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The ADVANCE for Medical Laboratory Professionals staff is thrilled to welcome you to Lab Perspectives: Blog and Forum Community from ADVANCE. Our online community offers interactive blogs written by clinical laboratory scientists and our editorial staff. Blogs will highlight news, legislation, research, events and candid observations related to the clinical laboratory field. We encourage you to use the comment section to voice your opinions and submit feedback. We look forward to hearing more about the laboratory field from your perspective. Suggest a blog topic: e-mail kpenno@advanceweb.com.
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November 20, 2009 3:53 PM by Matthew Patton of ADVANCE Outlook: Lab Professionals

(Editor's note: This is a guest blog written by Valerie M. Chapman, RN, MSN, a pediatric nurse for 25 years. She is a 3-year breast cancer survivor and lives in Medford, NJ, with her husband and two children.)

I am a wife, a mother of two awesome kids, a daughter, a sister, and a nurse. I am also a  survivor.

At the age of 43 a routine screening mammogram picked up an abnormality ...


 
November 20, 2009 11:14 AM by Matthew Patton of ADVANCE Outlook: Lab Professionals

KISSIMMEE, FL -- Christmas decorations next to palm trees are a fun treat for your Philadelphia-based reporter at the Gaylord Palms Convention Center in Kissimmee, FL, where opening remarks for the 15th Annual Meeting of the Association for Molecular Pathology just wrapped up.

Tim O'Leary, MD, PhD, chair of the Program Committee, welcomed attendees to the meeting before AMP President Jan Nowak, MD, PhD, awarded ...


 
November 20, 2009 9:15 AM by Amanda Koehler of ADVANCE Outlook: Lab Professionals

In a week where the medical community is up in arms about the new mammogram guidelines, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) announced women should get their first Pap test at age 21, regardless if they are sexually active before then.

The ACOG said unnecessary treatment for a rare cancer can happen when earlier screening occurs. According to this


 
November 20, 2009 6:02 AM by Scott Warner of Stepwise Success

I last blogged that I would suggest how to really fix what's not fair in your laboratory. We've all felt rising resentment from unfair treatment: an extra weekend, being blamed for another's mistake, a poor evaluation. Let's consider the chronic problem that's unfair to everyone -- if it hasn't happened to you, it will soon - when the system is broken.

Examples: nurses "writing up" a tech, how holidays ...


 
November 19, 2009 9:26 AM by Amanda Koehler of ADVANCE Outlook: Lab Professionals

Back in September, I traveled home to the Lehigh Valley (Allentown and Bethlehem, PA, area) for a get-together with my girlfriends from high school.

I made a cake for the occasion (one I was pretty proud of). We were cutting the cake when my friend Tanya asked if it had egg in it. It did. She was planning on giving a piece to her 1-year-old son Gavin, but she told me she just found out Gavin had egg allergies.

A ...


 

This semester has been stressful. I have a full schedule and a lot of projects due. Just this semester I started the Master's program. I have stayed busy with lots of studying and reading assignments. I am taking Blood Bank, Mycology, Chemistry, Hematology/Coagulation and a research class.

I must say it's been one of the hardest semesters I have had so far. However, graduation is within sight. We are in the ...


 

You know those people who have a fear of commitment?  Well, I think I am on the opposite pole from those people.  I would say that I am addicted to commitment.  Have a project to take on?  Sign me up.  Need help with a school event?  Sign me up.  Four year degree with an intense clinical internship?  Sign me up.  My latest commitment involves a new pet.

I've already ...


 
November 18, 2009 12:08 PM by Amanda Koehler of ADVANCE Outlook: Lab Professionals

There's been so much material available lately on how to search for a job, especially because of job losses during the recession. We've all read articles about it, and a lot of the advice is repetitive after a while.

In her book 366 Tips for a Successful Job Search, Cynthia Wright gives the reader a bunch of new tips I'd never heard of before. Here are 10 that struck me. Do you have any helpful ones ...


 
November 16, 2009 1:43 PM by Amanda Koehler of ADVANCE Outlook: Lab Professionals

To stay mobile in your career, you need to learn how to "manage up." You should learn how to keep a thumb on your boss -- figuratively speaking, of course -- so you can stay ahead in your job and get what you want out of your manager.

In their book Working With You Is Killing Me, Katherine Crowley and Kathi Elster offer the following tips on ...


 

As students, we are taught about laboratory safety and how to handle situations as they arise. However, you never know how you are going to react in a situation until you're faced with it head-on.

It's important to realize blood products could pose a threat to you. Even the slightest cut could expose you to a lot of bacteria and infectious diseases. 

A fellow student of mine was cut ...


 
November 16, 2009 7:07 AM by Scott Warner of Stepwise Success

"Scott refuses to define the word equitable," someone once complained about me.

The American Heritage dictionary defines equitable as "just and impartial," then tells us to see fair. Fair, unsurprisingly, is


 

A few years ago I was consulted by a new manager who was frustrated because several of his employees refused to sign their annual performance evaluation. Some accused him of playing favorites and being unusually harsh and punitive. After speaking with him, I learned that he had made several common but crucial mistakes.

First, using the score of 1 through 5, where 3 was acceptable performance, he decided that ...


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This week I was able to attend Wisconsin's Annual Mycobacteriology Conference with my manager and another coworker.  It was a one day event held in Madison, I believe there were about 60 attendees with labs from around the state represented.  As a BSL-2 laboratory our role is staining, processing and growing acid fast cultures,  If we have a positive bottle or slant we confirm by stain and send ...


 
November 13, 2009 1:46 PM by Matthew Patton of ADVANCE Outlook: Lab Professionals

Acknowledging healthcare reform has been controversial would definitely be an understatement.

Almost everywhere I've traveled lately I've heard highly emotional and passionate positions for both sides of the debate. This past weekend, a large group of supporters stood on a corner holding handmade signs with messages like, "Healthcare for All," and "Everyone Deserves to be Healthy."Just down the street in ...


 
November 11, 2009 11:58 AM by Amanda Koehler of ADVANCE Outlook: Lab Professionals

ADVANCE is sad to report that Teresa Marie Beiser, 36, of Gladstone, OR, was fatally shot at her workplace, Legacy MetroLab in Tualatin, OR, yesterday.

Beiser was reportedly shot by her estranged husband, Robert James Beiser, 39, who later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Two of Beiser's coworkers, a 20-year-old woman and a 63-year-old man, were also injured.

Beiser fired ...


 
November 11, 2009 11:17 AM by Kerri Penno of ADVANCE Outlook: Lab Professionals

The FDA has approved Ortho Clinical Diagnostics' diagnostic assay for detecting antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) types 1+2 (Anti-HIV 1+2) for use on the VITROS 5600 Integrated and VITROS 3600 immunodiagnostic systems. According to Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, this is the first HIV diagnostic assay approved for an integrated system in the United States, allowing laboratory professionals to run HIV and other ...

 
November 11, 2009 7:15 AM by Scott Warner of Stepwise Success

As a kid I heard Talk is cheap, meaning that talking about doing something is the easy part. Boy, was that the truth! My homework and chores didn't get themselves done, no matter how much I talked about doing them or (often enough) why I hadn't. And there was NO BASEBALL until they were done.

Imagine children forming committees, having meetings, setting up email groups and web sites, and "educating" ...


 
November 10, 2009 12:42 PM by Kerri Penno of ADVANCE Outlook: Lab Professionals

The Joint Commission has announced the appointment of Jennifer F. Rhamy, MBA, MA, MT(ASCP), SBB, HP as executive director of the Laboratory Accreditation Program. 

Rhamy, a veteran healthcare professional with experience in both hospitals and blood centers, has extensive knowledge of the inner workings of hospital-based and freestanding clinical laboratories. Most recently, she worked as a blood center ...


 
November 6, 2009 6:26 AM by Scott Warner of Stepwise Success

Just the other day a question of how to alert physicians of laboratory reflex rules came up. After all, everyone's rules are slightly different.

Examples: if the dipstick is positive for blood or leukocyte esterase, perform a microscopic examination of urine sediment; if the triglycerides are elevated, perform a direct LDL cholesterol measurement; if a screen for unexpected antibodies is positive, perform ...


 
November 4, 2009 2:49 PM by Kerri Penno of ADVANCE Outlook: Lab Professionals

Biotest Diagnostics awarded agreements with Premier healthcare alliance for its advanced serology solutions

Biotest Diagnostics Corp. recently announced a multi-year agreement with Premier Purchasing Partners, L.P., the group purchasing unit of Premier Inc., for its advanced serology solutions, including traditional blood bank reagents, and the TANGO optimo automated blood bank system.

The agreement ...


 
November 2, 2009 6:26 AM by Scott Warner of Stepwise Success

Don Watson says in his introduction to Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words, Contemporary Cliches, Cant, & Management Jargon that weasel words are bringing about the death of language. "The real disease," he writes, "is in the system: in the new models of business organisation, in the triumph ...


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October 28, 2009 6:27 AM by Scott Warner of Stepwise Success

The other week I watched a show on the Discovery channel in disbelief. Called Pig Bomb, it described hoards of feral pigs roaming the Southeast. Locals may have cross-bred the American boar with its ill-tempered cousin, the Eurasian wild boar, for


 
October 27, 2009 12:52 PM by Amanda Koehler of ADVANCE Outlook: Lab Professionals

3M, St. Paul, MN announced today the introduction of the 3M Rapid Detection RSV Test. Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) infects the lungs and breathing passages and is a common cause of bronchitis and pneumonia in children under 1 year.

The Rapid Detection RSV Test is designed to detect the ...


 
October 26, 2009 12:24 PM by Amanda Koehler of ADVANCE Outlook: Lab Professionals

Cooperative Diagnostics LLC, Greenwood, SC, recently announced the availability of a new diagnostic assay for Xenotropic Murine Leukemia-Related Virus (XMRV) to assist physicians in the diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome and other disorders potentially caused by the virus. Testing services will also be made available to the general public, according to a company ...


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It never ceases to amaze me how different each day in the lab can be...  I was able to perform another "first" today.  Our Microbiology department is responsible for obtaining nasopharyngeal swabs in the outpatient testing area, on occasions when the usual staff is unavailable to do them.  I had seen them done, read the procedure, just hadn't ever collected one yet.  So I offered to go and ...


2 comments  

ABOUT OUR BLOGS

The ADVANCE for Medical Laboratory Professionals editorial staff will discuss issues in the laboratory field, current healthcare events and personal perspectives for your enjoyment.

Glen McDaniel, MS, MBA, MT, CLS will encourage dialogue among clinical laboratorians, with the ultimate goal of not simply to commiserate, but to empower readers into full, rewarding practice; not simply to survive, but to thrive.

Join Scott Warner, MLT(ASCP), in exploring and sharing solutions. Scott's goal is to not just save time and effort but to also develop a team that discovers its own laboratory success.

What's Medical Technology? Is school tough? Could I be a part of this vastly growing field? A medical technology students perspective-come find out what I'm learning and experiencing! Feel free to share stories and add comments. Spreading the passion of medical technology is what it's all about!

Rhonda Daily, a medical technologist, will provide a new MT's perspective of the laboratory science field. She is open to questions and will always present her responses openly and honestly.