After reading the Histonet postings tonight, I was
reading ADVANCE and leafing through the want ad
section (which was 39 pages long). Thought I'd
keep an informal tally, and see the results. 

For those worrying about the associate degree
as a minimum - well, it looks like a lot
of hospital labs are already asking for this.
(Granted, the postings in ADVANCE are those
that were not able to be filled at the local
level, but that says something also.)

In general:

- 54 want ads wanting histotechs were listed
	(under a wide variety of names. I didn't sort
	according to title, but rather educational
	requirements or job description.)

OF THESE 54:

- 18 (33%) Did not state educational
requirements or specify job description.
Most required ASCP certification or
eligibility, some needed a state's license,
most needed some years of experience.

- 22 (41%) Wanted associate degree,
baccalaureate degree, or completion
of an accredited program
	- 5 ( 9%) accredited program 
	- 8 (15%) AA/AS degree
	- 3 ( 6%) AA/AS with more years experience
		or BS/BA with less years experience
	- 6 (11%) BA/BS

- 14 (26%) Did not specify educational
requirements, but wanted someone qualified
to perform more specialized histology tasks
in addition to routine and special 
histology stains.
	- 6 - IHC and/or IF
	- 2 - IHC and Cyto prep
	- 1 - IHC and Grossing
	- 2 - Grossing
	- 1 - HPV-DNA and ER/PR
	- 1 - EM
	- 1 - Histology, IHC, and
		gen. MLT - chem., hem.,
		urin., coag, phlebot.

Again, this is only one issue. But these
are the types of ads I've been seeing in
ADVANCE magazine for a couple of years now.
(I remember back when there would be no
histotech ads for months!!!) So there are
lots of openings, and 2/3 of those listed
need additional education and/or training.

Just thought I'd share this with you all.

---------

Peggy A. Wenk, HTL(ASCP)
William Beaumont Hospital
Royal Oak, MI 48073