Let me be your sole backer here. I agree with your government involvement
take and I don't want to see what happened in Canada happen here in the US.
Healthcare in Canada is entirely government run. They have made all
healthcare professionals second class citizens and have eliminated all
choice. The working conditions are pathetic and they have no say. The
politicians are the ones who tell them what and how to do everything.

We had a similar situation in my place.
Except, not so many technologists participated
in writing the rules.  And it came as a big
surprise to me and many other technologists
that the government has set up this licensing
body for technologists.

And many technologists, including myself, were
upset about it.

This new licensing body immediately imposed hefty
membership fees.  And my employer eventually had
to tell all the technologists in the lab that they
had to register with this organization because this
was the government law.

This new licensing body now says that their main
madate is to protect the public against
malpractice by technologists.  And they claim that
their authority is from the government, which is
true of course.

I'm against this kind of goverment involvement in
professional organizations because it often sets up
undemocratic situations.  Some clique of professionals
get the backing of the government.  And then they start
dictating to all the other not so organized professionals
what they should do.

Even when there are elections in these government-backed
bodies, you often end up in a situation where the majority
dictates to everybody else what to do.  And they have no
respect for minorities in their profession who perhaps
would like to have more freedom and more autonomy in their
work.

Government involvment in professional organizations often
has the effect of reducing rights and freedoms of
professionals.  It puts professionals into a straight-jacket
where they all have to work and practice in the same way.
And of course it reduces satisfaction for those professionals
who want to have some freedom in how they work and study.

In Rhode Island, the state licensing board refused to set up a licensing
system for Medical Lab techs - the state's local ASCLS branch headed by a
couple of professors and many, many technologists petitioned and helped
write the rules. The state only went for it after a very hard fought several
year battle with the politicians. It's not the "government" doing this it is
your fellow professionals who care about quality health care and quality
laboratory results.

As far as continuing education - there are plenty of free or low cost CE
credits that can be had. Have you looked around the web, in some of the
monthly lab mags. Do you have a membership in either ASCP or ASCLS? Their
monthly magazines always have CE courses.

I am fortunate that I live in a city with many education opportunities.
However I am responsible for my own profession and made the effort to find
CEUs and even take an MS course in Clinical Lab Science. There are ways to
keep current and to take courses on-line. It's all up to you!

in article 1124267589.880330.30530@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com,
nickzelinski@hotmail.com at nickzelinski@hotmail.com wrote on 8/17/05 4:33
AM:

When continuing education is done during
your working hours.  And the employer
provides much of the education.  Then
of course there is nothing to complain
about.

But you have to realize that not everyone
is in such a lucky situation as you are.
There are many technologists who work in
small labs and in rural areas, where the
employer does not provide any continuing
education.

Some technologists travel to foreign
countries and work there for a while.
And they too have a problem, when they
come back.

And there are many states in USA and
provinces in Canada where the government
has created licensing organizations that
do require official continuing educaton
in order to have any right to work (or
'priviledge' as they say).

Perhaps not everyone values their freedom
to the same extent.  And perhaps for you
lack of professional freedom is a small
price to pay.  But that's not how it is for
me.

My employer does not provide any continuing
education.  It's all up to me.  And this
means that I know better than some far away
bureaucrat what I need to know for my work.
And this is why I'd like to have the freedom
to choose what I learn and how I learn it.

All these licensing organizations including
ASCP should give people the option to
continue their education completely on their
own.  And they should give these people the
option of writing some competence exam to
renew their professional certification.

Such an arrangement would be a small price
to pay.  And it would give many people the
professional freedom they need.

Is this too much to ask for?

Since when did freedom for the individual
become unimportant?

I am the head of our lab's CE committee. We recently instituted a
requirement that every tech have 12 hours of CE a year. This keeps us in
line with the new ASCP requirement of newly graduated techs that are
required to have 12 hours yearly in order to keep their registry in good
standing. These hours are not required by any governmental entity; they
are required by my employer.

Our lab allows many options to fulfill this 12 hour requirement. Reading
articles, attending conferences, online CE, in-house lectures,
membership in a committee all count towards the 12 hours.

I personally don't think this is too much to ask to keep current in the
field. I also don't think it's too much to ask to do some of this stuff
off the clock. It's a small "price" to pay to stay knowledgeable.

Judy Dilworth, M.T. (ASCP)
Microbiology

<nickzelinski@hotmail.com> wrote in message

I work in the laboratory and I have a degree.
And I have no problem with my education or
qualifications, except for the continuing
education.

My point is that there is more than one way to
keep competent in your work and profession.
And professionals like myself should have the
freedom to do it in their own way.  The
government has no business telling me that I
need to upgrade my competence, when they haven't
tested my knowledge and when they haven't checked
the quality of my work.

This is government interference in my life for no
good reason.  And I resent it.

But I agree with you that changing professions is
costly and difficult.  And you really have to be
dissatisfied in order to do it.

Apparently, you are satisfied with your work and
profession.  And I wish you all the best.  Perhaps
your employer and your local government treats
healthcare workers with more respect than it does
in my area. Not every place is the same.

But I think I'm right in saying that in general,
many health professionals including laboratory
workers often leave their profession well before
their retirement age.  And dissatisfaction with
their profession is often the main reason why
they leave.

Who exactly I am and where exactly I work is not
important.  I am still working in my profession.
And I don't feel free to speak out openly against
government regulators who have the power to make
some trouble for me.

So, what exactly is your profession? What are you being asked to do by
the government? Has your state of residence recently become a licensure
state and you don't have the qualifications to complete licensure
requirements?

It sounds as if your profession is requiring a college degree or
equivalent, and you don't have one. It also sounds as if you are
dissatisfied with your employer. You seem fixated on government causing
all of your problems instead of possible lack of initiative on your own
part. It's easy to blame the "gumment" for lots of things.

I have a great employer and have no complaints. No profession is
perfect. For me to start over now would require a big investment in
school and probably a pay cut. I would expect it would be the same for
you.

Why don't you lay the cards on the table in your posting, instead of
writing a "black helicopter anti-government rant" and perhaps you will
get some empathy? What's REALLY going on here?

Judy Dilworth, M.T. (ASCP)
Microbiology

It's a well known fact that nurses are leaving their
profession in droves.  And they are leaving it in
such numbers that the new nurses coming out of
shools are not enough to replace them.

Job dissatisfaction is perhaps higher in nursing
than in other health professions.  But other health
professions also have a problem with people leaving
well before their retirement age.

I happen to be one of those other health
professionals.  And I too will probably leave my
profession soon.

It's not only poor working conditions and lack of
control over my work that upsets me.  I also don't
like the unreasonable government interference in my
work and in my life.

Local governments in most places have recently
created many new rules and regulations that govern
health professionals.  And now I find myself in a
ridiculous situation where my many years of
work-experience and continuing self-education count
for nothing.  According to these new government
regulations, I'm now actually less qualified to do
my work than the new graduates who have no
work-experience.

I suppose this is what happens when some bureaucrats
in a far away place take it on themselves to judge
who is competent to do his or her work and who is
not.

I have more than kept up with the advances my
profession through continuing self-education.
Whenever I come accross something I'm not familiar
with in my work, then I go on the internet and find
out about it in much greater detail than is really
necessary for me to do my work.  And what I learn
this way actually stays in my head.  The information
has real meaning for me because it is relevant to my
everyday work.

But the new government rules and regulations
completely ignore this kind of learning.  And they
penalize people like me.

According to my local government, I'm now not
qualified to do my work because I've not taken
enough formal courses and I've not memorized a bunch
of facts most of which have little to do with my
everyday work.

I can accept that the government and employers  have
an interest in making sure that health professionals
are competent in their work.  And would have no
problem, if periodically I had to write an exam to
assess my knowledge.  And if I fail the exam, then I
can accept that I need to take a course or two to
upgrade my knowledge.

But I do have a problem when the government tells me
that I'm not qualified to do my work, despite the
fact that my supervisors praise me for my competence
and the good quality of my work and I have not
failed any exams.

I've recently looked up the internet site of the
organization created by my local government for
regulating and registering people in my profession.
And what I've read there really turned me off.

This internet site reminds the reader that their
organization has been created by government
legislation to regulate workers like me.  They have
the authority to do it.  And what's more, practicing
in my profession is a "priveledge", not a right.

In other words, 'Workers like me have to do as they
say, or else'.

Well, I don't need this kind of bulshit from the
government.  There are many other professions where
the pay and the working conditions are better.  And
there are many other professions where employers
recognize and value the competence and the years of
work experience of their employees.

I don't need some far away government bureaucrat
whom I've never met telling me that I'm not
competent, when both I and my employer know that I
am competent.

I will leave my profession.  And my only regret is
that I chose to go into this profession in the first
place.  If I had known that the government will
start interfering in my work and in my life this
way, then I would have chosen some other profession.