It is that time of year when we celebrate National  Medical Laboratory Professionals Week (NMLPW).  This is a week when the various, often competing, laboratory organizations join forces  to honor the more than 300,000 medical laboratory professionals around the country who perform and interpret more than 10 ...

Since the ASCP took over the popular and progressive NCA in 2009, I have periodically received emails from medical lab professionals not happy with the merger for various reasons.  Prompted by this overwhelming response, I have previously blogged about this subject. I have also addressed the mixed response to the move. Recently I have ...

I recently learned that the merger talks between two laboratory organizations ASCLS and CLMA have broken down.  Now it might surprise you that as a long time, avid advocate of professional unification,  I was not really devastated by this news. Here's some background.  ASCLS, an organization  to which I have belonged ...

A surgeon storms into the manager’s office and screams at the top of his lungs with patients within earshot. An OB gets in the face of a tech and tells her she almost killed a patient right in a patient waiting area. A pediatrician complains to a patient he doesn’t trust the laboratory -- as the lab tech is collecting a heel stick sample. These ...

The other day a staff person said, “I’ll bet the nurses don’t like coming to the lab. This is our turf, and it’s us against them when that happens.” Most nurses love coming the lab if they are greeted with warm smiles and pleasantries. It’s ironic that we laboratory people will stay inside our “black box” and complain when our work isn’t ...

This week, April 22-28, we celebrate National Medical Laboratory Professionals' Week (NMLPW). This celebartion was started in 1975 as National Medical Laboratory Week (without the word ''professionals'') by American Society for Medical Technology (ASMT), now called the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS). Now in its 36th ...

I love college sports! I believe academic athletic departments bring huge benefits (and funds) to the universities and to the communities they serve. However, when I read a recent editorial in USA Today about the rise of the salaries of the athletic directors on campuses nationwide, I must admit, I was upset. When I read that the average salary is ...

I just saw the blockbuster movie Contagion and must say I was pretty impressed. When I watch a medical-themed movie, I always look at it with a critical eye. How factual is it? Is it authentic in terms of scenarios, equipment, procedures and vocabulary?I look for how realistically roles are portrayed. For example I tend to roll my eyes and become ...

The opening keynote address of the annual ASCLS meeting in Atlanta was delivered by two physicians, Dr. Laposata (a pathologist) and Dr. Meisel (an internist) discussing in point-counterpoint fashion what way clinical laboratorian' s view their role in healthcare.  They both agreed on the value of clinical laboratory to medical ...

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 ...