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 Good jobs are scarce in the U.S. these days. Unemployment in some states lingers at 12 percent, and many economists don't expect the negative trend to reverse anytime soon. Amid this gloomy employment situation, clinical laboratories across the country are posting help wanted signs seeking qualified personnel to fill a growing and troublesome number of vacancies. The current generation of laboratory scientists is confronting the stark reality that it soon has to replace itself.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 13,800 new laboratory professionals must be hired every year for the next decade to satisfy the burgeoning demand for laboratory services. The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) estimates there are as many as 40,000 unfilled clinical laboratory jobs in the United States today. Add the fact that the mean age of laboratory professionals hovers at 50, these impending retirements are expected to exacerbate personnel shortages unless a new generation of professionals can be trained and step in to fill job vacancies.
Diagnostic technology is making lab work more automated, efficient and less labor intensive, but trained expertise is still needed to analyze and report critical results. Studies estimate that more than 70 percent of healthcare treatment decisions are made based on the diagnostic information provided by labs-information that only trained, qualified professionals can interpret and evaluate. Imagine the devastating impact on healthcare services in 10 years if the lab personnel shortage continues to grow. Something needs to be done now.
Reaching Out
Now imagine a high school classroom on Chicago's west side where students are learning first hand about practical science applied everyday in clinical laboratories. Later in the day they participated in role playing and hands-on simulations led by veteran laboratorians inside a mobile laboratory filled with state-of the-art diagnostic instruments. This is the scene from one of the Labs Are Vital education programs held this summer. Through Labs Are Vital, these students, and thousands of others, are being exposed to the laboratory sciences and are learning about the challenges and rewards of careers as technologists, scientists and managers.
Established in 2006, Labs Are Vital is a cooperative venture created and sponsored by Abbott and supported by several national and international organizations representing laboratory professionals, such as the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS), American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC), International federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC) and ASCP.
The consortium behind Labs Are Vital is dedicated to finding new solutions to address the laboratory personnel shortage. The program has launched a robust recruitment campaign to show students the critical role laboratory professionals play every day in patient care and, ultimately, in saving lives. This program includes scholarship competitions; an ongoing public awareness campaign; and a popular group page on Facebook that has 2,700 members and more than 40,000 visitors so far. These initiatives are designed to generate student interest and excitement about laboratory careers and stimulate peer-to-peer communication.
Getting Involved
Awareness building alone, however, will not solve the lab labor shortage. Laboratorians in every community must become active promoters of their profession. Grassroots advocacy is a must.
To help generate community-based involvement, Labs Are Vital has created an advocacy program to address the need for lab professionals to speak out on behalf of the profession and tap into the unlimited potential for inspiring high school and college students to pursue careers in laboratory science. Imagine the persuasive power of hearing laboratory professionals describe time-critical, life-on-the-line situations in which test results provide essential information that guide clinical decisions. Think about the impact you can make by educating a student that a life-saving intervention for her grandfather with chest pains was likely directed by a lab test result. Through this program, we hope that sharing these and other facts about the laboratory profession will inspire some students to become laboratory professionals.
I encourage laboratory administrators to empower their scientific staffs to become enthusiastic advocates for your profession and register as supporters of Labs Are Vital. This labor shortage does, or will, impact your lab too. The Web site has downloadable resources and regular e-mail updates to help develop lessons and presentations for students to learn about lab careers. Get your team in the classroom talking about what they do every day and why it's critical for students interested in science to follow in their footsteps.
I hope that someday one of the students from that Chicago high school will be working in a lab next to the scientist who took time that day to share her passion for the laboratory profession.
Through this program, we hope to work with you to replace many of the "Help Wanted" signs with signs that read, "No Vacancies."
Michael Warmuth is the senior vice president, diagnostics, Abbott and the president of the company's core laboratory diagnostics division.
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