ASCP Vacancy Survey Results Show Workforce Challenges Amplified After Pandemic

Although the coronavirus pandemic officially ended in 2022, its aftershocks are widely felt in the medical laboratory, according to the 2022 ASCP Vacancy Survey Report published in late 2023.

Nationwide, the survey results revealed the following trends:

• Retirement rates are rising;
• Testing volume exceeds that of the pre-COVID era;
• Laboratories are having a hard time finding certified laboratory professionals to hire and subsequently are relaxing certification requirements for new hires;
• More contract staff are being hired and more overtime hours are being logged;
• Laboratories are intensely focused on staff retention.

This is happening across the board in the medical laboratory workforce and doesn’t appear that it will be resolved quickly.  

“Retirement rates did not just increase but doubled, in many cases,” says Edna Garcia, MPH, ASCP director of scientific engagement and research. “Pre-pandemic, we thought all those who anticipated retiring in five years had already done so. Two years later when COVID happened, and we saw an uptick of retirements than we originally projected.”

Michelle Campbell, MS, MLS(ASCP)^CMMB^CM, SC^CM, immediate past chair of the ASCP Council for Laboratory Professionals who assisted in reviewing the survey results, sees past these challenges and envisions opportunities where ASCP can, and is, playing a leadership role.

“When it comes to addressing the need to fill these vacancies and getting more individuals certified, the first step is awareness of how severe these vacancies are,” says Ms. Campbell, who also serves on ASCP’s Workforce Steering Committee. “ASCP has conducted this Vacancy Survey for more than three decades. It is important that the Society is partnering with other relevant societies to address these issues.”

Additionally, the ASCP Board of Certification (BOC), under the leadership of Executive Director Amy Spiczka, MS, HTL(ASCP)^CMSCT,MB^CM, has been diligently working to promote the various pathways to certification to leaders of healthcare systems and laboratories.

“In addition to ASCP's collaborative advocacy efforts, the ASCP BOC offers credentials that span the full laboratory medicine and pathology continuum,” Ms. Spiczka says. “BOC certifications and qualifications signify a laboratory professional's knowledge and skills with the relevancy and currency expected by the patients we serve. Recognizing the opportunity for visibility and upward career trajectory, garnering additional credentials has been recognized as a meaningful way for organizations to retain and nurture their team's performance.”

She adds, “Numerous examination eligibility routes account for unique career pathways and the BOC is recognizing a return to pre-COVID volumes or volume growth and stabilized pass rates for the majority of examinations.”

In reviewing the 2022 Vacancy Survey responses, Ms. Campbell says she was struck by just how fairly equal the rate of vacancies were in laboratories across all regions and in laboratories of various sizes and disciplines.

“While that is jarring it is important, since everyone is impacted, everyone will care. We all need to come together to address this,” she emphasizes.

A bar chart (Figure 8, in particular) shows a noticeable increase in vacancies across 17 different disciplines, including anatomic pathology, histotechnology, cytology, medical laboratory science and phlebotomy, between 2020 and the present.

Ms. Garcia also points out that, before the pandemic began, previous ASCP vacancy surveys showed that laboratories and health systems were trending upward when it came to hiring staff that were certified. The results of the 2022 Vacancy Survey are the first time that figure has gone down a bit.

“I think some laboratories are becoming desperate, especially if they are in rural and resource limited areas,’ Ms. Garcia says. “They resort to hiring noncertified staff. I also want to point out it takes longer to hire than before. The hiring process can vary in length. In blood banking, chemistry, core lab, and heme, it can take seven to twelve months to hire someone. For cytology, it can take more than a year.”

There are a number of ways that ASCP is tackling these issues. Ms. Campbell noted that ASCP Ambassadors, members who volunteer to go out and speak with students from elementary school (or earlier) on up to medical school, are helping to get the word out about the many career opportunities within the laboratory.

ASCP, through a cooperative agreement with the CDC, is proud to bring awareness of the OneLab Network to its members. Through this 3-year program, ASCP will also develop and support CDC in the development of new training resources and tools to address ongoing and emergent laboratory workforce challenges. One of them being the Negotiation and Advocacy Toolbox, which gives laboratory directors and others in leadership the tools to advocate to their senior leadership about the resources they need to empower their workforce.

At a higher level, the ASCP Workforce Steering Committee is looking at ways to develop new recruitment resources, including new materials on the ASCP’s What's My Next. The ASCP, through the Medical and Public Health Workforce Coalition, a new coalition of 28 member organizations are working together to address these issues.