Michelle Hoad
CEO,
Medical Laboratory Professionals’ Association of Ontario
Jeffrey Dale
CEO,
Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratory Association
Barb LeBlanc
Dean, Health, Wellness and Community Services,
St. Lawrence College
Jennifer Sanna-White
Manager of Laboratory Services,
Red Lake Margaret Cochenour Memorial Hospital
Ontario’s shortage of medical laboratory professionals weighs heavily on the health care system — a problem that’s only going to get worse.
They represent the fourth-largest medical profession after doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, but often go unnoticed by the public. Perhaps this is because their role isn’t as patient-facing as the others — but their unseen work touches the lives of almost every person who has ever utilized Ontario’s health care system.
Medical laboratory technologists (MLTs) play a critical role, along with assistants/technicians, in performing over 280 million tests annually.1 Working in hospitals and private and public clinics and laboratories, it’s their job to conduct diagnostic tests on bodily specimens to help confirm and treat diseases.
MLTs help patients in all phases of life — 70 per cent of medical decisions are based on their lab results.2 Thus, the industry’s ongoing staff shortages impact all corners of the health network, and these issues are projected to intensify.
Behind the decline
Several factors contribute to the sector’s shrinking workforce. About 39 per cent of MLTs will be eligible to retire within the next four years.3 Plus, the COVID-19 pandemic, which added an insurmountable workload to the already-overburdened industry, forced many into early retirement.
“The other issue is that we haven’t seen any new MLT educational programs over the last 25 years or so, despite the province’s rapid population growth,” explains Michelle Hoad, CEO of the Medical Laboratory Professionals’ Association of Ontario (MLPAO). “Long before the pandemic, we were raising concerns about this, but COVID-19 really brought the industry’s shortages into focus.”
Since then, more educational programs have opened. But the benefits are delayed, since it takes three to four years to graduate as a medical laboratory technologist (MLT). And, not enough labs can take students for clinical placements — the MLPAO reported that 61 per cent of responding lab leaders don’t have enough resources to do so.4
Responding to obstacles
The MLT shortage has a profoundly negative impact on Ontario’s health care system. Patients face increased wait times and hindrances to test results and care. With many employees heading for retirement, these issues will only worsen.
“Delayed results are affecting patient outcomes across the board, from emergency care to cancer diagnoses,” says Hoad. “Sixty-seven per cent of labs report that MLT shortages affect test turnaround times, and 44 per cent of pathology labs cannot meet Canadian Cancer Care report times.”5
The MLPAO represents and advocates for the interests of MLTs across the province. It works to underscore the pivotal role MLTs play within the health care system and to push for equal prioritization in funding and support. “We’re asking for immediate investment in training and clinical placements to prevent a bottleneck, especially with student clinical placements,” adds Hoad. “We also urge the government to expand the Ontario Learn and Stay Grant to more programs.”
We’re asking for immediate investment in training and clinical placements to prevent a bottleneck,
especially with student clinical placements. We also urge the government to expand the Ontario Learn and Stay Grant to more programs.
– Michelle Hoad, CEO of MLPAO
Supporting rural students
Currently available for only two MLT programs, the Learn and Stay Grant gives students the chance to attend school at no cost. “If the grant was implemented at St. Lawrence College in Kingston, Ont., it would provide more educational opportunities for students from rural communities, where our staffing challenges are most acute,” says Jeffrey Dale, CEO of the Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratory Association.
St. Lawrence College’s Associate Vice-President Barb LeBlanc confirms that the student demand for MLT courses has remained consistently high for decades. “Giving us the grant would be worthwhile for the government because these programs directly respond to our region’s labour market needs,” she says.
Care in Northwestern Ontario is especially affected. “Funding for placements and the expansion of the grant will place all our labs in a much better position to support student education and solve human resource pressures,” says Jennifer Sanna-White, Manager of Laboratory Services at Red Lake Margaret Cochenour Memorial Hospital.
Solutions for everyone’s sake
Unfilled MLT positions represent 74 per cent of total openings in rural areas and 82 per cent of openings in remote areas.6 To ensure that patients receive the best care across Ontario, province-wide support is needed to improve the worker shortage. “Patients in the north need to be a focus,” adds Sanna-White. “We need funding to address this issue now.”
Without urgent action, the health care system will continue to struggle to meet patient needs. Addressing the shortage of MLTs must be a top priority for Ontario’s government.
Visit mlpao.org for more information on the organization’s advocacy in urging the Ontario
government to expand funding to train more MLTs.
