“Every test result impacts patient care. Lead with the medical value of the tests you want to offer – tests that provide quality results. Performance stats beyond best case scenarios may be difficult to come by, but be sure to ask your vendors about mean up time and recalls in addition to the number of tests per hour.” Fantz recommends that labs consider their institution type and size when evaluating analyzers. “[Question] whether the reagents can be shared across a family of instruments to be more efficient and harmonized to share reference intervals at sister hospitals to re-
Corinne Fantz, Ph.D
duce interpretation error and improve patient safety.” “Menu can impact efficiency,” Fantz added. “If you need a second analyzer to run a complete panel of tests, that is likely to make your lab less efficient and cost more. If the test needs to be sent out, delays could impact the patient and increase the chance the result is lost or never seen by the ordering provider.” With regards to improvements in the quality and
efficiency of testing, more than half of those surveyed (65%) said they had standardized test ordering pro- cedures and formularies, while 32% said they had programmed hard stops or other functionality into electronic health records (EHR) systems to guide physicians’ test-ordering practices. An important step in introducing new software is verifying that changes do not detrimentally impact patient results, according to Fantz. She states: “Human factors engineering and consulting with your manu- facturer may help labs consider implementing the right safeguards necessary to ensure patient safety.”
Training staff on new technology As staffing shortages are a major challenge through- out the industry, we asked lab professionals what best practices they have developed to train staff on new software.
At the top of the list was the creation of standard workflows for all lab employees (60%), followed by the creation of a train-the-trainer model (52%). Also noted was the development of mandatory training for new lab employees that is led by the IT department (25%), development of lunch-and-learn training sessions (15%), and sending a lab person to laboratory information system (LIS) school to develop an in-house expert (14%). With high staff turnover rates, lab leaders must also take into consideration the training of new staff members on equipment, both old and new, to maintain the quality and efficiency of operations despite changes in personnel. “Many lab techs point to having a very strong training process that encourages repetition of tasks
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under supervision, before they begin to do tasks without supervision,” said Maggie Morrissey, Director, Recruiting and Staffing Services, Lighthouse Lab Services. “Regardless of the new employee’s experi- ence, sometimes one lab might practice one technique and one lab might use a different technique. Making sure that lab staff/management is always available for questions or concerns and encouraging questions be asked to prevent mistakes from being made.”
Making improvements for the road ahead Clinical labs will likely continue to struggle with staff shortages and supply chain disruptions for quite some time, and nobody can predict the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked for their recommendations on how to alleviate the burden of these challenges moving forward, those interviewed offered these thoughts.
Improve lab culture Work culture is one reason why lab profession- als leave one employer and go to another, says Morrissey. She recommends labs take steps to establish cultures that appeal to staff members’ both personally and professionally. “We often hear candidates say they don’t want to work at specific companies because of poor culture,” said Morrissey. “Reevaluating culture, benefits of- fered, and other ‘soft’ aspects can really help with attracting new talent. One Lab Tech told me: ‘They need to make the work environment more exciting. Do fun activities for lab week. Have a free lunch once a month or every other week for the employees. Also, make sure employees are not sitting around doing nothing for hours. Make sure there is a plan set, so techs know what they are going to do from the moment they clock in.’”
Further define career paths Panton says most of the MLT students who participated in her former lab’s training program expressed interest in becoming clinical laboratory scientists (CLS), but the state of California doesn’t currently have a clear path- way to transition from MLT to CLS. She encourages the development of these career pathways, explaining how her team took steps in this direction: “About halfway through MLT student training, we
gave them the opportunity to work as clerks so they could learn the front desk. Some wanted to learn phlebotomy, too, so that helped. When they gradu- ated, they took their exams, and many stayed about 18-to-24 months so they could get into CLS programs and be potential CLS for us to hire upon graduation.”
Increase lab automation Hurst expressed his surprised at how so few labs, similar in size to his, have embraced automated
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