Volume 35 Number 4 | August 2021 Hassan Aziz, PhD, FACSs, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS President, 2021-22 Today’s healthcare environment is unusually complex and challenging. It is even more difficult due to the pandemic. In times like these, we need strong leadership and healthy organizations more than ever. We must remain committed to the ASCLS mission. Making…
Volume 35 Number 4 | August 2021 Patient Safety Corner Shannon Jongeward, MS, MLS(ASCP)CM “Do more with less.” This adage becomes more and more relevant in the clinical laboratory as the climate of healthcare continues to change. Value-based reimbursement systems are replacing the traditional fee-for-service system. Under these new systems, reimbursement for healthcare services is…
Volume 35 Number 4 | August 2021 A Tale of Two Patients from Diagnosis Until Now Pat Tille, PhD, MLS(ASCP)CM, AHI(AMT), FACSc, AMTF President-Elect You may have read about my unexpected diagnosis of COVID-19 and the experience from a personal perspective in the October 2020 issue of ASCLS Today. Now you are going to see…
Volume 35 Number 4 | August 2021 Andrew Jones, MBA, MLS(ASCP)CM As the COVID-19 pandemic began to materialize in early March of 2020, the medical laboratory community faced countless questions. Many of us asked, “How can we provide testing for the hundreds of millions of Americans that are now at risk of contracting a disease…
Volume 35 Number 4 | August 2021 Debbie Shell, MS, MLS(ASCP)CMSM, DLM, ASCLS Government Affairs Committee Chair If a genie were to grant the medical laboratory science profession one wish, speaking with a unified voice could be a solution to many of the issues our profession confronts today. Lack of recognition, short-staffing and burnout, and…
Volume 35 Number 4 | August 2021 Laboratory Manager Recognized for her Commitment to Patient Care April Nelsen, MS, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS Immunology/Immunohematology Scientific Assembly Chair Jennie Riles At Cuyuna Regional Medical Center (CRMC), the commitment to patients and residents is the first commitment within the center’s excellence standards, which are “People Quality & Safety, Service,…
Volume 35 Number 4 | August 2021 Mechelle Reeve, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS-Idaho What is joy? Kami McGann is the epitome of joy. And “Choose Joy” became the theme of Hospital Week this year for Valor Health in Emmett, Idaho, where she worked. She was the lead scientist and had recently become the lab manager of Valor…
Volume 35 Number 4 | August 2021 Krystal Yu, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS Ascending Professionals Forum Secretary, ASCLS Hematology/Hemostasis Scientific Assembly Vice Chair This article first appeared as a post for the ASCLS Ascending Professionals Forum blog, The Labora-Story. Read more from The Labora-Story at connect.ascls.org/home. Patient X is a 58-year-old Caucasian female who went to her…
Volume 35 Number 4 | August 2021 Ali Nussbaum, MA, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS Political Action Committee Vice Chair Does going to Capitol Hill to tell your elected senators and representatives about career-related legislation seem overwhelming or not appealing? Does even reaching out to your elected officials through email more than you really want to do? That’s…
Volume 35 Number 4 | August 2021 Minh Kosfeld, PhD, MLT(ASCP)CM Patient Physical Examination on Admission Our patient is a previously healthy 56-year-old white man who presents with progressive neuropathy and declining mental status over several months. The patient initially developed numbness of his fingertips and the balls of his feet and began to lose…