CLINICAL LAB SCIENEC

42
ESSENTIALS OF CLINICAL LABORATORY SCIENCE
professionals be registered by certain agencies. Hospitals in most, if not all, states
are required by regulation to hire only registered MTs and MLTs to perform
laboratory tests.
Requirements for Credentialing
of Laboratory Workers
Several professional registries have become very proactive in recent years with
efforts toward making medical technology more visible as a highly skilled profession.
In the 1930s, California adopted personnel licensure laws, making public
the need for credentialing of laboratory workers, but relatively little progress
toward an overall effort to unify the profession has occurred in recent history.
Other states have since adopted laws requiring personnel licensure, but there is
often a disparity between those states in the educational and training requirements
for becoming licensed as individuals.
Over the intervening years since California began to require personnel licensure,
some steps have been taken by professional agencies to control the entry
of personnel into the medical laboratory field. These groups have categorized
and determined minimum competencies for candidates for licensure or registry
in the medical laboratory profession. There are also professional societies for
specialties that uphold certain standards for laboratory managers, microbiologists,
blood bank specialists, and clinical chemists, along with other societies
that address the needs of all areas of the medical laboratory. Many laboratorians
believe it is best for the profession to be associated with an agency composed of
other medical laboratory workers on a voluntary basis than to have legislation
requiring licensure that might not be as effective. But others favor the opposing
view in that state licensure in all states would be the best solution for addressing
the disparities in education and requirements for entry into the profession.
Most professional organizations set forth that standards for the titles used in the
Table 2-6 Professional Societies for Clinical Laboratory
and Related Professions
AAB
AABB
AACC
AAMA
AMT
APIC
ASCLS
ASCP
ASM
ASPT
CLMA
NPA
American Association of Bioanalysts
American Association of Blood Banks
American Association of Clinical Chemistry
American Association of Medical Assistants
American Medical Technologists
Association of Practitioners in Infection Control
American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science
American Society for Clinical Pathology
American Society for Microbiology
American Society of Phlebotomy Technicians
Clinical Laboratory Management Association
National Phlebotomy Association
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