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Ageism in the Laboratory
May 6, 2013 5:57 AM by Scott Warner

Pardon the pun, but it’s an old story. According to the Hospital Council of Northern & Central California, “The average age of a CLS in California is above 50. There are not enough new CLSs in the pipeline to equal the numbers currently working but Read More...

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We All Want Simple Solutions
May 1, 2013 6:24 AM by Scott Warner

It’s easy to make solutions more complicated. When there are holes in a schedule, one can create multiple rotation lists with conditional rules. When quality control is out, one can apply more Westgard rules than are needed. And when microscopic cellular Read More...

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Reproducible Cutoffs
April 22, 2013 7:25 AM by Scott Warner

A million monkeys on a million microscopes probably couldn’t bang out an accurate WBC differential in a million years, but a lab tech could teach a gibbon to run a chemistry analyzer in about ten minutes. I’m kidding. But the subjective variability of Read More...

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Your Work, Your Family
April 3, 2013 6:11 AM by Scott Warner

Stress is big trouble in all our lives. It seems to me that we can handle stress at work or home but not both. Life being what it is, stress seems to jump from one to the other and seldom sits still. At home, family can help us cope with stress. Does Read More...

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Is Scripting Bad?
March 29, 2013 6:03 AM by Scott Warner

We encounter scripting all the time. When calling customer service, at the end of the call, the representative says, “Have I answered all your questions today?” In a restaurant, a waiter will say, “My name is Matt, and I’ll be your server.” And at the Read More...

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Can You Read Expiration Dates?
March 25, 2013 6:02 AM by Scott Warner

A common task we are expected to perform is checking expiration dates on reagents, controls, and other dated materials. Boxes are crowded with different languages, vials are smaller, and eyesight fades with age. I remember vividly the moment when I couldn’t Read More...

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Gripe Sessions
March 11, 2013 6:06 AM by Scott Warner

Meetings are supposed to be opportunities to realign, reassess, and repurpose. They can be a pit stop for a team to check the map, kick the tires, and make sure the bus is on track. But we’ve all been to too many meetings that end up being a demolition Read More...

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Double Shifts
March 6, 2013 6:15 AM by Scott Warner

I exercise, eat right, and rarely lose sleep. There are only so many energy dollars at the start of each day, and I try not to spend them all in one place. There is rarely a reserve and no more all-nighters. While my body hasn’t betrayed me yet, there Read More...

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The Power of Humor
March 1, 2013 6:00 AM by Scott Warner

I’ve done some of my best work while laughing with another person. Working on a hospital fire plan with a colleague was split between genuine moments of hilarity (such as inventing a politically incorrect system to remember all the telephone extensions Read More...

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Music Wars
February 20, 2013 6:00 AM by Scott Warner

Outside my office in the only place in the laboratory where radio reception is possible is a portable stereo on a shelf. Depending on who is working it plays country western or pop rock. Almost always it’s the former, so for the last decade I’ve consistently Read More...

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Flirty Somethings
February 11, 2013 6:30 AM by Scott Warner

Not to nerd out on you or anything, but Captain Kirk has this great line in The Wrath of Khan where he tells Bones McCoy, “Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young, Doctor.” Even though Valentine’s Day is upon us and Spring around the corner, Read More...

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Change is Always Good
February 6, 2013 6:00 AM by Scott Warner

“People hate change,” we are lectured, as though it is a law of physics. Change is constant, change is expected, change is inevitable, but people will always resist it. Managers are told to expect that a certain percentage (17% or so) of employees will Read More...

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Can I See You In My Office?
February 1, 2013 6:17 AM by Scott Warner

The question “Can I see you in my office?” has an air of being sent to the principal. The first thought that pops into my head is, “What did I do now?” I never liked this feeling as a bench tech, and it isn’t much more fun as a manager. The exchange sets Read More...

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Dreading Evaluations
January 28, 2013 6:07 AM by Scott Warner

At a leadership seminar a CEO said, “Performance evaluations give you at least one chance to have a conversation with your employees.” I don’t disagree with that, especially for off shifts. But performance evaluations are also a chance to permanently Read More...

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Do You Like People?
January 18, 2013 6:09 AM by Scott Warner

I’ve blogged about introverts and extroverts, broad categories that define how we react to social settings and theorized that our profession may attract the former. Social butterflies and gadflies alike stand out in any laboratory. But that is their nature. Read More...

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