George Tuley/Caller-Times Students in Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi’s clinical laboratory science program spend their last year in clinical rotations, and many are offered jobs. ‘Those who run through the clinicals with us are better prepared,’ said Gilbert Gonzalez, laboratory director at Christus Spohn Shoreline.

University programs attack shortage of pharmacists, lab techs

A&M-Kingsville to build $20 million pharmacy school; experience prepares A&M-CC lab tech students for careers

February 1, 2003
By Tricia Schwennesen
Caller-Times

It is no secret nurses are needed nationwide, but there is also a drastic shortage of medical lab technicians and pharmacists - a shortage some say is due to a lack of available educational programs.

Two local universities are working on solutions. Texas A&M University-Kingsville is launching its own pharmacy school, and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi boasts a long-standing medical lab program.

According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the ratio of pharmacists to people statewide is 79 per 100,000, and the ratio of pharmacists to people in South Texas is 55 per 100,000.

High-profile lawmakers have backed the idea of the pharmacy school from the beginning. Gov. Rick Perry signed legislation, House Bill 1640, to establish the school of pharmacy in June 2001. State Rep. Irma Rangel, D-Kingsville, penned the legislation that was sponsored in the state Senate by Sen. Carlos Truan, D-Corpus Christi.

"It is so important that we recognize our institutions of higher education have been in existence since 1925," Truan said. "We have earned the respect and opportunity to have more than undergraduate courses, to have a professional school."

‘Huge potential’
Lawmakers approved $350,000 in startup money and $20 million to build the facility. The school has yet to hire a dean to head up the program, but groundbreaking on the $15 million home of A&M-Kingsville’s new pharmacy school is set for the spring.

"There is a great need for pharmacists in the state of Texas," Truan said. "We are under-served with respect to the number of pharmacists serving this area. The demand is so much greater that we are unable to meet the demand for pharmacists the way we are supposed to."

The school is slated to open in the fall of 2005, making it South Texas’ first professional school.

"It’s got huge potential," said Dick Messbarger, executive director of the greater Kingsville Economic Development Council.

Surveys show that South Texas needs pharmacists and this school will fill a tremendous void, Messbarger said. He said it also means more money for an area considered rural and agriculturally based.

"There’s been a tremendous amount if interest indicated, and that opens the door to recruit students not just from Texas, but all over the country," Messbarger said.

Lab technicians needed
Equally as important to health as medicines and pharmaceuticals are the tests that help doctors determine people’s illnesses and treatment. Some 70 percent of all diagnostic tests are conducted in a medical laboratory, but there’s a nationwide shortage of about 3,000 people, said Christina Thompson, the 26-year director of A&M-Corpus Christi’s Clinical Laboratory Science program.

Those who complete the university program, in existence since 1959, earn the credentials to be a medical technologist or a clinical laboratory technician, two of the top 20 jobs out of 250 surveyed in 1999, according to the Jobs Rated Almanac. Del Mar College also offers an associate’s degree in medical technology.

One of the benefits of the four-year program at A&M-Corpus Christi is that students spend their last year in clinical rotations at a local lab, and many are offered jobs.

"Those who run through the clinicals with us are better prepared," said Christus Spohn Hospital - Shoreline lab director Gilbert Gonzalez.

Gonzalez graduated from Corpus Christi State University, now A&M-Corpus Christi, beginning his career as a medical technician and advancing to his current position. "We’re very fortunate to have a program locally," he said.

Career misperceptions
The shortage in the industry may also be due to salaries not keeping pace with other technical industries, the misperception that it’s a woman’s career field and a misunderstanding of what the career entails, Thompson said.

"I think some people think there’s a little black box where you submit your blood and answers just spit out like it’s a magic box," she said.

The demand may be even higher post-9/11, as governmental agencies snatch up qualified candidates to fill positions that test and interpret the results of genetics, biology and chemistry, Thompson said.

"There are no instruments for that," she said. "They take a higher ability to perform, so there’s a need to hire people to do that. If you are short people then it takes away from getting the correct answers in a short amount of time."

The program has the capacity to graduate 12 students per year, but only about half that are currently finishing the program, Thompson said. The program features hands-on clinical rotations with the Christus Spohn Health system and several other clinics in Corpus Christi.

There are six hospitals within the Spohn network, each with its own lab, Gonzalez said. Most graduates of the program are hired for permanent positions in one of the labs.

"We’re seeing a lot of programs close, and we’re seeing more outside candidates come in and then leave when they are done," Gonzalez said.

Filling positions is imperative for any lab because most operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week running tests in chemistry, hematology, pathology, microbiology and blood banking, he said.

"Anything that oozes, any fluid that comes out of you, the lab handles it," Gonzalez said. "We’re the unknown soldiers down here. It’s a critical part of the health care continuum."

Fewer than 10 students graduate each year, and last August, Christus Spohn Shoreline hired two or three recent graduates to join its technical staff of about 40 people, Gonzalez said.

"Having them here for a clinical rotation is a definite advantage," he said. "Rotations are like an extended job interview."

Contact Tricia Schwennesen at 886-3618 or schwennesent@caller.com