry Partnership (HEIP), a federal Department of Labor grant, the work of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (www.mnscu.edu), the University of Minnesota and Allina Hospitals & Clinics (www.allina.com), several two- and four-year education programs have opened, expanded or are slated to open.

Schools Close To Home

Students seeking four-year laboratory science degrees may now choose from the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities and Rochester (www.cahp.umn.edu), Hennepin County Medical Center (www.hcmed.org), Fairview Health Services (www.fairview.org), Argosy University (www.argosy.edu), the Mayo School of Health Sciences (www.mayo.edu) and Winona State University (www.winona.edu), according to Rick Panning, vice president for laboratory services at Allina. St. Cloud State University (www.stcloudstate.edu) is scheduled to open a four-year degree program in the fall of 2010.

Increasing the number of medical laboratory scientists is crucial as many scientists approach retirement age, according to Donna Spannaus-Martin, interim program director of the clinical laboratory scientist program at the U of M. "Laboratory tests provide 70 percent of the information for the diagnosis for the physician and if you can't provide that, you can't give quality and safe healthcare," she explains.

An ideal candidate will have an interest in science, attention to detail, hands-on and independent work. In the Twin Cities, most jobs are in large hospital laboratories, where new graduates may expect to earn around $47,000.

To Specialize Or Not?

"There are a lot of different things that you can learn about or specialize in," Spannaus-Martin adds. "If you go to a rural area, you may not have as much diversity in the diagnoses you see, but you're doing a little bit of everything and the interactions with the rest of the healthcare team are greater."

If the Minnesota consortium wins another Department of Labor grant, it will focus on expanding access to evening programs, increasing middle and high school awareness, increasing the number of accredited phlebotomy programs and establishing a clinical laboratory assistant program.

The current economy has delayed some scientists' retirement plans, but as soon as things pick up, Panning predicts that retirement rates will increase and normal turnover rates will occur. "The shortage is there," he says. "People may have to decide where they want to work, but the jobs exist."