Interest of rural youth of Medak district, Telangana, India towards the skill course of medical laboratory technician

INTRODUCTION

India’s healthcare diagnostics sector is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 20.4% (IBEF, 2023), generating substantial demand for qualified medical laboratory professionals.¹ Globally, the World Health Organization (2021) has estimated a deficit of 2.4 million laboratory technologists, particularly acute in developing economies.² Within this expanding landscape, the Diploma in Medical Laboratory Technology (DMLT) offers an accessible, relatively short training pathway that produces graduates capable of performing diagnostic procedures central to clinical decision-making.³ Despite its relevance, DMLT remains poorly visible as a career option. Intermediate Bi.P.C students in rural India typically aspire to MBBS or BDS programmes; when seats in these competitive courses are unavailable, many students are left without a clear alternative direction. Studies indicate that awareness of allied health programmes is low even among students with strong science backgrounds and that career choices tend to reflect limited exposure rather than well-informed preference.⁴ The Healthcare Sector Skill Council (2024) has specifically identified a widening skills gap in medical laboratory technology across rural and urban settings alike.⁵ Medak District in Telangana presents a particularly relevant study context: eight intermediate colleges serve a predominantly rural student population whose exposure to paramedical career options is limited. Understanding what drives or inhibits interest in DMLT among these students is the first step toward targeted workforce development. The present study was therefore designed to assess the level of awareness about DMLT courses among intermediate Bi.P.C students in Medak District. Identify factors influencing career choices among Bi.P.C students. Analyze the relationship between laboratory experience and interest in pursuing DMLT. Develop recommendations for enhancing DMLT awareness among rural students.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted between 26th November, 2024 and 30th January, 2025. The students enrolled in intermediate Bi.P.C, in the ongoing academic batch at one of the eight government and aided colleges in Medak District, Telangana during the study period were considered eligible to participate in the study. Students who were not enrolled in the Bi.P.C stream, absent during the survey, declined participation or submitted substantially incomplete questionnaires were excluded from the study. However, prior DMLT awareness, laboratory experience and interest in DMLT were not used as selection criteria, as these were included as study variables. A total of 486 students were included using purposive sampling to ensure adequate representation across gender and college type. Ethical approval was obtained from the institutional review body and written informed consent was collected from all participants prior to data collection.

A structured, validated questionnaire was developed and administered in English after a pilot test with 20 students. The instrument covered six domains personal and demographic information, academic interests and subject preferences, awareness of the DMLT course and its career pathways, prior laboratory experience and enjoyment, career goals and perceived job stability and willingness to consider DMLT enrolment. The response rate was 100%. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS version (version 21.0). Descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages) summarized awareness and preference distributions. Chi-square tests assessed associations between categorical variables including laboratory experience and DMLT interest. Binary logistic regression was applied to identify predictors of enrolment intent, with the outcome coded as interested versus not interested. A Random Forest classifier (Python, scikit-learn) was additionally trained to determine feature importance and classification accuracy. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05 throughout.

RESULTS

DMLT awareness

Awareness of DMLT was low across the sample (Table 1). Only 38% of students had heard of the course. A further 30% had no knowledge at all and 20% had encountered the term but developed no interest in it. Taken together, 50% of the sample lacked meaningful awareness. Only 12% were both aware of and interested in DMLT, confirming a substantial information gap even within a student cohort already oriented toward health sciences.

Career preferences

Sixty percent of students aspired to healthcare careers. Among specific options, nursing was the most frequently preferred (83%), followed by laboratory technology (62%) and pharmacy (31%) (Table 2). Both male and female students placed clinical, patient-facing roles above laboratory-based ones. This preference hierarchy suggests that visible clinical careers attract attention, while diagnostic roles remain less prominent in students’ career imaginations despite their structural importance in healthcare delivery.

Laboratory experience and DMLT interest

Of the 486 students, 118 reported prior laboratory experience. This group consistently showed higher interest in DMLT than those without prior exposure. Among the 83% of students who reported enjoying laboratory activities, 25% described themselves as ‘much interested’ in DMLT. Chi-square analysis confirmed that the association between laboratory engagement and DMLT interest was statistically significant (p<0.05). Approximately 70% of the sample had some form of prior lab exposure and this subgroup produced the highest DMLT interest scores across all analyses, identifying hands-on experience as a key modifiable predictor.

Key influencing factors

Table 3 presents the ranked impact scores of factors influencing DMLT interest, derived from logistic regression and Random Forest modelling. Long-term career goals, career counselling and prior lab experience emerged as the three highest-ranked predictors (Impact scores>0.80). Medical science interest and Bi.P.C subject preference followed closely. Parental influence and short course duration ranked lowest (0.20), indicating that family persuasion is an unreliable lever for promoting DMLT uptake.

Logistic regression

Long-term career goals (β=+1.8) and Bi.P.C subject preference (β=+1.6) were the strongest positive predictors, each approximately doubling the likelihood of expressing DMLT enrolment intent (Table 4). Career counselling made a moderate positive contribution (β=+0.8). Parental influence had a slight negative effect (β=−0.4) with high standard error, implying inconsistency across the sample. Taken together, the model points toward career goal clarity and structured guidance as the most productive intervention targets.

College-wise variation

Average DMLT interest scores ranged from 1.0 (TSJC Kaushik) to 3.2 (TGVC Narsapur) across the eight colleges studied (Table 5). Institutions with higher interest scores, such as SVJC Siddipet (mean 3.1; 62% interested), likely benefit from stronger laboratory facilities or more active in-college career guidance. Colleges at the lower end represent clear priority sites for targeted awareness interventions.

Primary motivators for DMLT

Among students who expressed interest in DMLT, medical technology interest was the dominant motivator (68%; n=284), far exceeding job prospects (20%), career growth (14%), breadth of career options (8%), short course duration (5%) and parental influence (3%) (Table 6). The dominance of intrinsic interest over external incentives reinforces the case for awareness campaigns that directly connect existing enthusiasm for medical science to DMLT as a specific, structured career pathway.

DISCUSSION

The most striking finding of this study is the mismatch between students’ high general interest in medical science (93%) and their low specific awareness of DMLT (38%). This gap is not a product of disengagement but of inadequate information. A large proportion of Medak’s Bi.P.C students are genuinely motivated toward health careers, yet they have not been introduced to DMLT as a viable, structured pathway. Similar patterns have been documented in the medical laboratory science literature, where diagnostic careers are frequently described as ‘hidden’ from public understanding because they are not patient-facing.^6,7 Personal interest and perceived nature of work tend to be stronger career determinants than background characteristics alone, which is consistent with nursing’s lead over laboratory technology despite the latter’s comparable career prospects.^8,9

The consistent association between practical laboratory exposure and higher DMLT interest is one of the most actionable findings here. Students who had prior lab experience and those who enjoyed laboratory activities both scored significantly higher on DMLT interest measures. This aligns with evidence from science education research that experiential learning strengthens career self-efficacy and sustains interest in science-related pathways.¹⁰ Social cognitive career theory provides a useful explanatory lens: when students can imagine themselves in a laboratory role, the career becomes concrete and achievable rather than abstract.^11,12 Even brief exposure events, such as single-session demonstrations, appear capable of shifting this calculus meaningfully. The regression and machine learning results move the analysis from description to prediction and in doing so make the findings policy relevant. The Random Forest model’s 83.7% classification accuracy, driven primarily by DMLT knowledge and lab experience, demonstrates that enrolment intent is largely predictable from modifiable factors rather than fixed demographic traits. This is important because it means interventions, not selection, can shift outcomes. The logistic regression corroborates this: long-term career goals and subject preference are strong drivers that can be engaged through structured career counselling, which itself shows a meaningful positive coefficient. The weak and Alnajjar HA, Abou Hashish EA. Exploring the effectiveness of the Career Guidance and Counseling Program on the perceived readiness for the job market: a lived experience among nursing students. Frontiers in public health. 2024 Oct 22;12:1403730.inconsistent role of parental influence further supports a shift toward institutional rather than family-mediated outreach strategies. College-wise variation in DMLT interest scores reflects differential access to laboratory resources and career guidance rather than any intrinsic difference between student cohorts. Colleges scoring lower represents addressable gaps. The rural context of Medak District amplifies these inequities: students in underserved areas have both lower access to career information and fewer opportunities for the kind of hands-on exposure that our data show to be pivotal.¹³ However, the present study was limited by its cross-sectional design, purposive sampling and inclusion of students from only eight colleges in a single district. Further, the self-reported responses and assessment of DMLT interest rather than actual enrolment may limit the generalizability of the findings.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrates that the principal barrier to DMLT enrolment among rural Bi.P.C students in Medak District is informational rather than motivational. Students want healthcare careers but have not been introduced to DMLT in a way that makes it a real option. A three-component intervention model is recommended: structured awareness sessions in intermediate colleges led by practising laboratory technologists; short hands-on laboratory demonstrations that directly link intermediate science activities to DMLT career competencies; and periodic career counselling sessions, prioritised at colleges with currently low interest scores, that explicitly connect long-term career goals with the role and prospects of medical laboratory technology.

Future studies should include larger, multi-centre samples across different districts using longitudinal designs and evaluate whether targeted career counselling and DMLT awareness interventions lead to actual enrolment.

Funding: No funding sources

Conflict of interest: None declared

Ethical approval: The study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee

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