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Stepwise Success

Misfiling
August 28, 2009 6:06 AM by Scott Warner
If your lab uses a card file to track patient blood bank history, some cards are misfiled. Depending on where in the file they are placed, they may be good as gone. A blood banker won't be able to compare blood types or know that the patient has a positive Read More...
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Survey This, Survey That
August 24, 2009 6:16 AM by Scott Warner
Suddenly, they are everywhere: in letters, emails, on little cards handed out by servers, and on cash register receipts. Major retailers and restaurant chains want my opinion of their service. We want to hear what you think! In return, I get a freebie, Read More...
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Don't Hate Your Job
August 19, 2009 6:00 AM by Scott Warner
Some of you hate your job. Maybe not all of it or all the time, but some of you would quit if you could. You hate the pay, the hours, the weekends, working Christmas, being on call, having your opinions dismissed, and (most importantly) your boss. But Read More...
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Error is Just a Word
August 14, 2009 7:20 AM by Scott Warner
Error means to deviate, blunder, or make a mistake. Merriam Webster's Dictionary of Law has this marvelous definition: "an act that through ignorance, deficiency, or accident departs from or fails to achieve what should be done." No matter how we strive Read More...
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Differences
August 10, 2009 6:49 AM by Scott Warner
Our words reveal our attitudes. Take this exchange I had with an RN while walking into work: Me: "Healthcare is a great profession. We get to help people, and that's different from many other lines of work." RN: "I agree, I love that about my job. The Read More...
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Buying and Selling
August 5, 2009 6:10 AM by Scott Warner
I conduct every interview the same. I describe the job, ask a list of questions, review the applicant's resume, and then answer any questions. Most don't ask anything. If they do, chances are the answer is on our website or in the job description. There Read More...
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Clutter
July 31, 2009 6:04 AM by Scott Warner
Every so often a book changes your life. Way Down Cellar made reading fun, turning rainy days into great adventures. The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet inspired me to write stories, and I've been writing ever since. Time Wars made me consider Read More...
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Making Sense of Results
July 22, 2009 4:49 AM by Scott Warner
Whether reading a body fluid smear, a culture plate, or chemistry panel, we are paid to make sense of results. Decades of bench work teaches techs to know what is expected and to focus on the unexpected. Many of the techs working today make what is difficult Read More...
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Getting To B
July 17, 2009 6:14 AM by Scott Warner
Often, we detour on the way from A to B. We under-simplify and over-analyze to the point of exception paralysis, where contingency planning is a goal and not a means to an end. If you played the game Mouse Trap as a kid you know what I'm talking about. Read More...
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Work Smarter
July 13, 2009 6:24 AM by Scott Warner
As economic pressures increase you may hear a buzz about "productivity." Your manager or senior administrator may use benchmarking to compare your laboratory to others. And if you aren't working hard enough by the numbers, you'll hear that, too. Not working Read More...
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Safe Choices
July 8, 2009 5:58 AM by Scott Warner
The other day at a meeting about patient identification the subject of redrawing an improperly identified patient for the blood bank came up. One person thought this a terrible idea and said, "This is all about saving the patient a stick." "Actually," Read More...
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Chain of Command
July 2, 2009 7:27 AM by Scott Warner
Millennials, the youngest in our workforce, ignore the chain of command. While Boomers can't imagine work without a top-down structure, Millennials (so-called Generation Y ) reject "command" for "collaborate." I read this not with resentment but amazement Read More...
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Management Myths
June 29, 2009 6:14 AM by Scott Warner
One of the realities of my job has been working with other healthcare managers. In the last ten years, I've worked with many. At the risk of telling secrets, here are a few myths about managers: Managers are trained to do their jobs. Many managers are Read More...
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Turnaround Time
June 24, 2009 7:05 AM by Scott Warner
Suppose you want to measure turnaround time for ED specimens. This naturally raises the question What is turnaround time? According to one article in Clinical Biochemist , although clinicians complain about turnaround times being too long, most don't Read More...
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The Right Specimen
June 19, 2009 6:09 AM by Scott Warner
The New York Times reports that a laboratory sent letters to nearly a thousand patients for redraws after six patient samples on six specific days in a nine-month period were discovered as mislabeled. A hospital spokesman describes them as "isolated incidents," Read More...
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