Survey of NAACLS accredited histotechnology programs in the United States

ABSTRACT

Histotechnology educational programs are accredited by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS) and currently number fewer than 50 in the United States which contributes to the shortages of laboratory personnel. A survey tool designed with REDCap software was distributed to all programs identified on the NAACLS website and consisted of three parts: a) program information, b) facility information, and c) challenges. Programs are located primarily in large urban centers where populations are most concentrated. The median class size was 6 which may explain the excellent student outcomes to include 96% graduation rates and 90.7% board of registry examination pass rates. Overall, programs had ample equipment, funding, and administrative support. Costs to attend the programs were relatively low (<$3,000 per semester) for over half of the programs. However, due to the small number of accredited education programs across the US, potential students do not often have access to an institution in their area. The programs indicated that the most common challenge was recruitment of adequate high-quality candidates which may explain, in part, the persistent shortage of personnel in the histology laboratory.

KEYWORDS:

• Anatomic pathology
• education
• enrollment
• laboratory
• workforce

Acknowledgements

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to those histotechnology program directors, faculty, and staff who contributed data for this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data set associated with this study is available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.

Study approval

This study was approved by the University of Tennessee Health Science Center Institutional Review Board number 23–09483-XM.