ASCLS Today is the membership newsletter of the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science.
To submit an article for ASCLS Today, contact Editor Debra Rodahl.
Volume 36 Number 6 | December 2022 Miles Tompkins, MLT(ASCP)CM, ASCLS Board of Directors With the challenges that shortages bring to an already exhausted laboratory workforce, it can become easily justifiable for some facilities to grab anyone off the street who can hold a pipette to sit at a bench and put them to work.…
Volume 36 Number 6 | December 2022 Benjamin D. Galvan, MLS(ASCP), CIC, CPH, ASCLS Patient Safety Committee Member As a recent graduate of the Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Sciences Center clinical laboratory science program in 2015, I was rapidly immersed into my first healthcare-related role in the microbiology department. Working in a large, academic…
Volume 36 Number 6 | December 2022 Diane Davis, PhD, MLS(ASCP)CMSCCMSLSCM, ASCLS-Maryland Board Member and ASCLS Region II Treasurer Accurate reference intervals for transgender patients significantly influence patient safety and are also an ethical obligation of medical laboratory professionals. First, a short vocabulary lesson from GLAAD to ensure that the following information is clear. Transgender…
Volume 36 Number 6 | December 2022 Carlo Ledesma, MS, MLS(ASCP)CMSHCMDLMCMQLSCM, MT(AMT), ASCLS Diversity Advocacy Council Councilor-at-Large In emergency medical situations involving an exsanguinating patient and the ABO type is unavailable, uncrossmatched group O RBCs is the axiom of clinical management until the appropriate ABO/Rh type and pre-transfusion testing is completed. The current guidelines in…
Volume 36 Number 6 | December 2022 Donna Showers, MS, MT(ASCP), FACHE, ASCLS Region V Government Affairs Committee Chair Healthcare should not be a siloed care delivery model. A well-run healthcare organization has all departments working in collaboration to achieve clinical, operational, and financial excellence. So, where does the clinical laboratory fit into this model?…
Volume 36 Number 6 | December 2022 Melody Boudreaux Nelson, MS, MLS(ASCP)CM Artificially intelligent clinical decision support systems (AI-CDSS) offer the clinical laboratory a unique avenue for interdisciplinary collaboration in value-based healthcare models. Laboratory data is largely independent values that can be organized and relational to a patient’s condition. This is commonly referred to as…
Volume 36 Number 6 | December 2022 Saint Louis University, Quest Diagnostics Team up on Innovative Partnership to Address the Shortage of MLS Professionals Nationwide Amanda Reed, MAE, MLS(ASCP)CM Medical laboratory science, the heartbeat of America’s healthcare system, is in distress. The meteoric rise in services—medical laboratory scientists perform an astounding 14 billion diagnostic tests…
Volume 36 Number 6 | December 2022 Looking for Future Leaders At the Joint Annual Meeting in June 2023, ASCLS delegates will choose from the candidates who have indicated a willingness to serve in the leadership positions for the coming year. This is one of the many benefits and responsibilities of belonging to a grassroots…
Volume 36 Number 6 | December 2022 The is the first half of a two-part article. Read Part 2 here. Elizabeth A. Gockel-Blessing, PhD, MLS(ASCP)CM Amanda Reed, MAE, MLS(ASCP)CM Building an online program can put stress on existing information technology (IT) infrastructure. IT infrastructure in this context is defined as the set of components that…
Volume 36 Number 5 | October 2022 Kim Von Ahsen, MHA, MLS(ASCP)CM, SLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS President Do you remember the first time you fought for a cause, the first time you learned about advocacy? My mother sure does! She can tell you how she discovered that her 16-year-old daughter took permanent marker to all the tuna…