Establishing the Need for Standardized Clinical Educator Training Programs for Medical Laboratory Professionals.

Background: There is minimal, if any, training for clinical educators in medical laboratory professions. This leads to challenges with teaching, assessment and workload/training balance. Hence, the need for standardized clinical educator training.

Methods: A survey was developed, validated and deployed to medical laboratory professionals. Responses were analyzed using SPSS. Responses from two open-ended questions-is clinical educators' training important and how is this training beneficial?-were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results: Most participants indicated that clinical educator training is important (99.4%). However, 72.4% received no formal training prior to training student. Themes from the importance of training include: Equip clinical educators, body of knowledge, standardize training and quality of training. Themes that emerged from the benefits of clinical educators training involve Training content, logistics, professional behavior and technical skills.

Conclusions: Clinical educators' training is crucial and valuable. Standardized training on pedagogy and other success strategies are warranted for successful clinical experiences.