Continuing education for laboratory personnel.

This study investigates the status of continuing education for laboratory personnel in West Virginia. From a total of 1,155 questionnaires mailed to 90 laboratories, 638 completed questionnaires were returned. Ninety-six and six-tenths percent of the survey population (616 responses) expressed a desire for continuing education programs, but only 416 persons (65.2 percent) indicated that they had attended at least one continuing education program in the past five years. Only 15.8 percent of the survey population (101 persons) indicated they had ever attended continuing education programs sponsored by West Virginia University. Based on the information obtained, a model program for continuing education is submitted.