[Histonet] Here's to hope...

[Lee & Peggy Wenk]

My name is Peggy Wenk, and I'm the program director of both a HT and a HTL
program (NAACLS accredited) in Royal Oak, Michigan.

I don't know of any accredited HT programs that are totally on-line. Some of
the college based programs have SOME of their lectures on line, but students
still need to go to the college to take the labs for the courses. In
addition, students need to do their histology rotations at affiliated
hospitals that are usually in the area. This is a very much hands-on
profession. Being totally on-line does not provide the hands-on experience.

You could contact NAACLS (National Accrediting Agency for Clinical
Laboratory Sciences), which accredits HT programs. 773-714-8880 They would
know what programs have on-line courses.

I do have some concerns about the Intro to Histologic Techniques courses you
took at your local community college. You say that the "program . . . does
qualify me to take the ASCP exam after a year of on-the-job experience."
Actually, ASCP says that anyone having 1 year OJT experience in histology at
any histology lab qualifies them to take the ASCP HT exam. They do NOT have
to first take a 2 term into to histologic technique course. I hope the
college didn't lead you to believe that this course that you had to pay for
was required to take the exam (with the 1 year experience).

Second area of concern - the new ASCP requirement for those qualifying for
the HT exam via the OJT route is that the candidate must have an associate
degree or 60 semester hours minimum with at least 20 credits of biology and
chemistry combined AND the 1 year OJT. If all you took was these two
courses, you would not be able to take the exam.

What exactly is this college telling people about qualifying for the HT
exam? I really have concerns. Who is this college? Where are they?

Now, on to your suggestion about going outside the US. There is a problem
with this, if your goal is to qualify to take the ASCP registry exam. The
requirement for the experience route is that the experience be under a
"pathologist certified by the American Board of Pathology in Anatomic
Pathology, or an appropriately board certified medical scientist". In
otherwords, that pathologist must be US Board certified, and the medical
scientist (e.g., veterinary pathology) must also be US Board certified. So
working under a pathologist certified in another country would not qualify
you to take the ASCP HT exam.

If however, you just want to gain experience so that you can come back to
the US and possibly get a HT job more easily, and then get the 1 year OJT in
the US hospital, then you would meet the requirement to take the HT exam.
http://ascp.org/Certification/CertifyingExaminations/cert_procedures/eligibi
lity/ht.aspx

Again, I would suggest you contact NAACLS.

Peggy A. Wenk, HTL(ASCP)
William Beaumont Hospital
Royal Oak, MI 48073

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of HistoHopeful
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 2:03 PM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Here's to hope...

Greetings All,

Recently there were a few postings on the subject of "online histology
programs" and the Darton college came up.  I went to the website (
http://www.darton.edu/programs/AlliedHealth/hist/index.php ) but I could not
find any information about online options for their program.  Could anybody
supply further information on this possibilitiy?

My current situation is that I just completed a two-term "introduction to
histologic techniques" through a community college in my area.   There is
not an accredited one or two year program leading directly to certification
in my whole state or I would have certainly considered taking that route.
The program that I did go through does qualify me to take the ASCP exam
after a year of on-the-job experience however.  The dilemma I seem to be
facing though is that most of the places in my metro area are looking of
already seasoned histotechs with certification.

Openings are coming up so infrequently in my area that I am having to start
thinking about moving to get experience under my belt.  If I have to move, I
was thinking that perhaps there might be some international aid
organizations (NGO?) or other means of volunteer or paid service outside the
US that I could also consider.

If anybody has leads on the above idea or encouragement for me I would sure
appreciate it.  I am somewhat worried that the rather expensive program I
went through was a bit of a mirage on employability after completion.

<a href="http://www.iq.lycos.fr"><img
src="http://www.home.lycos.fr/img/caramail/f_iq2.jpg" border=0></img></a>
<strong>Lycos iQ</strong> : Posez votre question maintenant et obtenez des
réponses d?Experts. <a href="http://www.iq.lycos.fr" target="_blank">
Cliquez ici !</a>