Volume 38 Number 2 | April 2024
Ali Nussbaum, MHHSA, MLS(ASCP)CM, caPM, ASCLS Board of Directors
When I was in graduate school, I interviewed a team outside of the one I was on to discover what they felt was the biggest hinderance to their success. I chose to interview the Laboratory Information System (LIS) team. Upon interviewing my colleagues individually, I stumbled across one key attribute that every team member wished they were better at to be more successful in their role: project management.
Two years later, I had the opportunity to join the LIS department half time, giving me a perfect situation to advance my laboratory knowledge. I quickly fell into the predicament that my colleagues had identified years before: the lack of effective project management skills. LIS is project-based work that can range from a simple change to large, complex projects that can take months or years to come to fruition.
I thought about how learning project management could benefit my career in LIS by making me skilled at organization and project follow-through. I began to take steps to further my personal growth for future endeavors.
“Being a laboratory professional does not limit your job scope to benchwork. The opportunities within this profession are limitless, with a little extra effort and self-motivation.”
My first tactic was to develop leadership skills through the ASCLS Leadership Academy. This year-long curriculum included a lecture on project management that inspired me to take action. I researched project management and decided to pursue a certification. This route, although not strictly necessary, felt like the best way to stay focused on my end goal.
I received my Certified Associate Project Management Certificate from the Project Management Institute in January of 2022. Within a year, I landed the perfect role for my interests and new education. I am an LIS Technical Specialist at Park Nicollet in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. My role is to coordinate projects between the LIS and the laboratory across the HealthPartners hospital network. The role is fascinating, complex, and pushes me constantly to grow professionally.
Over the years I have learned a key fact that has helped me evolve my career and my life: No one will care more about your future than you! This sentiment has inspired me to search out new avenues to gain experience and knowledge in the field. Workplaces can only offer so much support when notable limitations exist, like budget, resources, time, experience, and number of staff. These obstacles can make providing individual training opportunities for staff impossible. Knowing that the activities that I wanted to pursue would not be sponsored by my employer, I took it upon myself to seek further educational curricula to advance my own position.
Strengthening my résumé while utilizing this philosophy of self-determination has benefited me. Employers have stated that it shows great eagerness and dedication to seek out these kinds of opportunities outside of the workplace. I encourage everyone to find areas of the lab in which you are personally interested and seek out how to advance your position. This could be a specialty certification, perhaps exploring different quality training programs, research training, or other forms of education above the required continuing education for recertification.
To advance my career, I found that investing in my education, knowledge, and skill set has benefited me greatly. I would encourage anyone looking to make changes to their role to consider what steps they can take to position themselves more uniquely. Being a laboratory professional does not limit your job scope to benchwork. The opportunities within this profession are limitless, with a little extra effort and self-motivation.
Ali Nussbaum is an LIS Technical Specialist at HealthPartners in Minneapolis, Minnesota.