UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 19, Page 1
February 13, 1992
Joint efforts may help save med tech program

     The University of Delaware and the state's medical community
are working together to try to save the University's Medical
Technology Program, according to R. Byron Pipes, provost and vice
president for academic affairs.
     "While it has not been determined that the program can be
saved, the University-as a demonstration of good faith-has agreed
to keep the program open for a new freshman class, and the medical
community has agreed to pursue how it can assist with recruitment
of students interested in medical technology careers," Pipes said.
     "If the University can reduce the program's operating costs
and the medical community can assist with the initiation and
implementation of student recruitment initiatives, then we will
have come a long way toward saving the med tech program," according
to John T. Brook, vice president for government and public
relations.
     "Even then," Brook said, "it may be necessary to secure
additional funding from various sources to support this program."At
a meeting Jan. 24 between University officials and concerned
individuals and representatives of the medical community, it was
determined that an active recruitment program for students would
include tours of area facilities, to underscore the career
oppoortunities available in the field.
     "With outside support and interest, we hope to be able to make
the Medical Technology Program a viable one on the campus,
educating an appropriate number of medical technicians at an
affordable cost," Pipes said. The University has had to closely
examine its expenditures during this period of fiscal constraint,
and the Medical Technology Program was under consideration for
elimination because of its expense and under-enrollment, Pipes
said.
     According to program director Anna Ciulla, the University's
med tech program, which has been in place since 1949 and is
accredited by the American Medical Association, is highly regarded.
     "Our program has been fine-tuned, and our graduates are much
in demand," she said.
     "There are many excellent career opportunities for medical
technologists in hospitals, private practice, industry, public
health agencies and pharmaceutical research, to name a few."
     Medical technology plays an important role in delivering
essential health care to the community at large, she explained, but
there is a shortage of medical technologists nationwide and in the
tri-state area. Predictions are that "the need for medical
technologists will increase and there will be a 19 percent vacancy
rate in hospital labs by the year 2000," she said.
     Medical technology is a clinical laboratory science that
involves body fluids and that aids in the prevention, diagnosis and
treatment of disease.  Tests essential to health care and medical
research, such as determining glucose and cholesterol levels and
blood counts, are performed by skilled technicans taking all
possible precautions so that medical technology is an extremely
safe field, Ciulla said.
     Scholarship opportunities from area hospitals are available,
she said, and entry-level salaries range from $26,000 to $35,000.
     At the University, students take basic biology, chemistry and
liberal arts courses their freshman and sophomore years, entering
the Medical Technology Program in their junior year with such
courses as hematology, immunohematology, clinical chemistry and
microbiology. During the senior year, students are involved in
clinical rotations at three different hospitals for 20 weeks.
Cheryl Katz, assistant administrative director of the Department of
Pathology at the Medical Center of Delaware, is coordinating
efforts of the medical community to recruit students and will offer
tours of the center's facility.
     According to Ciulla, "There is a tremendous need for medical
technologists who perform much-needed services, and there are many
opportunities in the field, and the major also can be a basis for
graduate work."
     Students interested in learning more about the major may
contact Ciulla at 831-8109.