Date Awarded

1988

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Education

Advisor

Armand J. Galfo

Abstract

The use of the Allied Health Professions Admissions Test (AHPAT) as an admission tool to upper level medical technology programs was compared against the most commonly accepted criteria of overall grade point average (OG) and science grade point average (SG). The comparison was based on how well each predicted success on the Board of Registry Exam of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists. The sample population included admission and program data on 129 graduates of a University 2 + 2 Medical Technology Program from 1980 to 1986. The population consisted mostly of white (81.4%) (n = 105) females (83.0%) (n = 107) applying from four year institutions (74.4%) (n = 96) without previous baccalaureate degrees (91.5%) (n = 118) whose mean age was 22.8.;Using stepwise regression analysis on all numerical variables including the OG, SG, AHPAT and its subscores, the first variable to enter was the AHPAT (r{dollar}\sp2{dollar} = 0.2730) and the second variable to enter was the SG explaining an additional 14% of the variance (r{dollar}\sp2{dollar} = 0.4088). No other variable met the 0.0500 significance level for entry into the model. The same order of entry existed for the white, non-degreed subjects. These data strongly support the use of the AHPAT, along with the SG, as an additional admission criterion for entry into medical technology programs.;Additional studies revealed that Medical Laboratory Technicians (MLT's) did not score significantly higher than those without previous laboratory training on either the AHPAT (F (1,127) = 2.53, n.s., {dollar}p >{dollar}.05) nor the ASCP exam (F (1,127) = 0.29, n.s., {dollar}p >{dollar}.05), and that both scores were independent of sex, race and previous college degree. The AHPAT scores proved significantly different in those individuals who passed or failed the ASCP upon first attempt (F (1,128) = 12.33, {dollar}p <{dollar}.0006), thus providing further support for its use. Duncan groupings showed no significant differences in the AHPAT scores of the subjects when compared by year of admission. This runs counter to the national belief of a steady decline in the quality of the applicant pool during the time frame studied.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25774/w4-vehr-es81

Rights

© The Author

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