Assessment Report Standard Format
July 1, 2011- June 30, 2012
PROGRAM(S) ASSESSED _________Clinical Laboratory Science____
ASSESSMENT COORDINATOR ______Dr. Cheryl Conley____________
YEAR __1________ of a ____1______YEAR CYCLE
1. ASSESSMENT MEASURES EMPLOYED
Briefly describe the assessment measures employed during the
year.
What was done?
 Graduate job performance evaluated by current employers; all
employers were completely satisfied with our WSU graduates.
All graduates were employed within 1-2 months of graduating.
 Graduate critique of Program’s ability to prepare students for
employment in the clinical field; graduates indicate that the CLS
Program more than prepares them for the Board of Registry
exam and entry level work experience.
 Program’s continued accreditation by NAACLS; WSU has
submitted a self study to NAACLS in preparation for site
inspection in Fall of 2012; NAACLS accreditation currently
extends to April 2013.
 Student preparation for clinical practicum evaluated
Who participated in the process?
 Program officials
 Program faculty
 Clinical coordinators
 Employers
 NAACLS representatives
What challenges (if any) were encountered?
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Hiring and retention of adjunct faculty who teach advanced
clinical coursework; our program has only 1.5 FTEs to
administrate the program, recruit, maintain and expand the
number of clinical affiliates, teach, and evaluate student
competence. The program is dependent on adjunct faculty
to teach four upper level courses. These courses are taught
in the Summer and Fall in order to accommodate adjunct
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schedules so we do not have flexibility in the calendar year
to change the instruction time frame which will limit the
number of students we can accept into the program.
Semester conversion and adjunct promotions within our
clinical affiliates have adversely impacted adjunct teaching
schedules and we will be actively recruiting adjuncts in
microbiology and hematology.
Placement of students in limited clinical sites: WSU CLS
Program currently has twelve clinical affiliates. Over the
past year, WSU has successfully recruited four more
affiliates including Raj Soin, Mercer Medical Center, Wright
Patterson Medical Center, and Miami Valley South. Many
hospital laboratories train both associate level clinical
laboratory technician and our CLS students so our program
must work closely with our community colleges to ensure
that clinical rotations do not overlap; some of our larger
hospital affiliates will take only 1 student at a time. We must
be able to mutually resolve the clinical rotation capacity
issue so that the program can expand to increase the
number of graduates. We have 14 students in our current
class and 14 students in the upcoming class and our clinical
affiliates are accommodating them for their clinical rotations.
In 2015, the new Clinical Laboratory Technician associate at
Sinclair Community College will require more clinical sites as
they anticipate a class of 15 students requiring clinical
rotation.
Very limited supply budget: The supply budget has not
changed over the last 10 years. Many of the supplies
needed for the laboratory courses are donated but the
realistic budget should be at least twice the current budget.
The current supply budget is $6,500 annually. With
increased class size, this budget is not practical.
There is no advertising budget: The CLS Program created a
video that is on the Wright State web site for better
exposure. Feedback from students indicate that this is a
good tool for recruitment. We are continually looking for
volunteers to help promote our program in the area high
schools. We are working with the Development Office to gain
greater visibility and identify potential donors for our
program. We attend university-sponsored career fairs and
events which highlight programs within the university. For
the second year in a row we have roughly twice the number
of applicants that our program can accept so there is no
need at this point to actively recruit.
There is no capital equipment budget: Many of the pieces of
equipment are antiquated as they were donated by hospital
based programs many years ago. We must start replacing
centrifuges, microscopes, and other specialized pieces of
equipment. With increased class size, we have identified
and discarded equipment no longer functioning, but this
necessitates sharing equipment. NAACLS (our accrediting
organization) specifies that the students must be trained on
“modern” equipment. Our hospital affiliates continue to
donate retired equipment to our program, but this practice
should not be the sole mechanism for equipment
replacement. We are working with Development to identify
other sources of funding for equipment. We are planning to
increase lab fees to help off set equipment expenses and
intend to solicit capital equipment funds from our clinical
affiliates.
2. ASSESSMENT FINDINGS
Pass a national certification examination
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Of the 15 eligible to take the Board of Certification (BOC)
exam, 13 graduates have passed and two graduates have
yet to take the BOC.
Obtain employment as a laboratory scientist recognizing the
dynamics of the profession and possessing the ability to adjust to
various roles in the clinical laboratory
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100% employed in the profession regionally
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Two students received CompuNet scholarships
Two of our students received national recognition with ASCP
scholarship awards.
Graduate and employer responses to surveys:
employers indicate that the WSU CLS graduates are well
prepared. Our graduates also indicate that the program prepared
them well for their careers in the clinical laboratory.
3. RESPONSE TO ASSESSMENT FINDINGS
List planned or actual changes (if any) to curriculum, teaching
methods, facilities, or services that are in response to the
assessment findings.
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The CLS Program continues to work with the community in an effort to
identify resources to increase numbers of CLS graduates annually.
Nationally there is extreme concern over the numbers of qualified
laboratory scientists who will be replacing those retiring. The U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that by 2014, an additional 81,000
technologists and technicians will be needed to replace retirees and
68,000 to fill new positions. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects
clinical laboratory employment growth of 14.7 percent between 2010
and 2020, adding 23,800 more professionals to the 161,200 jobs
currently in the field. The average age of the laboratory workforce is
49.2 years with 40% of the workforce projected to retire within 10
years. There is concern whether the current educational infrastructure
is sufficient to meet market demand for clinical laboratory scientists
and technicians. Most of the hospital based training programs have
closed and the number of NACCLS accredited CLS programs have
decreased from 770 in 1975 to 219 in 2012. The number of CLS/MT
program graduates has decreased from 6,519 in 1977 to 4,800 in
2012. The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates there is a current U.S.
vacancy rate of 9-20% and with current number of graduates at 4,800,
they project a shortfall of 4,500 per year now and 9,000 per year by
2015. In the past 5 years, there have been 51 students who have
completed the Wright State CLS Program and 14 students are on track
for this year. Based on these statistics, there is a clear and absolute
need to expand the CLS Program. The Kettering Network and Premier
Healthcare project a need for at least 25 graduates per year for each
network. The current WSU capacity which is approved through
NAACLS ( National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory
Sciences) is 12. This number was based on space, equipment
requirements, and teaching staff. We are currently exploring ways of
increasing the capacity of the program. Our renovated student
laboratory can accommodate 25 students. We will continue to work
with our clinical affiliates in an effort to identify resources within our
community which could be used to recruit and retain Clinical
Laboratory Scientists in the area. We have four additional clinical
affiliates which will help us in the expansion efforts (Mercer Med. Cen.,
Raj Soin, Miami Valley South, Wright Patterson Med. Cen.).
4. ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES FOR THE COMING YEAR
We will continue to monitor student retention rates, student success
on the ASCP Board of Certification exam, graduate placement rates,
and the post graduation questionnaires to ensure that the Wright State
CLS Program provides complete and appropriate training for the CLS
graduates of the future.
5. UNIVERSITY LEARNING OUTCOME ASSESSMENT
As part of the HLC Academy project, each program of study will
eventually assess two University Learning Outcomes in required
courses in the major. One outcome will be assessed in 2014-15,
and the second will be added in 2015-16. Identify the two ULOs
that will be assessed and, if possible, the likely course(s) to be
used.
University Learning Outcomes: Wright State graduates will be
able to:
1. communicate effectively
2. demonstrate mathematical literacy
3. evaluate arguments and evidence critically
4. apply the methods of inquiry of the natural sciences, social
sciences, and the arts and humanities
5. demonstrate global and multicultural competence
6. demonstrate understanding of contemporary social and ethical
issues
7. participate in democratic society as informed and civically
engaged citizens
For the CLS major, the following ULOs will be assessed in the CL 4200
Laboratory Management Course:
communicate effectively
evaluate arguments and evidence critically
This course has a required writing intensive component which
culminates in writing a scientific paper. There is a required
management project which the students must design, form a scientific
hypothesis, run parallel studies, apply appropriate statistics, and draw
conclusions. Both of the university learning outcomes can be
evaluated in this course.