At a time when hospital lab personnel are getting harder to find, USC Aiken and University Health Systems in Augusta have agreed to a partnership.
Pending the completion of an accreditation process, USCA Chancellor Dr. Sandra Jordan and hospital CEO Jim Davis said the initiative will introduce a new Bachelor of Science degree in clinical laboratory science. USCA will provide three years of class work, and then students will complete their degree requirements at University in a clinical lab setting.
"There's not a program like this on this side of the river," said Dr. Bill Jackson, USCA's chairman of the biology and geology department. "We hope to accept students next fall for 2016. We have a curriculum outlined for them. But it's more than that in leading to a B.S. degree."
The public doesn't always realize that lab services are vital in the services to patients in a hospital setting, said Scott Ancede, University's vice president for professional and support services. He and Jackson spearheaded the effort about a year ago, following Jordan's encouragement that Jackson find new degree opportunities.
"People are aging out," Ancede said. "We really needed a partnership with a school to provide classroom and clinical work in the lab."
Christa Pardue, University's medical lab director, emphasized that the students will be scientists, not medical lab technicians.
In the classroom, the students will take classes that include human anatomy, microbiology, cell biology and geology. University will hire a program director for University's component of the partnership. In the fourth year of the program, students will complete work in professional and clinical training in hands-on applications.
Davis reiterated: "The lab is the unsung hero in the hospital. "It's absolutely critical to delivering high-quality care or we can't do good diagnoses ... Students that go into this line of work will find good and rewarding jobs."
USCA sees real opportunities through the collaborative effort, Jordan said, including working hard to create more meaningful partnerships on campus.
"We have signed several MOUs (memorandums of understanding), but this is the most exciting," Jordan said. "We'll have a degree program that leverages the best of the hospital in this particular endeavor and what is best for USCA."
The partnership gives USCA the important ability of telling prospective students that they will have a clear path for their fourth year, Jackson said, not just leave them on their own to complete the training they need.
Others attending the informal ceremony on Monday included University lab managers Bobby Burnett and David King, and Dr. Thayer McGahee, USCA's interim director of the School of Nursing.
Senior writer Rob Novit is the Aiken Standard's education reporter.