title: Responding to the medical laboratory staffing shortage: the Canadian perspective.
abstract: Shortages of qualified medical laboratory personnel have not been a problem in Canada since the early 1960s, when the profession experienced a growth that far exceeded training capacities. Massive immigration, primarily from the United Kingdom, provided a temporary patch for the urgent human resources (HR) supply. Medical laboratory technologist training program enrollments were increased rapidly, and, by the early 1970s, more than 1,200 new graduates were generated each year. In the late-1980s, a trend evolved in Canada that raised concern about the ability to attract suitable applicants to careers in medical laboratory technology. However, that issue quickly faded as a priority when the health reform of the 1990s struck Canada.
authors.affiliation: Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D002321:Career Choice; D003162:Competency-Based Education; D005551:Foreign Professional Personnel; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006280:Health Workforce; D006801:Humans; D007753:Laboratories; D017056:Medical Laboratory Personnel / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D013677:Medical Laboratory Science / Q000193:education*; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling