Dec 17, 2010 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Pathology
Qualified Applicants Seeking to Fill U.S. Med Tech Positions Are Abundant
Across the globe, the supply of medical technologists (MT) and clinical laboratory scientists (CLS) falls far short of the staffing demands of clinical pathology laboratories. The United States is no exception and this is one reason why growing numbers of U.S. medical laboratories are willing to recruit medical technologists who trained abroad.
Of course, this is not exactly a new development. For more than two decades, a primary source of clinical laboratory scientists to medical laboratories in California has been the Philippines. This happened for two reasons. First, the close historical and cultural ties between the Philippines and the United States have always made California an attractive employment destination for Filipinos. Also, because many Filipinos were raised speaking two languages, they are comfortably fluent when speaking English. (more…)
Nov 5, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
Goal is for medical laboratories to enhance patient’s phlebotomy experience
DATELINE: San Antonio, Texas—Here in the Alamo City this week, many of the nation’s most innovative clinical laboratories, pathology groups, and in vitro diagnostics manufacturers came together to share their successes in the use of Lean, Six Sigma, and similar process improvement techniques.
The occasion was the Fourth Annual Lab Quality Confab and Performance Improvement Institute. This high-energy event was notable for several reasons. First, despite a lackluster economy, attendance was up more than 20% over last year. When asked about their participation, many attendees said that their parent hospital or health system sent them to the Lab Quality Confab specifically to bring back ideas for quality improvement projects that would advance clinical care while taking costs out of laboratory operations.
More Medical Laboratories Now Use Lean and Six Sigma Methods
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Oct 14, 2010 | Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
North America’s three ISO 15189 accreditation bodies will be at Lab Quality Confab, along with most of the nation’s ISO-15189 accredited clinical pathology laboratories
In the United States and Canada, acceptance and use of ISO 15189:2007 Medical Laboratories has been limited to a handful of clinical pathology laboratories—except in the Canadian province of Ontario, where, starting almost eight years ago, ISO 15189 became the basis of the province’s mandatory clinical laboratory accreditation program.
But now more pathologists and clinical laboratory managers south of the U.S.–Canadian border are asking a fundamental question: “Is ISO 15189 accreditation an effective way to move my laboratory organization to higher levels of analytical quality while continuously reducing or eliminating errors that affect patient safety and clinical outcomes? More senior medical lab leaders are answering this question with a “yes.”
Clinical Laboratories Turning to ISO 15189
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Oct 5, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
Lab Quality Confab showcases the next paradigm shift for clinical laboratory QA/QC
Can Lean, Six Sigma, and process improvement techniques measurably improve the quality of analytical test results produced by clinical pathology laboratories? A handful of innovative pathologists and laboratory scientists say the answer is “yes”!
The outcomes from their pioneering efforts to deliberately attack and improve the quality of the analytical test results in their medical laboratories provide early evidence that Lean, Six Sigma, and similar performance improvement methods can play a role in reducing patient risk while significantly increasing the analytical integrity of the lab tests produced by their organizations.
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Sep 24, 2010 | Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
Announcement is more evidence that hospitals and clinical pathology laboratories are adopting Lean and Six Sigma methods
Guess which major healthcare organization is raising the profile of Lean and Six Sigma within its walls? It is The Joint Commission! The Joint Commission recently promoted an experienced master black belt to two key positions.
Clinical laboratory managers and pathologists will be interested to learn that Alex Vandiver, MBB, was appointed to be Director of Business Excellence, as well as Director of the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare.
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