Meeting the curriculum needs for different career paths in Laboratory Medicine

Institutional Training Opportunities for PhD Students in Laboratory Medicine: An Unmet Career Development Need?

In the United States, the credentialing of PhD-scientists as medical directors of clinical laboratories is driven by formal postdoctoral training programs. Prior to acceptance in one these accredited fellowships, however, a trainee's exposure to the field can be far less standardized, with significant ramifications for their awareness and competitiveness. In the current article, we describe our recent experiences in developing local, institution-based immersion opportunities for PhD experiences in the subdisciplines of laboratory medicine (clinical microbiology, clinical chemistry, and molecular genetics/genomics). It is our hope that this article-and a corresponding online survey-can prompt reflection and discussion on the status of early career training opportunities in these key clinical areas.

The Pathology Workforce and Clinical Licensure: The Role of the PhD Clinical Laboratorian in the United States

There has been a recent recognition of the need to prepare PhD-trained scientists for increasingly diverse careers in academia, industry, and health care. The PhD Data Task Force was formed to better understand the current state of PhD scientists in the clinical laboratory workforce and collect up-to-date information on the training and certification of these laboratorians. In this report, we summarize the findings of the PhD Data Task Force and discuss the relevance of the data collected to the future supply of and demand for PhD clinical laboratory scientists. It is clear that there are multiple career opportunities for PhD scientists in academic medical centers, commercial clinical laboratories, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and the federal government. Certified PhD scientists have and will continue to form an important resource for our technologically advancing field, bringing training in scientific methods, and technologies needed for modern laboratory medicine. The data gathered by the PhD Data Task Force will be of great interest to current and future PhD candidates and graduate PhD scientists as they make decisions regarding future career directions.

Clinical laboratory immunology: an indispensable player in laboratory medicine

OBJECTIVES

Clinical laboratory immunology affects practically every aspect of medicine. Accordingly, appropriately trained, board-certified clinical laboratory immunologists are key contributors to the diagnosis and management of patients with various immune-mediated conditions. This review highlights the availability of postdoctoral level training programs for clinical laboratory immunology and identifies possible career tracks.

METHODS

Fundamental elements for doctoral level clinical laboratory immunologists are identified and the critical components of diagnostic immunology training as well as career opportunities in and out of academia are described.

RESULTS

Relative to other disciplines in laboratory medicine, little emphasis has been given to clinical laboratory immunology in medical, graduate, and postgraduate training. Formal postgraduate fellowship programs and board certification examinations are available, yet there remains a significant lack of awareness in the medical education community about the value and necessity of training in this field.

CONCLUSIONS

It is anticipated that sharing this knowledge will increase awareness of the discipline of clinical laboratory immunology at the postdoctoral level with implications for the practice of laboratory medicine.

Continuing professional development crediting system for specialists in laboratory medicine within 28 EFLM national societies

Introduction:

Continuing professional development (CPD) with corresponding crediting system is recognized as essential for the laboratory medicine specialists to provide optimal service for the patients. Article presents results of the survey evaluating current CPD crediting practice among members of European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM).

Materials and methods:

A questionnaire had been forwarded to presidents/national representatives of all EFLM members, with invitation to provide information about CPD programmes and crediting policies, as well as feedback on individual CPD categories, through scoring their relevance.

Results:

Complete or partial answers were received from 28 of 38 members. In 23 countries, CPD programmes exist and earn credits, with 19 of them offering access to non-medical scientists. CPD activities are evaluated in all participating countries, regardless to the existence of an official CPD programme. Among participating members with mandatory specialists’ licensing (22/28), CPD is a prerequisite for relicensing in 13 countries. Main categories recognized as CPD are: continuing education (24 countries), article/book (17/14 countries) authorship and distance learning (14 countries). The highest median score of relevance (20) is allocated to professional training, editor/authorship and official activities in professional organizations, with the first category showing the least variation among scores.

Conclusions:

Majority of EFLM members have developed CPD programmes, regularly evaluated and accompanied by crediting systems. Programmes differ in accessibility for non-medical scientists and impact on relicensing eligibility. Continuing education, authorship and e-learning are mainly recognized as CPD activities, although the professional training is appreciated as the most important individual CPD category.

An Overview of United States Physician Training, Certification, and Career Pathways in Clinical Pathology (Laboratory Medicine)

Clinical Pathology (CP) - also known as Laboratory Medicine - is a rewarding and yet under-recognized career option for United States (U.S.) and international medical school graduates. The present article outlines the training pathway toward becoming a clinical pathologist in the U.S, including undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate phases of training. As the current state of CP residency training in the U.S. is the result of decades of curriculum reform, that progression is briefly reviewed to provide context for the shift toward competency-based education during residency and beyond. Options for fellowship training in CP subspecialties, as well as the current emphasis on Maintenance of Certification (MOC) and Maintenance of Licensure (MOL) are also discussed. This article concludes with a general overview of career pathways and options for those with CP training.

[Accessibility of special clinical laboratory tests in Hungary]

The Hungarian Society of Laboratory Medicine launches a Laboratory Assay Finder after more than a year of preparatory work. The purpose is that all laboratory and clinical specialists can have access to a nationwide availabilty of special clinical laboratory testings. This is achieved by an SQL database that can be managed from an "admin" surface. The selection of various colour coded diagnostic area exemplify individual filters in the database. The requested test can easily be found either by listing the assays or the diagnoses and special search can be executed via PHP. During preliminary discussions the following basic considerations were accepted: the Assay Finder does not contain basic laboratory tests (e.g. bilirubin or prothrombin time) and within the specified fields there may also be tests that are not listed. The reason behind is that several tests are only worth doing in panels or blocks like studying CD markers in leukemias or carrying out an immunofixation after protein electrophoresis. Also tests like antithrombin III activity or FSH and LH were not separately uploaded only as parts of the complete thrombophilia or infertility panels. By providing a login and password we would like to make this webpage accessible to all colleagues.

What does the future hold for pathology? An educational approach

This article offers a review of the current status quo for biomedical science, from an educational and professional perspective. The author provides suggestions as to how we can create a new training program for biomedical science, in line with the recently published consultation paper Modernising Scientific Careers.

Educating medical students in laboratory medicine: a proposed curriculum

As the 100th anniversary of the Flexner report nears, medical student education is being reviewed at many levels. One area of concern, expressed in recent reports from some national health care organizations, is the adequacy of training in the discipline of laboratory medicine (also termed clinical pathology). The Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists appointed an ad hoc committee to review this topic and to develop a suggested curriculum, which was subsequently forwarded to the entire membership for review. The proposed medical student laboratory medicine curriculum defines goals and objectives for training, provides guidelines for instructional methods, and gives examples of how outcomes can be assessed. This curriculum is presented as a potentially helpful outline for use by medical school faculty and curriculum committees.

Competency-based education for the molecular genetic pathology fellow: a report of the association for molecular pathology training and education committee

The following report represents guidelines for competency-based fellowship training in Molecular Genetic Pathology (MGP) developed by the Association for Molecular Pathology Training and Education Committee and Directors of MGP Programs in the United States. The goals of the effort were to describe each of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education competencies as they apply to MGP fellowship training, provide a summary of goals and objectives, and recommend assessment tools. These guidelines are particularly pertinent to MGP training, which is a relatively new specialty that operates within a rapidly changing scientific and technological arena. It is hoped that this document will provide additional material for directors of existing MGP programs to consider for improvement of program objectives and enhancement of evaluation tools already in place. In addition, the guidelines should provide a valuable framework for the development of new MGP programs.