Tell A Story
National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week (NMLPW) is the fourth week of every April. That's next week.
This year's theme is "Laboratory Professionals Get Results." We are, of course, much more.
For the last year, I've met with my staff weekly to talk about customer service. We focus on the good and bad, the inspirational and the discouraging. And during that time I've been reminded of or learned a lot. I'll share just two ideas.
We treat patients, not specimens.
So-called "direct caregiver" departments may disagree. To more hands-on professions, the lab is the odd cousin in the basement that insists patients have wristbands and specimens are labeled. They may even question that we are clinical people at all.
But for the last year I've heard wonderful stories of caring and compassion. An outpatient who praised our phlebotomy skill. A caller who was relieved that we resolved a billing question. An Emergency Room doctor who appreciated our speed. A homebound patient who was grateful that we drove to her house to collect a blood sample.
We are acutely aware of the patient, from the child having blood drawn to the adult who will receive news of acute leukemia after we review a smear.
The staff has a story to tell.
I thought of this one day when a tech remarked how many individual values she reviewed in the course of a day along with answering the telephones, greeting outpatients, helping coworkers, and talking to doctors. And I thought, These people make it look easy.
It isn't just the experience. It's a passion for the work arising from compassion for our patients. It's a tireless dedication to getting the right result to the right doctor. It's applied critical thinking on multiple fronts without ever forgetting the human factor. And it's a story I doubt many others in the hospital have heard.
Tell a story this year about your laboratory. I think people will be amazed at what you have to say.