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Press Start: Lead an Empowered Life as a Clinical Laboratorian

APHL Asks For Help With HIV Algorithms
September 16, 2009 5:24 PM by Glen McDaniel
Back in 1989, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) issued a firm algorithm for diagnosing HIV; an algorithm that is still in use today as the gold standard. The patient is tested Read More...
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Keeping up With the Swine Flu Pandemic
April 27, 2009 5:17 PM by Glen McDaniel
You cannot turn on the TV or log onto any popular website like AOL without being greeted by the latest update on the swine flu pandemic. Over the weekend, I spoke with friends who were planning a vacation to Mexico next week and are now concerned about Read More...
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New Role for Old Test
March 17, 2009 9:47 AM by Glen McDaniel
Over the years, tests like CRP and ESR have fallen into the category of pretty useless tests when ordered by themselves. After all, they indicate an inflammatory process somewhere without being correlated to location, cause or degree. Cardiologists, for Read More...
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CEO Issues Infection Challenge
February 13, 2009 8:39 AM by Glen McDaniel
Paul Levy, president and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, in his recent blog "Running a Hospital," proudly published his hospital's nosocomial infection rate and boldly challenged other hospitals to do the same. He also threw down Read More...
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Spit Happens
November 3, 2008 10:41 AM by Glen McDaniel
I was speaking to a lady at a party recently and she mentioned her sister had "a bunch of saliva tests" done, and one of them indicated she was at risk for Sjögren's syndrome , an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system cells attack the saliva- Read More...
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Americans Use Internet for Health Information
September 24, 2008 8:48 AM by Glen McDaniel
According to a recent study by the Center for Studying Health System Change , Americans are increasingly using the Internet to get health information. In 2007, almost 58 percent of the U.S. population--or more than 122 million people--sought health information Read More...
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Early Stroke Diagnosis
July 21, 2008 9:35 AM by Glen McDaniel
Cerebrovascular accident (CVA) or stroke is one of the major causes of impairment and morbidity in this country. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. and costs billions of dollars in care and disability. Both the American Heart Association Read More...
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Universal HIV Screening
June 16, 2008 10:52 AM by Glen McDaniel
In September 2006, the CDC issued new guidelines recommending a wider screening of the general public for HIV. This aggressive guideline resulted from the finding that of new HIV diagnosis, almost a half (over 40 percent) went on to develop AIDS in about Read More...
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MRSA-A Deadly Threat on the Rise
May 21, 2008 12:03 PM by Glen McDaniel
The incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ( MRSA ) is increasing at an alarming rate. In fact, MRSA is now the No. 1 diagnosis in people presenting to U.S. emergency departments with skin and soft tissue infections. The infection is Read More...
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Words Have Power, Choose Them Wisely
March 6, 2008 10:45 AM by Glen McDaniel
A nurse calls from the oncology clinic wanting to know how long she would have to wait to get the results of a CBC in order to start the patient's chemotherapy. The lab assistant answering the phone stumbles and says something like "we are really short Read More...
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What's the Best Cardiac Marker?
January 28, 2008 2:43 PM by Glen McDaniel
The acute coronary syndromes (ACS) are a continuum of ischemic heart disease that spans the entire range from unstable angina, associated with reversible injury; to frank myocardial infarction with large areas of cardiac necrosis. Here are some facts: Read More...
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Offshore Clinical Lab Tests
December 18, 2007 10:41 AM by Glen McDaniel
Remember when outsourcing did not apply to healthcare? Businesses developed the concept of contracting or otherwise arranging for some services to be performed outside the main business if it made financial sense. Outsourcing is utilizing experts from Read More...
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