Volume 38 Number 6 | December 2024 Instilling Values that Ensure Patient Safety Every Step of the Way Larissa Todd, MLS (ASCP)CM, ASCLS Patient Safety Committee While the workings of the laboratory may seem distant from the patient experience, it’s essential to recognize that patients are ultimately the end users of laboratory services. Ensuring patient…
Volume 38 Number 6 | December 2024 Sarah Bergbower, DCLS, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS Today Volunteer Contributor A 32-year-old G4 P3003 presents for a regular obstetric visit at 28 weeks gestation. A point-of-care urine dipstick was performed on a freshly voided sample with the results of interest shown in Table 1. Results were not discussed with the…
Volume 38 Number 6 | December 2024 A Medical Laboratorian’s Experience in Hospital Vs. Reference Laboratories Jin Heo, MLS(ASCP)CM, CLT(NY), ASCLS Ascending Professionals Forum Councilor Andrew Samon, MLS(ASCP)MB, ASCLS Ascending Professionals Forum Councilor Hello, we are Andrew and Jin, two laboratory professionals who started our professional careers in either a reference or hospital laboratory and…
Volume 38 Number 6 | December 2024 Heather R. Parks, MS, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS Today Volunteer Contributor Or shall I say, many, many phones. And phone calls. While brainstorming about patient safety, I thought back to times when I (gasp!) have made mistakes in the lab. Usually, I did not hit save on the computer, I…
Volume 38 Number 6 | December 2024 Kristen L. Smith, PhD, D(ABMM) Amanda Suchanek, PhD Our role as medical laboratory science professionals is to provide information that clinicians can use to guide treatment of their patients. This directive is intimately tied to patient safety. From developing the test menu to the final interpretation of test…
Volume 38 Number 6 | December 2024 Kamal Smith, MBA, CSSGB, MLS(ASCP), ASCLS Patient Safety Committee Having joined the clinical laboratory science profession around a decade ago, our key performance indicators were safe and quality results, which still remains our top indicators to this day. From quality controls (QCs) to quality assurance (QA), the word…
Volume 38 Number 6 | December 2024 Victoria Roop, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS Today Volunteer Contributor Laboratory medicine plays an important role in the clinician’s care of patients. Therefore, it is important for laboratory professionals to implement an effective quality assurance (QA) program with the focal point on patient safety to be able to identify and prevent…
Volume 38 Number 6 | December 2024 The Laboratory’s Role Goes beyond Performing any Ordered Test Glen McDaniel, MS, MBA, MLS(ASCP), DLM(ASCP) Bioethics involves many areas, but in the public’s mind, the concentration is on the topical issues of embryo and stem cell research, assisted reproduction, human cloning, and end-of-life issues. As in most things…
Volume 38 Number 6 | December 2024 Ali (Nussbaum) Murphy, MHHSA, MLS(ASCP)CM, caPM, ASCLS Director Imposter syndrome (IS) is a psychological disorder that impacts an individual’s view of themselves and presents as misplaced lack of self-esteem. Super go-getter perfectionists who struggle with accomplishments or struggle with self-confidence, even though they are highly proficient, are common…
Volume 38 Number 6 | December 2024 Part 3: How to Make it Engaging! Ali (Nussbaum) Murphy, MHHSA, MLS(ASCP)CM, caPM, ASCLS Director We have all been to presentations that were not engaging, given by incredibly smart people who were unable to make the content capture the audience’s attention. From the lecturer’s perspective, it can be…