| The whole world is facing a severe and problematic | | | | same time the average age of the medical workforce |
| shortage of qualified laboratory and medical personnel. | | | | is rising steadily. Younger, newly trained medical |
| Third world countries are suffering because their | | | | workers have not entered quickly enough to keep |
| doctors and medical staff are immigrating to meet | | | | pace with retirements. |
| excess demand for high-paid medical positions in | | | | These problems could be attributed partially to the fact |
| Europe. It is more difficult for medical professionals to | | | | that training facilities for these medical professionals |
| come to America, however, and the United States is | | | | have been closing and declining in number. School |
| facing the same challenges of a shrinking medical | | | | closings in the last five years have reduced the |
| community. According to the American Society for | | | | number of training programs by 30%. This decline in |
| Clinical Pathology, over half of all US laboratories report | | | | training programs affects small rural areas as well as |
| difficulties hiring new medical testing personnel. | | | | big cities. Los Angeles and Miami have no accredited |
| The US Department of Labor projects that the | | | | clinical training programs for medical technologists or |
| country will need 13,200 medical laboratory | | | | medical laboratory technicians. The shortage is growing |
| professionals through the year 2010. This number | | | | so bad that senators are looking at legislation to defray |
| cannot be filled by the fewer than 5,000 people who | | | | the costs of training for medical personnel. |
| graduate from training programs each year. At the | | | | |