This workshop is an AACC University Session at the 2021 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo.
COURSE OUTLINE
Leadership Change: Keep Calm and Lead On
Julie Shaw, PhD, FCACB
Head, Division of Biochemistry and Director of Point-of-Care Testing, The Ottawa Hospital
Regional Discipline Lead for Biochemistry and Point-of-Care Testing
Laboratory Director, Renfrew Victoria Hospital and St. Francis Memorial Hospital
As humans, we are not always open to or happy with change. We enjoy the predictability of our routines and settle comfortably into them. Changes in leadership, especially in our work environments, can be disruptive and cause anxiety among those affected.
I have had opportunities to take on various leadership positions within the laboratory organization I work for, first as Director of our large point-of-care testing program and more recently as Division Head and Regional Discipline lead for Biochemistry. Here, I will discuss challenges, learnings, and outcomes from my experiences taking on these leadership roles. I will aim to discuss these areas both from my own perspective and from the perspectives of others on the teams.
Lab of the Future
Khosrow Adeli, PhD, FCACB, DABCC, FAACC
Director, Clinical Biochemistry, Hospital for Sick Children
Professor, Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology, University of Toronto
President, IFCC (International Federation of Clinical Chemistry & Laboratory Medicine)
Laboratory medicine is integral to high-quality, safe, and effective clinical decision-making, providing objective data to clinicians and other healthcare workers to guide prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and disease management. Over the past 50 years, there have been enormous advances in clinical laboratory technology. Technological innovations in analytical methodology have had a major impact on enhancing the efficiency and quality of clinical laboratory service. The introduction of advanced analytical instrumentation into the clinical laboratory has revolutionized complex and specialized areas of laboratory testing. In addition, improved assay technology combined with the advent of automation has contributed to increased productivity and reduced laboratory error. Automation has particularly had a direct impact in the field of clinical pathology, including clinical chemistry, immunology, serology, and hematology. Computational methods, such as big data analysis, is an emerging domain that offers a unique opportunity to analyze rich and complex laboratory test result data. This data is being used to develop powerful artificial intelligence (AI) tools for clinical diagnostics.
To ensure the optimal delivery, use, development, and evaluation of laboratory services, clinical laboratory leadership must build a culture of innovation and adopt the concept of evidence-based laboratory medicine across the continuum of the laboratory testing process. Ultimately, this will add value to laboratory medicine by truly enhancing clinical laboratory diagnostics and thus patient care.
The One About Crisis Management and the Pandemic
Chad Neilsen, MPH, CIC
Director, Accreditation & Infection Prevention
UF Health Jacksonville
There hasn’t been a year quite like 2020, at least in our lifetimes. COVID-19 forced the world into a new way of life, with healthcare at the forefront. Virtually every company in all business sectors had to make changes to how they operated, and they had to do it quickly. Crisis management had rarely been so important for so many organizations, until the pandemic started. This presentation will introduce the concept of crisis management, its basic components, illustrate examples (good and bad) from the pandemic, and how these lessons can be applied for use in the lab setting.