Volume 36 Number 2 | April 2022 Angela D. Darby, MPH, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS Region III Director As we begin our third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become clearer than ever that the amazing work of laboratorians in our country and across the world is still underappreciated, due particularly to the fact that we…
Volume 36 Number 2 | April 2022 Kevin McGuire, MHPTT, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS Virtual Learning Steering Committee, ASCLS-Nebraska Awards Chair Fabienne Frederickson once said, “The things you are passionate about are not random, they are your calling.” Determining what you are passionate about is not always easy. A career in healthcare should be a calling to…
Volume 36 Number 2 | April 2022 Tangible, Doable Steps to Make a Difference Judy Garic, MT(ASCP)SC, LSCLS Government Affairs Committee Co-Chair I am a medical technologist with over 30 years of experience, and I was unaware that the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS) existed, including its local chapter, the Louisiana Society for…
Volume 36 Number 2 | April 2022 Cara Bushmaker, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS-Montana Newsletter/Social Media Editor Invisibility. Did we do it to ourselves? Was labeling laboratorians as introverts a valid excuse? Who cares? Maybe we did, maybe we didn’t, maybe you do, maybe you don’t, but what are we doing about it now? Visibility is in the…
Volume 36 Number 2 | April 2022 Rodney E. Rohde, PhD, SM(ASCP)CMSVCMMBCM, FACSc, ASCLS and TACLS Mentor Did you know that medical laboratory professionals provide roughly 13 billion laboratory tests each year? Laboratory testing is the single highest-volume medical activity affecting Americans, and it drives about two-thirds of all medical decisions made by doctors and…
Volume 36 Number 2 | April 2022 Daniel Haun, MLS(ASCP)CMH, Chemistry/Urinalysis Scientific Assembly When asked the question in this article’s headline, I first thought, “No way … too routine.” Rethinking, however, I considered the complexity of the task, staff shortages, and the widening use of “middle-ware,” and I was soon designing a new simulator. It…
Volume 36 Number 2 | April 2022 Suzanne Butch, MLS(ASCP)CMSBB, DLMCM, ASCLS Leadership Academy Class Coordinator This year the 2021-22 ASCLS Leadership Academy Class began its activities at the ASCLS, AGT & SAFMLS Joint Annual Meeting (JAM) in June of 2021 and had the opportunity to meet face-to-face again at the Laboratory Legislative Symposium in…
Volume 36 Number 2 | April 2022 Heather Herrington, DVM, MLS(ASCP)CM, Ascending Professionals Forum Vice Chair The Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh holds an annual event called SciTech Days. It’s an opportunity for students in junior high and high school to interact with STEM-focused companies and professionals. This year, they did things a bit differently,…
Volume 36 Number 2 | April 2022 Ali Nussbaum, MA, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS Leadership Development Committee Why should a professional want to expand their leadership portfolio? That’s an easy answer: Because it helps you evolve as a person. Leadership is something that needs to be built upon, practiced, and improved. In order to grow, mistakes and…
Volume 36 Number 2 | April 2022 Patient Safety Corner Georgia Vega, MBA, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS Patient Safety Committee “Out of sight, out of mind.” Until recently, that phrase could easily describe laboratorians. As medical laboratory professionals work mainly in the background, a common source of career dissatisfaction is feeling overlooked by our patients and healthcare…