I recently ran the Disney marathon -- It was magical. Also, long. After the race, I proceeded to consume my weight in fried food and chocolate for about a week until I finally evened out and started eating like a normal person again. Of course, I’ve written about endurance athletics before (I used small pieces of Clif Bar instead of ...

It’s hard enough to work in an environment where there’s some uncertainty—perhaps regarding job security, technology implementations and effects and the like. Today, however, there’s monumental vagueness or doubts on a host of issues directly impacting healthcare, including the Budget Control Act, sustainable growth rates (SGR), bundled payments, ...

It’s true that as one ages, one also gets wiser. I value the knowledge shared by peers and truly appreciate them sharing experiences—good and bad—when, for example, we’re initiating an enterprise-wide or department-specific project. If you have a story to tell your peers, whether it’s a light-hearted recap of your National Medical Laboratory ...

I admit that every once in a while, I find myself dealing with a student that is struggling to learn the basic and essential principles of the material we are teaching while the rest of the class has moved on and ready for new material. By no means, are these weak students. They have met the rigorous admission criteria and their academic records ...

At COLA, we’re all part of the same work community. Together we help promote patient safety by promoting lab excellence. Considering that lab testing impacts more than 70 percent of diagnostic decisions, the COLA community’s efforts impact a lot of people. Individually, however, we are all part of two other communities: The lab community in ...

If you have not made plans to attend the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS) Annual Meeting this summer, you still have time to do so. The meeting is designed for you and your professional needs. The meeting offers educational topics that promote advanced learning in the science and practice of clinical laboratory science as ...

Case studies, best practices, lessons learned, written material, guidelines, how-to manuals, technical explanations—those are the types of articles and documents we are looking to publish in print and online. It’s a great time to get published to really polish your résumé or curriculum vitae. Specifically, we are seeking articles on improving ...

I was invited to visit Singapore as an external examiner for the Diploma in Biomedical Science program offered by the School of Chemical and Life Sciences of Singapore Polytechnic. I visited with faculty, staff, and administrators of the school. I also met with students (see photo) and graduates of the program. They were excited about their chosen ...

As Google and other search engines are becoming more comprehensive, the ability to discriminate between useful and misleading information becomes essential. In our classrooms, we encourage critical thinking to facilitate integration of presented material and to aid in the acquisition of new material. By learning how to think critically, students ...

How do you handle the stresses of daily life while still being a good clinician?For many people, separating work and personal life can be challenging, yet manageable. Is it a skill that is learned or something some people are just good at? For most of us, we don't have desk jobs where we can ''space out'' and stare at the computer screen when we ...