By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 12 – September 3, 2019 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Last year, Veterans Administration officials received an anonymous complaint about delays in laboratory specimen processing and results at the Memphis VA Medical Center may have harmed patients and led to a patient death. Following an investigation, the VA’s Office of Inspector General issued a report last month. It determined that a staff shortage
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXI NO. 2 – February 3, 2014 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Henry Ford Health System’s laboratory organization has become first in the nation to have all its laboratory sites “standardized under one source of leadership” and accredited to the standards of ISO 15189: Medical Laboratories. The journey to achieve this current state has taken almost 10 years and started with the development of a
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XIX No.15 - October 29, 2012 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Lab executives and pathologists have long read about the deteriorating finances at many rural hospitals, along with their struggles to recruit and retain enough skilled laboratory staff. Now the closure of the laboratory at 37-bed E.J. Noble Hospital in Gouverneur, New York, can be considered a sign that these long-discussed trends are becoming
By Robert Michel, from the Volume X No. 9 - July 7, 2003 issue
CEO SUMMARY: One surprise about online distance learning (ODL) programs for medical technologists (MT) is that even small hospital laboratories can use them to recruit and train more MTs. Across the United States, a growing number of labs are experiencing a shortage of MTs in their local community. A handful of early-adopter laboratories has already
By Robert Michel, from the Volume IX No. 14 - October 7, 2002 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Laboratory administrators in 15 Bay-area hospitals created their own plan to expand the available pool of trained med techs. Using a detailed analysis of the demographics of the problem, along with a financial analysis of non-action, they convinced CEOs of 15 hospitals to invest $1.5 million in a five-year training program.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This
By Robert Michel, from the Volume IX No. 5 - April 1, 2002 issue
CEO SUMMARY: In Western Tennessee, a seven-hospital rural health system is pulling out all stops to solve the staffing crisis in its laboratory division by implementing programs that address both retention and recruiting. “Bench bonuses,” college loan repayment programs, recruitment bonuses, and shift differentials are just a few of the methods used to attract and
