The four-year curriculum is directed and demanding, making it essential for its students to get good advising before their first freshman course. McCoy says students must take 16-17 credits a semester if they plan on graduating in the four years. Medical laboratory science admitted 12 students this year, and could take as many as 15.Students spend their senior year doing clinical rotations at Mayo Laboratories in Rochester, Minn., Franciscan-Skemp Healthcare in La Crosse, and St. Vincent's in Green Bay. They keep an electronic tie to campus in synchronous and asynchronous courses on the Web and compressed video. Faculty post case studies and the students are expected to address them before class meets.
Graduates are in demand.
She says 70 percent of the date required to make a diagnoses, monitor therapy, or assess wellness comes from a medical lab. The shortage of clinical laboratory scientists and medical technologists in Wisconsin and the nation is at a critical level. A shortage of personnel often results in vacancies that last a long time as hospitals and institutions scramble for the few people entering the field. The department, and the profession, is starting a recruitment program for students. Those who are aware of it are also aware it can be stressful because mistakes in a medical lab can result in harm to a patient.