| Medical technology educational programs are extremely diverse and complex in administrative and curricular design and are hard to evaluate. Since successful completion of an accredited medical technology program allows eligibility to attempt the American Society of Clinical Pathology, certification examination, student performance on this examination provides one objective measure of program effectiveness.;All accredited twelve-month medical technology programs (n = 498) were mailed a questionnaire about programmatic descriptive data, and a request for release of examination scores. Certification examination scores of graduates (who remained anonymous) from consenting programs were provided to the investigator by the American Society of Clinical Pathologists. The final sample consisted of 156 medical technology programs. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients.;The results indicated differences among twelve-month medical technology programs with respect to two administrative variables: number of hospital beds in clinical sites and student benefits. They did not differ substantially with respect to: number of full time equivalent faculty members whose primary responsibility is teaching, number of students, number of different sites used for clinical rotations, source of funding, or patient populations in clinical rotation sites. Programs also differed with respect to two curricular variables: estimated overall grade point average and course requirements in addition to those required by NAACLS. They did not differ substantially with respect to: use of the pass/fail system, use of letter grades, use of numerical grades, use of essay, short-answer, oral, or objective tests, curriculum format, evaluation format, or time in didactic, student laboratory, or clinical rotations.;Performance on the certification examination was significantly associated with the following: faculty/student ratios, availability of stipends or loans, patient population, percentage use of the lecture method, percentage use of individualized instruction, use of objective examinations, grade point average, course requirements in addition to those required by an accrediting agency, and the number of weeks spent in the didactic portion of the curriculum. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).;The study had a two-fold purpose. First, it was designed to compare specified administrative and curricular variables among twelve-month medical technology educational programs. Second, it was designed to compare certification examination results of graduates of these programs based on differing administrative and curricular variables. |
