At the ASCP Annual Meeting, Susan Harrington and Dawn Taylor will report on learnings from the Blueprint for Action, which sets out strategies for addressing the pathology workforce shortage. Here, they detail some of the approaches that they hope will light a spark of inspiration for you at the session.
The following transcript has been edited for clarity.
Susan Harrington: Hello, my name is Susan Harrington and I chair the ASCP workforce steering committee. Dawn Taylor and I are preparing a session for the annual meeting that we hope will ignite a spark for you with information and strategies for addressing the workforce shortage.
Believe it or not, it's already been five years since the Blueprint for Action was published. Through the eyes of the Medical and Public Health Laboratory Workforce Coalition, we'll take an honest look at our progress on the blueprint and discuss their recommendations for next steps. We'd like to hear your thoughts, too.
Visibility of the professions has always been a gap. I know we say it a lot, but we really are stronger together. We'll tell you how some of the societies from the coalition have joined together to raise awareness of the laboratory professions through attendance at national school counselor meetings.
We've also developed some materials to share with you. These are on the “what's my next” website and include a student career planning workbook and other materials to help you reach the next generation and give them a vision for their future.
Unfortunately, there are still fewer laboratory science graduates than available positions. We'll describe basic skills training packages that are available now and some that are currently in development, particularly for the anatomic pathology side. The idea is that these online tools can help you onboard people who may not enter the workforce with the skills they really need to work in a clinical laboratory. Now, I'll let Dawn introduce herself and share some approaches at the state level.
Dawn Taylor: Thank you, Dr. Harrington. I am Dawn Taylor and I have the pleasure of serving on the ASCP workforce steering committee. Not long after the Blueprint for Action was published, I joined Joint Venture Hospital Laboratories in a newly created role as recruitment liaison where I am responsible for establishing statewide workforce development initiatives on behalf of our network laboratories.
In this work, we have learned that collaboration is key. Hospital laboratories and university education programs have exceptional opportunities to work together while building partnerships with high schools, colleges, and local community education organizations.
Through these partnerships, professionals can combine resources and plan creative initiatives that one organization may not have the time or resources to accomplish alone. During “Ignite the Spark,” we will share outcomes from active partnerships between JBHL network laboratories, University MLS programs, and Michigan secondary and postsecondary schools.
Medical laboratory professionals can also lend their unique voices to promote visibility with state and regional workforce development agencies. We will share a case study highlighting how strategic partnerships with local agencies resulted in a successful medical laboratory career exploration program.
We hope through this session you gain new inspiration in the quest to make the laboratory visible to the next generation.
Susan Harrington: Thanks Dawn. We all struggle with maintaining an adequate workforce. Don't go it alone. Come to the annual meeting, hear what's happening, and network with others in the same situation. Hope to see you there and learn what's on your mind.
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