West Kentucky Community and Technical College’s Clinical Laboratory Technician Program trains students to provide service and research in clinical laboratory science and related areas in rapidly changing and dynamic healthcare delivery systems.
With laboratory results currently contributing 70-80% of the diagnostic information used by healthcare providers for diagnosis, treatment and quality patient outcomes, clinical laboratory technicians can work in a variety of settings including: hospitals, physician’s offices, clinical laboratories, industry, research, public health laboratories, and forensic or pharmaceutical labs.
" As the nation faces a large increase in amount of elder care, it is projected that it’s even more important that healthcare focuses on prevention and treatment; rural areas are experiencing the greatest impact of the shortage.” said Nancy Stedelin-Todd, WKCTCCLT program coordinator. “Currently there is a 21% vacancy rate of lab professionals and the Clinical Laboratory Technician Program at WKCTC greatly increases the availability of highly educated and dedicated professionals to the region.”
With large number of baby-boomers that will soon retire to our region, we will see lots of openings for CLT jobs in the next few years said Debbie Taffer, laboratory director at Western Baptist Hospital. “We need this program at the WKCTC to fill those positions and to provide lab services for our patients and healthcare providers,” Taffer said.
Western Baptist Hospital is one of the many area hospitals that have consistently supported the CLT program at WKCTC since it began in January 2010. The hospitals have provided over $165,000 in donations of specialized equipment and supplemental funding for part-time faculty to teach students in the clinical setting.
“We are proud that 100 percent of our clinical lab techs have gotten jobs even before graduation,” said Todd. “And all of them have chosen to stay in the region and are currently serving our community and region to provide diagnostic testing and results for the appropriate and quality care of the residents of western Kentucky.”
In 2010, the average salary for a CLT was $40,768 a year and the average salary for a CLT supervisor was $49,338, and with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting that employment of clinical laboratory technicians will increase by 14-20 percent through the year 2016, the need for qualified CLTs will continue to grow, said Todd.
The CLT program at WKCTC can be completed in two years from admission to the program and the successful student will then receive an Associate in Applied Science degree.
The new class of CLT students will begin next fall; the deadline for applications is May 15, 2013. The program has selective admission and anyone interested must attend a one of the pre-admission conferences in 2013. The conference dates are:
Wednesday, January 23
Monday, February 11
All pre-admission conferences will be held in the Allied Health Building, Room E208 (CLT Lab) at 4:00 p.m.
For more information about the CLT program at WKCTC, contact Clinical Coordinator Jonathan Johnson at jonathan.johnson@kctcs.edu or (270) 534-3502.