News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel

News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel
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Clinical Chemists and Medical Laboratory Scientists Gather in Chicago for American Association of Clinical Chemistry and ASCLS Joint Meeting

Among the hundreds of lab industry vendors exhibiting, there were more companies showing LIS and lab informatics products this year than last year

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS—Anytime 20,000 clinical chemists and medical laboratory scientists gather in the same place, at the same time, there is sure to be many different opinions about the state of laboratory medicine and key trends in the clinical laboratory testing marketplace.

That was certainly true of this year’s annual meetings of the American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC) and the American Society of Clinical Laboratory Scientists (ASCLS) that took place here in the Windy City and ended yesterday. Your Dark Daily editor was in attendance and saw many interesting things during the exhibition, which opened on Tuesday and closed Thursday.

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Digital Pathology Should Leapfrog Digital Radiology’s Adoption Timeline

Pathologists and medical lab managers can study radiology’s adoption of digital images for useful lessons, says one innovative radiologist

DATELINE: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS—During Pathology Informatics 2012, a record crowd gathered last week to explore how new technologies are reshaping both clinical laboratory informatics and anatomic pathology informatics. If there was clear consensus on any single point, it was that every medical laboratory needs a very robust informatics platform to serve the new integrated care models, including accountable care organizations and medical homes.

This will be particularly true for pathology groups because of the growing acceptance of whole slide images and digital pathology systems used to capture those images and make them available to pathologists. On that count, one speaker at Pathology Informatics 2012 had a powerful message that was well received by all in attendance. (more…)

Why Nation’s Clinical Pathology Laboratories Are Failing to Train Our Next Generation of Lab Managers

Lab Manager Training will take place in Baltimore, San Francisco, Chicago, and Miami


Very shortly, the lack of experienced and competent laboratory managers will become the next intractable staffing problem for the nation’s clinical laboratories and pathology groups. Most medical laboratories—already struggling to find adequate numbers of medical technologists (MT) and clinical laboratory scientists (CLS)—will find themselves with an even more acute shortage of skilled managers at every level, from bench supervision to senior laboratory leadership.

Clinical lab managers about to retire in waves
Simply said, the nation’s laboratory leaders are about to experience a demographic time bomb that will rapidly decimate all levels of lab managers in their clinical pathology laboratories. Few medical laboratory organizations are prepared to respond effectively to the predicted rapid turnover among their most experienced and skilled lab managers.

Of course, the demographic time bomb refers to the coming tidal wave of baby boomer retirements. As a reminder, on January 1, 2011—just 85 days away—the oldest baby boomer turns 65 and becomes eligible for social security and Medicare benefits!

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