California, as well as many other states, is suffering a healthcare worker shortage.
I am trying to become a clinical laboratory scientist which requires a chemistry or biology degree with certain required coursework (immunology, medical microbiology, hematology, and others). I have both degrees because I double majored, as well as the required coursework.
When I apply to programs, having the degrees and coursework is not enough… if you really want to get into a program, you need to stand out. How do you stand out? You take a job that gets you in the clinical lab setting. These jobs are usually “specimen accessioner” or “phlebotomist.” Neither of these jobs require a college degree, and a phlebometist only requires a license that you can get in a two month program, on top of the high school diploma, but can cost a couple extra thousand.
Both of these jobs, in SoCal, typically pay $17-20 an hour (few just slightly above).
I think it’s ridiculous that, despite a shortage of clinical scientist to run diagnostic tests, I still have to take high school diploma jobs with my college degrees to get my foot in the door to get into the more advanced job.
Maybe this post isn’t appropriate for this sub, but I need to vent about how ridiculous the healthcare system is in terms of the healthcare worker shortage and the ridiculous hoops they make people jump through to join the field.