Here is an opportunity to tell us about your lab, its achievements, and its ongoing efforts to do even better. There’s nothing wrong—and everything right—with a successful clinical laboratory tooting its own horn once in a while. Recognition is good for employee morale, it sets an example for other labs, it encourages young people to pursue the education necessary to become medical laboratory scientists, and it educates the community about the valuable work that clinical labs do. MLO is proud to salute three labs—the Lab of the Year, and two runners-up. It is our way of celebrating National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week (April 21-27, 2013).
What are the “requirements” to be a Lab of the Year nominee? Clinical labs of any size and location are eligible for consideration. You will want to demonstrate your lab’s contributions to quality patient care. Beyond that, how you may want to put your best foot forward is suggested by the categories under which you are asked to describe your lab in the nominating form: customer service, contributions to patient care, teamwork, productivity, efficiency, quality control, innovations, creativity, and lab inspection scores. Try to emphasize what is particularly successful about your lab, in terms of engaging with and responding to the needs of its community, contributing to the success of the larger institution, meeting an unaddressed need, making a difference in people’s lives. What makes your lab outstanding, and what makes your lab special?
The three labs that were recognized by MLO last April are excellent examples.
- The Lab of the Year was Kaiser Permanente Panorama City Medical Center Laboratory in Los Angeles, California. This lab had outstanding success in improving service to patients by instituting a wireless handheld patient ID system, a TAT dashboard, and a color-coded system to differentiate sample coming from the ER, surgery, and stroke patients. It participates actively in inter-laboratory QC programs, creates poster boards for display during Lab Week, and serves the community in many ways, including through its Mobile Health Van and by participating in Habitat for Humanity projects. Kaiser Permanente Panorama City has also focused very effectively on promoting workplace safety.
- The first runner-up was Willamette Valley Medical Center Laboratory Services in McMinnville, Oregon. This lab reduced TATs for Troponin tests, brought in additional transfusion medicine testing, and improved procedures for reflexing cultures prior to joint replacement surgery. Its quality management program expanded to include bench technologists in quality projects, procedure development, and direction of lab operations. It implemented a quality tracking system within the LIS for easy tracking of events associated with patient testing.
- The second runner-up was Springfield-Greene County Health Department Laboratory Services in Springfield, Missouri. Among other noteworthy achievements, this lab has filled an urgent need for STD testing in often underserved areas away from large population centers. Innovative procedures were put in place to maximize the number of patients seen by the lab’s STD Express Clinic and to serve them as efficiently as possible.
The deadline for submission of nominations is Monday, February 11, 2013. Any nomination must be original and exclusive to MLO and not have been submitted, either original or edited, to any other publication or online media outlet currently or within the previous year.
Toot your horn! We look forward to honoring three outstanding labs in April.
