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.

Beth Warning with two high school students

Be the Spark—Ignite the Flame

Volume 35 Number 2 | April 2021 Beth Warning, MS, MLS(ASCP)CM, AHI(AMT), ASCLS Region IV Director While we hear about mentoring young professionals within ASCLS, have you considered mentoring even younger individuals who have an interest in a healthcare profession or laboratory career? Often, we find that our field is not one that jumps onto…

Kaylin Viccellio

A Vital Part of the Patient’s Healthcare Team

Volume 35 Number 2 | April 2021 Kaylin Viccellio, MLS(ASCP)CM This article first appeared as a post for the ASCLS Ascending Professionals Forum blog, The Labora-Story. As medical laboratory professionals, most of us are usually confined within the four walls of our labs—no windows connecting us to the outside world, and no face-to-face contact with…

Social media on a smart phone

Rethinking Visibility:

Leveraging Social Media to Promote the Profession Volume 35 Number 2 | April 2021 Tera L. Webb, MLS(ASCP)CM, CPHQ, ASCLS Education Scientific Assembly Chair Take a moment to reflect on the medical laboratory profession in the media. When represented in media, the essence of our field does not always reflect reality. The medical laboratory profession…

St. John’s University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Sim Wars

Inter-Professional Education:

A Competition for Cooperation and Learning Volume 35 Number 2 | April 2021 Lisa Hochstein, MS, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS Region I Director Inter-professional education has become increasingly popular in the health science professions. It is important that students in these professions learn with and about each other. Introducing these students to inter-professional education early on will…

YouTube Screenshot

We Are the Future:

How the Internet Can Be Used to Promote the Profession Volume 35 Number 2 | April 2021 Joanna F. Miranda, MLS(ASCP)CM, and Byanca Narro, MLS(ASCP)CM Who would have thought that a little over six months after our graduation from Texas State University, a pandemic would ensue and change the course of the rest of our…

Aymen Alsaihati

Guarding Health from the Shadows

Volume 35 Number 2 | April 2021 Aymen Alsaihati Clinical laboratories are essential to medicine and fundamental to modern research. Laboratory professionals are usually unnoticed and silent due to the fact they are mainly in laboratories and not seen by others. However, lab professionals produce results that make “70-80 percent of decisions in diagnoses” (Islin,…

Brandy Gunsolus

No Two Tests Are Equal

Volume 35 Number 2 | April 2021 Patient Safety Corner Brandy D. Gunsolus, DCLS, MLS(ASCP)CM The COVID-19 pandemic has done many things, including shining a spotlight on laboratory testing like it has never had before. Unfortunately, what it has also brought is much confusion as both clinicians and the general public struggle with what is…

LABVOCATE WITH ASCLS

Maddie Josephs, MS, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS President Few organizations perform advocacy as well as ASCLS. After all, it is one of the Society’s strategic pillars. As the premier organization for medical laboratory professionals, ASCLS clearly has advocacy at the core of its goals and objectives. Our leadership and staff, committee and task force members work to…

WHEN “WHO THEY ARE” ISN’T AN OPTION

Sara Oswald, ASCLS Developing Professionals Forum Vice Chair A few months ago, one of my work colleagues was visibly upset when she got off the phone with a provider. The chemistry results for this patient were all out of whack, and when she called to report the issue to the provider, she was informed this…