Integration of the Centers for Disease Control Competency Guidelines for Public Health Laboratory Professionals Into a Medical Laboratory Training Program

ABSTRACT

The National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS) requires laboratory training programs to define and assess students on measurable objectives (ie, cognitive, psychomotor, affective domains). Programs have the flexibility to create unique, domain-aligned objectives; these become the basis for evaluation rubrics. Creating such evaluation systems is time consuming. No single prescribed method exists that models the desired laboratory profession characteristics. In 2015, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Association for Public Health Laboratories published competency guidelines for public health professionals. The competencies integrate a range of public health laboratory workforce needs (eg, identifying job responsibilities, assessing professional affective skills) measured across 4 ability levels based on the Dreyfus Model. Although written for public health professionals, the competencies are applicable to students in academic laboratory training programs. The Oregon State Public Health Laboratory (OSPHL) shared the CDC publication, MMWR: Competency Guidelines for Public Health Laboratory Professionals, with the Portland Community College Medical Laboratory Technology (MLT) Program Director (PD) with the intent to use the guidelines for curriculum enhancement. Many allied health programs use competency-based curriculum to assess skills/knowledge/abilities. Prior research in medical education demonstrates competency-based curriculum improves outcomes and provides assessment strategies. The PD worked with OSPHL to evaluate the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) domains most relevant to the clinical laboratory field. We mapped domains to align with general clinical laboratory professional expectations and NAACLS evaluation requirements. This poster outlines our process for integrating the MMWR Competency Guidelines into an existing MLT training program and our intent to assess and compare outcomes modeling industry expectations and skills for professional laboratorians.