SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — There’s a new bridge program at the University of Illinois Springfield to help Central Illinois laboratories train more specialists to work in them.
UIS is offering medical laboratory certificates to students at the start of the fall semester. The university is offering certificates in four areas: clinical chemistry, hematology, immunohematology and medical microbiology.
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The goal of the program is to train and certify more laboratory specialists in Central Illinois. The demand for the field of MLS practitioners is expected to skyrocket by 19% between 2016 and 2030, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“The new certificates are a direct response to local laboratory leaders’ difficulties in hiring certified MLS professionals,” said Andrea Jensen, UIS Medical Laboratory Science Program Director. “These certificates will provide a pathway for individuals to enter the field and ensure our local laboratories are staffed with competent, certified professionals.”
Students will study in labs, classrooms and online before completing a 150-hour clinical practicum in their field of study. The certificates are accredited by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Science and the the American Society for Clinical Pathology.
“Students will benefit from UIS’ strong partnerships with local clinical laboratories, which will provide hands-on practicum experiences,” Jensen said. “These collaborations ensure that students gain real-world skills in a clinical setting, working alongside experienced MLS practitioners.”
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The program is designed to help train students before they need a second bachelor’s degree. In order to be eligible, students are required to have a bachelor’s degree and completed a combination of 30 semester hours in biology and chemistry and a semester in statistics.
Interested students would need to apply to UIS and then send in a secondary application to the MLS program. More information on the new certificates can be found on UIS’s website.
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