Author: Lablogatory

ASCP Annual Meeting: Empowerment and Forward Thinking

Last week, I attended subspecialty talks as well as informative sessions on policies that will affect the future and practice of pathology at the 2013 ASCP Annual Meeting in Chicago. I also attended special events such as the Keynote given by Hillary Clinton, the Raible Lecture for Residents about the “Pathology of Bliss: Searching for the Happiest Place to Work,” the Training for Residents in Genomics (TRIG) workshop,  multiple receptions, and the president’s black tie dinner. To top it off, I also presented during the poster session and saw old friends as well as made new ones.

But what I am struck by most about the myriad of experiences and conversations that I had last week is that as 21st Century physicians, we need to be forward thinking to contribute at a systems or global level. Sometimes, as Americans, we can be insulated and shortsighted, and as physicians we are not exempt. In the midst of talk of multiple technologies, often expensive and not available routinely at many institutions, focus on resident boards review sessions, and subspecialty relevant talks, it is easy to forget that we can transform the delivery of healthcare in this country and throughout the world not just by what we learn but also by what we do, especially in resource limited settings.

Currently, over 70% of diagnostic and treatment decisions are made based on the results of laboratory tests in this country.  Much needed health reform will increase coverage for all but will also place an emphasis on outcomes based compensation. Therefore, we need to build interdisciplinary interactions between lab staff, pathologists, and other healthcare providers to work on common goals, and work together to perform the “right test, for the right person, at the right time”. We just have to work smarter, not harder. Our challenge as residents is to not bury our heads in our books or go through the motions, but to see the “bigger picture.”

-Betty Chung

Equipment Procurement in Resource Limited Settings

In the developing world, equipment procurement can be a huge challenge. Funding is usually the initial major road block. In countries where many people live on $2.00 per day, Ministries of Health and local hospitals do not have large budgets to buy necessary laboratory equipment. In such situations, well-meaning donors from developed countries may be inspired to donate their gently used equipment to labs in developing countries.

While this donation is certainly well intentioned, it does not solve the problem. Equipment donations often do not come with assisted installation, a maintenance package or end-user training. While it may be possible to receive technical support from various international companies in some of the larger cities throughout Africa, outside of a major city technical support is difficult to obtain. Therefore, without a clear maintenance package as part of an equipment purchase or donation, the machine may languish uninstalled. The analyzer could also be used for a period of time before an inevitable breakdown renders it inoperative.

Equipment donations often do not come with assisted installation, a maintenance package or end-user training.

The issue of voltage differences between the U.S. and many African countries creates another challenge when it comes to equipment procurement. Equipment that is manufactured for use in the U.S. will not have the correct voltage for use in many African countries. This is certainly a problem when it comes to donations from U.S. labs. When acquiring new items it is crucial that those involved in the procurement process know the voltage needs at the laboratory site.

Once the equipment challenges have been met, the next hurdle is reagent procurement. With both donor-provided machines and those purchased by the local government, MOH, or hospital, funding must remain available for reagents in order for the lab to continue using the machine. I have seen labs with beautiful, well-maintained machines sitting unused because there was no money to purchase new reagents. Without long-term funding for reagents and other supplies, the analyzer itself is ineffectual. No matter if it is the local government, hospital or lab staff, or a donor involved in the procurement of equipment, it is vital that equipment maintenance and reagent supplies be accounted for at all times. A brand new machine can do no good if there is not money to ensure that it keeps working.

Overcoming these challenges is certainly possible, but all players involved in equipment procurement must be conscious of every aspect of the process.

-Marie Levy

Are We Approaching the Post-Antibiotic Era?

While I was out of the office last week, Maryn McKenna wrote up a few informative blog posts about the CDC’s threat report. 

The first summarizes the lengthy report (114 pages) by highlighting the top three “urgent” threats–CRE, N. gonorrhoeae, and C. difficle. She also mentions that CDC’s director Dr. Tom Frieden states “If we are not careful, we will soon be in a post-antibiotic era. And for some patients and for some microbes, we are already there.”

Another post discusses the connection between agricultural antibiotic use and bacterial resistance in humans.

As an aside, if you’re as much of an emerging disease junkie as I am, check out McKenna’s blog on a regular basis. She’s also written a book on MRSA that should be required reading for all clinical microbiologists. It’s one part history, one part science lesson, and one part cautionary tale about this bacterium.

-Kelly Swails

Thoughts Without Borders

I recently attended the ASCP Annual Meeting in Chicago and was once again energized professionally. As an ASCP Global Outreach Volunteer it was exciting for me to find so much focus on the international work being done. It was a common thread in all the general sessions, including keynote speaker Hillary Clinton, who highlighted the work of the Clinton Foundation and its partnerships in global health. There were presentations on “Pathologists Without Borders,” “Laboratorians Without Borders,” even “Diseases Without Borders.”  Well, the diseases were always without borders—but now they have unprecedented transport advantages! The meeting also hosted guests from far-away places such as Lesoto and Viet Nam, who have been working hand in hand with ASCP consultants to build their educational programs and strengthen their lab workforce for a sustainable future.

During the conference my thoughts collided with themselvesas I remember trips to African and East Asian nations, and the experiences of working with colleagues around the globe—truly a bit of “Thoughts Without Borders” for me. The relationships we build are the backbone and platform for global health improvements around the world, and so much can be accomplished with on-site work. Our technology to both perform laboratory analyses and to communicate and store data is so advanced it’s mind-boggling. Yet even with our achievements in this age of “digital everything,” there is still no substitute for a handshake, eye contact, working together face to face, enjoying cultures and language lessons over coffee, and breaking bread while sharing recipes and family stories. THAT is what makes volunteering as a consultant in international health so engaging. I, for one, hope that global health and international outreach will always include professional exchange opportunities for working together in both host countries and in ours!

Next time I’ll get back on track with some travel adventures, as promised. In the meantime, if you happen to be wandering through Chicago, go by the ASCP office and say “Howdy” to the Global Outreach Team whose work and dedication make it possible for me to do what I love and give back to this crazy profession we have chosen. And be sure to get yourself some Chicago style pizza and enjoy a bit of blues while you’re there—two things that are definitely part of our American Culture! If you need a recommendation, send me a note at bsumwalt@pacbell.net.

-Beverly Sumwalt

ASCP’s Annual Meeting Recap

If you didn’t make it to ASCP’s Annual Meeting this year in Chicago, here are just a few opportunities you missed:

-Over two hundred hours of continuing education

-An inspirational keynote address by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

-A chance to talk with exhibitors

-Networking with fellow laboratory professionals.

Perhaps the biggest benefit can’t be quantified or advertised. Attendance at the Annual Meeting brings with it a renewed sense of purpose. After chatting with fellow professionals, attending seminars, and learning new aspects of Laboratory Medicine, I remember why I entered this profession in the first place. When every day is filled with the uncertain realities of today’s healthcare, it’s easy to focus on the negatives. However, at the Annual Meeting, every seminar, analyzer demonstration, and luncheon is a reminder that the driving force of the profession is excellent patient care through the study and diagnosis of disease. It reaffirms the notion that each of us makes a positive difference in a patient’s life. That alone is worth the price of admission.

-Kelly Swails

How My Interactions with Lab Staff Refined My Perspective

During PGY-1, my effort was mostly focused on navigating and finding where I fit into the system that is known as residency. Having not been the most clinically oriented medical student and unfamiliar with gathering patient info from electronic medical records (we had paper charts during medical school), I initially found the task of working up a patient difficult. I was often so focused on not missing an important detail that I missed the forest and only saw the trees. But in clinical medicine, it’s most important to discern what the most relevant facts are and integrate them quickly to uncover the big picture.

Being a resident is not like being a student and we eventually have to outgrow these growing pains or get left behind. It’s no longer a situation where the consequence of not doing well only impacts oneself. The stakes are higher because patient safety is involved. I know friends who were let go from their programs, not because they were not hard working, but because they could not adapt, multi-task, and keep up the required pace.

As pathology residents, we do not often see patients and it is easy to become disconnected from them.

What really refined my outlook was when I began to interact more with the lab technicians during my hematopathology rotation. They identified patients with concerning peripheral blood smears and often asked follow-up questions to find out what happened to that particular patient. Even though they could not access medical records, they still wanted to know how that particular patient fared, even though they scanned many other patients’ smears that day. I find the same with the technicians on my current molecular pathology rotation and I look forward to these interactions each day.

As pathology residents, we do not often see patients and it is easy to become disconnected from them. The many hours grossing, putting together tumor boards and morbidity and mortality presentations, and following up on critical values and inappropriately ordered tests can leave us jaded. I find that I follow up on patients more now even after the case is signed out. I credit working more closely with our technicians for my rejuvenated interest in patients as more than a case number. So, my advice to residents out there is to interact with and learn as much as you can from your technical staff because they really do have much to offer if asked.

I’ll be at the ASCP Annual Meeting this week to present a poster and receive a resident leadership award, so next blog post, I’ll let you know how it turned out!

-Betty Chung

Why Do Two When One Will Do?

Today I attended a great session on transfusion case studies by Carolyn D. Burns, MD, FASCP, and Phillip J. DeChristopher, MD, PhD, FASCP. The speakers were dynamic, personable, and made learning fun. They presented cases on hematology/oncology, transplant recipients, and HLA antibodies, among others. I won’t go over each case—honestly, there was so much great information I’m afraid I won’t do it justice—but I’d like to share tidbits I found interesting.

-A fact that I had forgotten from my blood banking class oh-so-long-ago: the platelets your body makes live for eight to ten days, an autologous platelet transfusion last four days, and a non-autologous transfusion would last three. If a patient has an immune response to a platelet reaction, those platelet might only live a day.

-Fellows and residents in transfusion medicine don’t actually know how to transfuse a unit of blood product. They aren’t aware of what happens in a blood bank or a transfusion center. Laboratory professionals need to be cognizant of this and be open with information. Use teaching moments when they present themselves.

-Eliminate unnecessary transfusions through dialogue with doctor and pathology. Hence the title of this post: “why do two when one will do?” It’s a mantra for the blood banker to live by.

-Don’t be afraid to question orders. Medical technologists might be the first line of defense, so to speak, and are essential when bringing questionable orders to the attention of pathologists. Don’t be afraid to speak up when your instincts are telling you something is off. Hone your critical thinking skills.

-Blood transfusion is like marriage. It should not be entered upon lightly, wantonly or more often than is absolutely necessary.

-This couldn’t be stressed enough: keep the lines of communication open. Ask the doctor and/or nurse questions about the patient; have a open relationship with your medical director; don’t be afraid to ask questions.

 

 

Do You Know How to Build a High-Performance Team?

How successful have you been in your hiring high performers? That’s a question that opened an excellent session today at ASCP’s 2013 Annual Meeting entitled “Mis-Hires: How to Avoid Making One and How to Avoid Being One.” Lewis Hassell,MD, Director of Anatomic Pathology in the Department of Pathology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and a faculty member of ASCP’s Lab Management University, described the “ABC” ranking of employees.

At one end of the spectrum are “C” employees, those that make managers happy when they join someone else’s team, said Hassell. The “A” employees are the ones that always come through for you—the ones mangers want to hire.

“B” employees are in the middle, but in the right environment, said, Hassell, these can become “A’s.”

On average, managers succeed in finding “A” level employees about 40–60% of the time, but studies show that managers can boost that rate to over 90%. How? By altering their hiring practices.

The usual approach—screening CV’s and inviting promising candidates in to interview—favors candidates that make a strong first impression. Job seekers can game this system; they can pad resumes and produce answers they think hiring managers want to hear. This approach, said Hassell, values a candidate’s affability and availability over attitudes and abilities.

On average, managers succeed in finding “A” level employees about 40–60% of the time, but studies show that managers can boost that rate to over 90%. How? By altering their hiring practices.

Managers might gain more insight into a candidate’s judgment, integrity, and passion, he said, by presenting the job candidate with a scenario. Ask candidates about a challenge they encountered in a previous position and how they responded, suggested Hassell. “Candidates who can’t think of a challenge probably aren’t ‘A’ level,” he said. Don’t overlook red flags, he said, or even pink ones. Don’t readily dismiss eccentricities, try not to hire out of desperation, and don’t choose a candidate merely because they’re better than the last person who held the job, he cautioned.

Job seekers can also maximize their career success by carefully assessing the quality of the organization they’re about to join, not just the location or the financial remuneration. Hassell admonished job seekers to do their due diligence in order to join an organization that will enable them to function at an “A” level.

Students of Lab Management University who could not attend this session in person can see a recorded version of it in October at Lab Management University. I encourage job seekers and hiring managers alike to watch it.

-Michelle Hoffman, Director, ASCP Publications

Passions and Pitfalls as an International Consultant, Part II: What Works and What Doesn’t

 

As I reflect on the huge impact 9-11 had on our country, one of the things that speak of who we are as a nation is the concept of Global Health. Even in the strife of conflict, there is never compromise when it comes to humanitarian assistance, and work continues toward peaceful ways to make the world a better place. Once again I am reminded that strengthening and building laboratory capacity around the globe is making a major contribution to the healthcare of nations around the world.

There are passions and pitfalls to consulting in healthcare internationally. Some tactics work well, some don’t—and I have a few short personal examples to share. What typically “doesn’t work” are the smooth and precise operational processes we tend to be familiar with in our lives and laboratories.

“The best laid plans of mice and men do often go astray” and indeed, that happens each and every project I am privileged to participate in. Expecting things to change is the norm, and no matter how carefully planned, the trip never goes as planned!

Each project has it’s “pitfalls”—and they are sometimes concerning, often funny, and always require a huge amount of “go with the flow flexibility.”On one trip we were scheduled to assess seven laboratories scattered throughout a very large geographic area. The hours and hours of driving took so much time, performing thorough assessments was quite a challenge. Providing the very best feedback possible was difficult to accomplish and there were several sleepless nights working over reports and comparing notes. That meant nodding off in a very hot car….and missing the warthogs!! On another trip we were scheduled to assess and offer accreditation feedback to a comprehensive specialty laboratory. It fell to us to spend several days in their new and very modern facility and walk through their processes. As the week progressed we found our assessment team was “in the middle” of a conflict in the stakeholders’ goals and our closing sessions with the laboratory leadership took a fair amount of diplomatic energy to stay focused on the laboratory assessment findings. In this case, experience in cultural differences, being able to read the nuances of unspoken sensitivities, and even the ability to maintain meeting and agenda control were essential skills. If this one had been my “first rodeo” it would have been a disaster!

But what about those things that go as planned? In my experience one thing that always goes well is the receptivity. I have worked on first time visits to new countries and also in the same country multiple times. Without exception I have been welcomed by laboratory and health professionals who are anxious to share information and exchange operational methods and expertise. In all cases they are proud of their laboratories, and eager to show what they do and how they do it. One of the “passions” and something that works very well are the connections with people. We all live, love, want the best for our families, and want meaningful and purposeful work to do in the world. The relationships I have developed over the years are priceless. On one trip my ASCP teammate and I were invited to the rural home of our in-country colleague, and the elder of the family presented us with a parting gift—a chicken! It is traditional to honor guests who are traveling with something to eat along the way so they don’t suffer hunger on their journey….and after a lengthy explanation about why the airlines wouldn’t allow us to take our chicken home, we asked if our host might keep her for us so she could raise many chicks and honor many other guests in the future.That seemed an acceptable compromise, so we named our chicken “Elao” which is the native word for “Lucky”. Poetic irony, but we hope Elao went on to make a bit of history.

Every trip has moments that work well and some not so well, but one constant is “adventures in travel.” Next time I’ll share some stories about my challenges with luggage…and some crazy adventures in strange airports. By the way, if you are ever in Ondangwa, Namibia please order something other than chicken—and if you see Elao the Famous Chicken running around, be sure to contact me at bsumwalt@pacbell.net!!

-Beverly Sumwalt

 

Bump in the Night

When is the last time you spent the night in your lab on the 3rd shift–a month, year… maybe a decade? How many supervisors/managers know exactly what happens on their off shifts? I bring this up because most hospitals require certain staffing levels even if they only see 15-20 labs from ER a night. If this is the case in your facility, you’ve been provided with an excellent opportunity to empower your employees while “doing more with less.” Those duties that are essential but not time sensitive—such as analyzer maintenance, quality control, and batch testing—are well-suited for off shift employees. All it takes is a bit of creative thinking.

When I first started working in my current position, the blood bank was prototypical. We ran all QC on first shift, performed morning duties, and tried to process as many pre-admission testing (PAT surgery) specimens as we could with inpatient specimens mixed in. Second shift was responsible for PAT tests and routine in-patent specimens.  With productivity measures putting pressure on staffing, I thought about how I could rotate duties to allow one of the three 2nd shift technologists to leave early and only work a half shift. First, I made 1st shift responsible for all PAT testing. Second shift was to pour off the Types and Screens and first shift would do them in the morning. Second, to account for the increased workload created on first shift I made the second shift responsible for tube-testing QC and 3rd shift responsible for Gel testing QC. When things quieted down in the evening one technologist could leave.

This is just one way to look at your daily operations and think what could be done to increase productivity. This rotation of duties required a few things.  First I had to teach the off-shifts how to do the QC. This was not a challenge because they were excited to learn something new. Next I had to assure first shift that the other shifts were able to perform these new duties. This aspect was the most difficult even if it meant making their jobs a little easier! Finally, I needed to monitor the workflow to make sure that this change was effective and helped with productivity, which it did.

Working the occasional off-shift has given me insight into what actually goes on in our lab. It is important as managers/supervisors to know the workflow of your lab 24/7. Working a 2nd or 3rd shift is also an opportunity to connect with staff that for the most part you may only see during a shift change. I would encourage all supervisor/managers to be aware of workflow not just during the 8-12 hours you work but for the entire time your lab processes specimens. Try to spend some time on an off shift and see what really goes bump in the night!

-Matthew Herasuta