vs. ) CASE NO. 79-534
Respondent. )
Pursuant to notice an administrative hearing was held in the above styled cause before Delphene C. Strickland, Hearing Officer of the Division of Administrative Hearings, on July 18, 1979, in the City Hall, 101 Andrews Avenue in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, beginning at 4:00 o'clock p.m.
For Respondent: Harold L. Braynon, Esquire
Whether Petitioner Kanner should be allowed to take the examination for licensure as a technologist.
After the hearing was called to order in the above styled cause, the parties submitted the following stipulation:
Sometime in December of 1978, the Petitioner, MARY KANNER applied tot he DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
REHABILITATIVE SERVICES, Clinical Laboratory Registra- tion and Licensure Program, for a Clinical Laboratory Technologist License.
After reviewing the petitioner's application and supporting documents, the DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES discovered that she did not have the sixty (60) semester hours required by Section
10D-41.25(9). MRS. KANNER was notified of her failure to qualify for the requested Technologist license by letter from the Department dated January 30, 1979.
Subsequently, MRS. KANNER requested an Administrative hearing.
Pursuant to her inquires, Mrs. Kanner received several communications from the Respondent Department. One letter dated January 30, 1979, from Nathan
B. Schneider, Director of the Office of Laboratory Services, stated that it was the finding of the Respondent Department that Mrs. Kanner might be eligible for licensure as a clinical laboratory technician, and the letter authorized her to work in that capacity until the next scheduled examination, or no later than July 1, 1979. The letter stated that Mrs. Kanner would be notified in advance of the time and place of the examination. A second letter dated January 30, 1979, to Mrs. Kanner from Nathan B. Schneider, acknowledged the receipt of her application for licensure as a technologist but informed her that she was apparently ineligible because she did not have the required sixty (60) semester hours, but also advised her of her entitlement to an administrative hearing.
Petitioner submitted letters as follows: a letter to Dr. Schneider from Alice Browner, Registrar of the Canadian Sociaety of Laboratory Technologist. The letter stated in pat that Petitioner had trained for a period of six (6) months, mainly September, 1966, to March of 1967, in a training program in the hematology department. The training was listed as follows:
Bacteriology 1 evening a week
February - May Biochemistry Sunday afternoons
March - June
Histology Saturday mornings March - Middle of May
Blood Bank One evening a week
January, February & March Hematology 6 months formal training
Experience - 23 months (excluding formal training) (Resume in Hematology written
previously)
A letter dated March 29, 1979, to Dr. Schneider from Arthur Rosenberg, Chief of the Department of Hematology at the Sir Mortimer B. Davis - Jewish General Hospital, stated in part that Petitioner started her course in medical technology in 1966, and that in 1969, she wrote the hematology subject examination and received her Canadian registration. She worked as a hematology technologist until 1971, and as a department supervisor from 1971, to 1974. The letter stated that the preparation time prior to writing her examination subject would be the "equivalent of 60-plus semester hours of study."
A letter was submitted to Counsel for the Respondent Department dated July 16, 1979, in which John V. Briscoe, Director of Hospital Services for the Sir Mortimer B. Davis - Jewish General Hospital, supplied a document which stated that the Jewish General Hospital is "an affiliated teaching hospital with McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, and is fully accredited by the Canadian Council on Hospital Accreditation, the date of the last accreditation survey being September 26, 1977."
In answer to the statement by the Respondent Department that the Petitioner did not have documented evidence of the required sixty (60) semester hours direct from a university, Petitioner explained that in Montreal, Canada, in 1966, all English-speaking schools for nursing and technology took place in various accredited hospitals, using the same format as would be used at a university. In a separate section of the hospital was the school of nursing and the school of technology, but in recent years all of the schools were at the universities.
Dr. Howard R. Rarick, Chief of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Program for the Respondent Department, reviewed Petitioners application and supporting documents and did not find a transcript showing completion of sixty
(60) hours credit or its equivalent as required by the State statute and rule promulgated thereunder. The Respondent Department does not evaluate the credits from foreign schools or institutions but forwards the credits to the International Education Research Foundation, which evaluates and determines the equivalent American credits that should be allowed. The Petitioner had no certified transcript from the hospital or university in which the foreign credits were earned and, therefore, was unable to send this to the Research Foundation to convert the foreign credits. The letters submitted by Petitioner are insufficient to substitute for a certified transcript for evaluation purposes.
Both parties submitted a stipulation of facts, and the Respondent Department submitted a memorandum of law. These instruments were considered in the writing of this Order. To the extent the proposed findings of fact have not been adopted in, or are inconsistent with, factual findings in this Order they have been specifically rejected as being irrelevant or not having been supported by the evidence.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
The Division of Administrative Hearings has jurisdiction of this cause pursuant to Section 120.57, Florida Statutes.
Section 483.161 Qualifications of clinical laboratory personnel. -- provides:
The department of health and Rehabilitative Services shall prescribe minimal qualifications for clinical laboratory personnel in microbiology, serology, chemistry, hematology, immunohematology, biophysics, cytotechnology, or histopathological technology and shall issue a license to any person who meets the minimum qualifications and who demonstrates that he possesses the character, training and ability to qualify in those areas for which the license is sought. Examinations required shall be given by the department.
Rule 10D-41.25 Laboratory Personnell--Qualifications, Technologist. provides:
A technologist shall meet one of the following requirements:...
(9) Successful completion of two years of academic
study (a minimum of 60 semester hours or equivalent in quarter or trimester hours) in an accredited college or university with a chemical, physical or biological science as a major subject, and at least four years of pertinent experience in an approved laboratory,...
The Petitioner has failed to provide the required evidence of training to satisfy the requirements of the foregoing statute and rule.
Section 483.021 Declaration of policy and statement of purpose. -- provides:
The purpose of this part is to protect the public health, safety and welfare of the people of this state from the hazards of improper performance by clinical laboratories. Clinical laboratories provide essential services to practitioners of the healing arts by furnishing vital information which is essential to a determination of the nature, cause and extent of the condition involved. Unreliable and inaccurate reports may cause unnecessary anxiety, suffering, financial burdens and even contribute directly to death. The protection of public and individual health requires licensure
of clinical laboratories and certain of their employees, the meeting of certain minimum standards, as well as certain other necessary safeguards as authorized by this part.
An examination cannot substitute for sixty (60) hours of training as required by the foregoing statutes and rule. The Petitioner has failed to show that her training is of the caliber required by the foregoing statutes.
Based upon the foregoing Findings of Fact and conclusions of Law, the Hearing Officer recommends that the application of the Petitioner, Mary Kanner, to sit for examination as a technologist be denied.
DONE and ORDERED this 30th day of August, 1979, in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida.
DELPHIAN C. STRICKLAND
Division of Administrative Hearings Room 101, Collins Building Tallahassee, Florida 32301
Harold L. Braynon, Esquire Department of HRS
Mrs. Mary Kanner
