National Lab Week 2022

 

Medical Laboratory Professionals Week is an annual celebration of the vital role laboratorians and pathologists have in healthcare and patient advocacy, whose work directly impacts at least 75% of all clinical diagnostic decisions

 

Celebrating our role in delivering the best in patient care

Happy National Lab Week! Over the past two years, the world finally got a peek into what it means to be a laboratorian. COVID shone a bright but narrow light on a small corner of the laboratory world, and folks were amazed by what they saw—dedicated, talented and innovative professionals cranking out PCR testing around the clock, day after day. While this afforded the lab industry a moment in the sun not experienced before, much of the work done in labs around the world remains largely unseen. What better time than now to shine much deserved light and gratitude on the rest of our incredible teams!

 

Here’s to the Medical Laboratory Scientists training the next generation of laboratorians, the MLTs tirelessly troubleshooting failing instruments and the Noncertified Techs constantly learning and seamlessly stepping in whenever needed. To the Client Services representative making 50+ calls to track down the right doctor or patient advocate to respond to a critical value, the pre-analytical staff who evaluate, label and relabel incoming specimens to minimize patient redraws and the Histologist who cuts and recuts slides with precision to ensure pathologists have the most complete picture of the condition affecting the patient.

 

Here’s to our Blood Bank team literally running through the hospital halls to provide life-saving platelets to surgery patients, the Cytogenetics Tech who refuses to accept a questionable result without further research and the pathologists working hand in glove with oncologists to ensure patients with cancer have access to the most innovative and appropriate diagnostic tools on the market. To our Human Resources team working diligently to fill open positions in a time when understaffing is a constant challenge, and to our Billing team who ensures that a patient's financial state isn’t a barrier to receiving high quality care.

 

Here’s to our Technical Specialists whose intellectual curiosity leads to countless advancements, phlebotomists whose skillful yet gentle hands and caring eyes make a painful extraction a little easier, and our managers and supervisors who jump on the bench to support their already lean teams, finding ways to make the impossible possible. To our account managers working with our FQHC clients to bring the best of academic laboratory medicine to the most vulnerable members of our community, our LIS and IT teams often tasked with making a square peg fit into a round hole and our Communications & Marketing department who keeps us informed, aligned and heard.

 

Here's to our vendor partners who move mountains to get us necessary testing supplies, the medical couriers who stop at nothing to deliver critical specimens and to our Safety & Quality team who knows that "good" is never good enough. To our medical directors and lab leaders who know that seconds count, information trumps data and the future of medicine is created not in the boardroom, but at the bedside—and that the right test, at the right time can make all the difference in a patient's treatment.

 

Laboratorians everywhere, thank you for what you do each and every day for our patients, for our healthcare partners and for each other. You are seen. You are valued. You all make us proud!