Five northwestern Illinois hospitals have partnered with Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, to allow the hospitals' employees to take online classes and earn medical laboratory science degrees, according to a Rockford Register Star report.
The five hospitals are Rockford (Ill.) Memorial Hospital, Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, FHN in Freeport, Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital in Dixon and CGH Medical Center in Sterling.
According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data cited in the report, U.S. hospitals need 12,400 new lab technicians, but colleges are not graduating enough of them. This new partnership is designed to let hospital employees become lab techs without leaving work.
Hospital employees interested in the program must be referred by their human resources department and pay an application fee, according to the report.
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