CLINICAL LAB SCIENEC

CHAPTER 2: LABORATORY PERSONNEL CREDENTIALING AND FACILITY ACCREDITATION 43
clinical laboratory should be similar and perhaps mandated by government
agencies, same as in the nursing profession.
To date, a number of reasons for credentialing as well as methods of credentialing
medical laboratory workers have been identified. The main reason for
requiring credentialing concerns the obvious inconsistencies in the present system.
Not all accreditation agencies, whether licensing bodies or registry agencies,
are in agreement with each other regarding standards for entry level credentialing.
There are well-founded charges that some professional organizations as well
as government agencies have attempted to remove or weaken any existing current
regulations toward strengthening requirements for entering the profession.
In recent years, there has been a general movement toward merging of several of
these agencies, and it is possible that eventually there will be only one certifying
body for medical laboratory workers. If this does not happen, it is highly probable
that most, if not all, of the states will eventually adopt their own licensing
process for the laboratory personnel. Purposes for credentialing, forces behind
credentialing, approaches to credentialing, competition between credentialing
agencies, confusion of job titles, vague regulations, and miscellaneous issues are
all areas that are manifestations of the problem that should be discussed and
acted upon by the entire medical laboratory profession.
Regulation of Medical Laboratories and Laboratory Professionals
Because issues related to certification have not been settled as far as a consistent
approach to regulation of medical laboratory professionals, there is still a
great deal of confusion and controversy concerning which current agency, if any,
should have the responsibility for dictating personnel and facility requirements.
There are some medical laboratory personnel registries that various institutions
will accept as ensuring competence in the field, while others may not accept that
same credential. There is confusion even in the general populace. The medical
laboratory as a whole is largely misunderstood by the consumer of medical care.
Students in science majors are often not aware that a program such as medical
laboratory technology even exists, even though it is a field that will require the
infusion of a large number of new employees within the next few years.
But even within health care facilities, other medical professionals are often
not knowledgeable as to the education, training, and hierarchy of laboratory professionals.
Many patients and families of those being treated assume that the person
who collects, transports, and processes the blood and body fluids of diverse
patients is a “nurse,” an “intern,” or some other unspecified allied health worker.
In some areas of the country where identification of the various workers within
the health care facility is not as obvious, this type of assumption is probably more
prevalent. But for general laypersons, the scope and importance of laboratory
specimen collection and processing are less well known than the work performed
by nurses, pharmacists, radiographers, and other ancillary departments of the
hospital. This is particularly true because there will likely be little contact between
the patient and a medical laboratory worker, except for the phlebotomist.
And as discussed previously, state licensure is required to work in laboratories
in several states, while others rely on professional registries to test and certify
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