toledoblade.com --

Hospital patients rarely see the people who run tests on their blood. But a growing shortage of those lab workers could increase their profile by lengthening hospital stays and driving up costs, lab managers say.

A combination of retirements and a lack of new workers to replace them has some medical technologists and laboratory technicians concerned about how bad the shortage will be five years from now.

"It'll definitely make a difference to patients when it takes longer to get their results back, and they don't get to go home, or their surgery is delayed," said Cindy O'Connell, lab manager at Medical College of Ohio Hospitals.

Longer hospital stays also would raise patients' health-care costs, she said.

The cause of the shortage, like that in many other health-care fields, is twofold. Forty percent of medical techs certified by the American Society for Clinical Pathology are 46 to 66 years old, according to the organization's 2003 wage and salary survey. Up to 40 percent of the current work force will be eligible for retirement by 2010.

"It's going to get worse, because a lot of people are going to be retiring in the next several years," Mrs. O'Connell said.

At the same time, fewer students are graduating in the field, largely because many people don't see working with blood and body fluids as a desirable career.

Though the money is good - the national average salary for medical technologists is about $40,200 - labs also need workers on nights, weekends, and holidays, Mrs. O'Connell said.

In MCO's basement laboratory, technicians in white coats and latex-free gloves peer into microscopes and place vials of blood serum and other bodily fluids into instruments. The tests they run are responsible for about 60 percent of medical decisions.

While labs have become more automated and some tests like blood glucose for diabetes are simple enough that anyone can do them and get accurate results, trained technologists are still needed. More complicated tests that can tell more information are constantly being developed.

"People tend to think we're just button-pushers," said Paul Reineck, a senior med tech at MCO. "They think automation is the answer, and it's not the total answer."

While an instrument can run the tests, it can't analyze the results.

The med techs have to identify and interpret anomalous results, correlate them with other results, and calibrate the instruments to a known standard.

"They get paid to know when something's wrong," Mrs. O'Connell said.

While the MCO lab isn't having trouble keeping up with its workload, workers are busy.

"In the last couple of years, we've had to work a lot more overtime," med tech Keith Lewis said.

The shortage isn't as bad in northwest Ohio as in other places. Mrs. O'Connell, who recently moved from Cleveland, said that hospitals there had unfilled openings for months.

While the shortage hasn't hit Flower Hospital yet, lab manager Carla Dunsmoor agreed that "it is a concern for the future."

ProMedica Health System, looking at retirements down the road, is taking steps to avoid a shortage by offering med techs incentives such as tuition reimbursements, said Randy Schimmoeller, vice president of human resources for the central region.

Two years ago, Mercy College of Northwest Ohio closed its medical laboratory technology program, which led to a two-year associate degree because it was having trouble recruiting students and didn't see a shortage of workers at that time, said Martha Shouldis, vice president of academic affairs for the college.

"Prospective students didn't see it as a lucrative field to go into" or didn't know what it was, she said.

Bob Harr, director of the medical technology program and chairman of the department of public and allied health at Bowling Green State University, said many scientifically minded students think they can make more money in another field.

Medical technologists have bachelor's degrees, usually in medical technology, biology, or chemistry, and do internships that add to the length and cost of their degrees.

The program at BGSU, the only one in the region, has a capacity of 14 students a year but often has been below capacity. The lowest point was in 2001, when it had only five students.

"We haven't seen enough qualified applicants to consistently fill those 14 slots for the past 10 years now," Mr. Harr said. "Although the interest is starting to return, it's nowhere near the level it needs to be," he said.

Contact Elizabeth A. Shack at: eshack@theblade.com or 419-724-6050.

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