May 2012 - Posts

Too Busy or Incompetent?
May 30, 2012 6:03 AM by Scott Warner

A few weeks ago I witnessed one colleague complain to another about being too busy. “We can trade places for a while and you’ll see,” she told him. After we were out of earshot he said, “Did you notice how she always justifies everything with being too Read More...

0 comments »     

Organizational Charts
May 25, 2012 6:11 AM by Scott Warner

An organizational chart is a diagram that shows the structure of your organization. It focuses on relationships and ranks of positions, with the CEO at the top and branching into section heads, department managers, and so on. Customers are conspicuously Read More...

1 comments »     

The Sed Rate of Micro
May 21, 2012 6:03 AM by Scott Warner

We laboratorians (ha ha, really) must seem a humorless clique. We stick together at breaks and lunch, are all business on the telephone, and are otherwise inside our black laboratory box. And like most work teams, we have pet peeves funny to only us. Read More...

4 comments »     

Breaking Procedures
May 16, 2012 8:23 PM by Scott Warner

A lab manager once directed me to write a procedure with, “It doesn’t have to be a great procedure. We just need something in writing.” That sounds like terrible advice. Just slap together a procedure to please the inspectors and don’t worry about it. Read More...

2 comments »     

Idiot Proofing
May 11, 2012 6:00 AM by Scott Warner

There’s a sense that policies and procedures have to be idiot proof to avoid making errors. The simplest, most direct instructions that eliminate thinking also eliminate error. “Idiot-proof” means “built, organized, written, etc., in such a way as to Read More...

0 comments »     

Sustaining Change
May 7, 2012 6:10 AM by Scott Warner

Allowing time for open discussion during meetings can solve problems, but it can also lead to epiphanies. Talking through a problem can prompt people to ask questions that lead to sudden bursts of insight. And it is these insights that often provide the Read More...

0 comments »     

Antigens and Antibodies
May 2, 2012 6:26 AM by Scott Warner

The other day, a physician’s assistant wrote an order for “H pylori Ab” on a lab requisition. One of the techs telephoned: IgG, IgA, or IgM? Naturally, he ordered all three and hung up. And I thought, this is getting a bit out of hand. Did we ask the Read More...

7 comments »