Lab Week

We interviewed lab professionals across the country to discuss careers in Laboratory Science.

Question: What initially inspired or motivated you to pursue a career in laboratory science?

Kahul Patel: So, I've always been fascinated by science and its applications in improving human health. My passion for understanding the mechanisms behind diseases and developing solutions to combat them, led me to pursue a career in laboratory science.

Blythe Brownlow: I was always interested in health care and science, but didn't know what direction to go. And I was lucky enough to get to do an internship in the student health lab, at my undergrad. And I got introduced to clinical laboratory science and work with a CLS there, and it was just really amazing, amazing experience. And so I decided to, pursue it after I graduated.

Micah Jones: What inspired me to be a clinical laboratory scientist is, I wanted to be someone who would work behind the scenes to aid or assist in patient care.

Question: What do you find most rewarding about working in the laboratory field?

Jay Helmer: The lab environment touches so many different specialties, in medicine. And, it really allowed me to keep in touch with all the physician colleagues that I worked with in the hospital, because when you're in the lab business, you're still working with all of them. The lab touches almost every facet of the patient care process, every specialty. Pathology touches about almost half of the specialty still even being a core, histology laboratory. So that's one of the things I find rewarding.

Sierra Quinones: No one really sees our side of the lab. No one really understands this side of the lab. They just understand, like doctors and nurses and giving them the results and treating them. Well, there's people that run these tests and that's us. And that's what I really love, and what I think is really rewarding because we're running our tests in a timely manner. That way, we can get the results out efficiently. And that way our patients can get the treatment that they need as quickly as possible.

We interviewed lab professionals to hear about challenges in the lab and how they maintain quality.

Question: How do you maintain accuracy in your work to minimize errors and ensure reliable test results?

Kelly Bailey: So that's something that we really strive for. So, we have an educator here. So, we make sure that each staff member coming in and annually is being, you know, educated. We strive for open communication. So communicating that issue, how could we do better? What can we do next time?

Jay Helmer: We are blessed with a staff of meticulous laboratorians who are obsessive about quality control, about tracking. We also do have double checks in place for the morning after cases come in. We go through all the paperwork to make sure there are no errors, no name spelled misspellings, so that's a double check we do before full reports go out the door.

Question: What aspects of your job are most challenging and how do you overcome these challenges?

Kelly Bailey: As a phlebotomist, I believe that some of those challenges could be starting with the blood draw, sometimes. And, you know, taking care of those, patients that might not be feeling well. And they are going through such a hard time. One thing that we really strive for here in the pathology team is the one team phlebotomy. So if we are struggling, we just really we reach out to each other to see if there's support out on the floor so that, you know, another set of eyes, hands, can take a look and see.

Blythe Brownlow: The most challenging part of point of care is definitely working with other disciplines. because often times we're just not speaking the same language. And so, but just really taking your time and being very open minded. when you're talking with these other health care providers and understanding their workflows and what they're going through at the patient bedside is just such an important part. It can be a really rewarding experience, too, when you make those strong connections.

Jay Helmer: The other very challenging thing we're facing now is the outflow of our specialized talent in histology and cytology versus the inflow of staff that are coming into the field. And it's an art, you know, it is an art form, essentially what we do, it's very-some of it's very hands on. Even though we leverage our, our equipment as much as we can and we automate what we can or certain pieces of it that just cannot be automated.

We interviewed lab professionals to discuss the lab's impact on patient care.

Question: How does your role contribute to the healthcare system and patient outcomes?

Blythe Brownlow: Our job as point of care is to make sure that our doctors and nurses and end users have the support and the resources that they need to be successful with the patient, and then making sure that the patient is getting the best quality of results when they really, really need it.

Micah Jones: It is when our providers are able to promptly provide patient care because we produced results in a timely manner.

Question: What's a memorable experience you've had that highlighted the importance of your work?

Sierra Quinones: A big one that every lab has dealt with these past few years is the Covid pandemic. All the departments here really were impacted by that, because we were getting thousands of tests coming in and everyone was, testing. And we needed those results out quickly and in a timely manner. And like, Covid shined a light on the labs and people were recognizing the lab,A lot more.

Jay Helmer: A recent example is we had a patient had a kidney biopsy on a Friday which could not be FedEx'd to the specialty laboratory. One of our managers volunteered to drive the specimen 250 miles, one way, to the nearest lab that could perform the procedure on a fresh specimen, to make sure that that case didn't have to be redone and the specimen was viable. That's what you do to make sure the patient gets a result and doesn't have to have a procedure done, again.

Blythe Brownlow: I got to be a part of the team, that helped bring up blood gas testing for a brand new ECMO program. And so I actually got to be in the O.R. doing blood gas testing when the first patient was successfully put on ECMO. And it was just such a rewarding experience. And I often think about that patient. And, it really solidified for me how important the lab is and point of care in making these really complex procedures a reality for the patients. And it was just it was just such an awesome experience to get to do that.

Question: In what ways do you work with other healthcare professionals to ensure coordinated patient care?

Kelly Bailey: We reach out to one another if there's a concern. We really try to make sure while, drawing blood, we are communicating to the team. So we're making sure that communication line is open with the nurse techs, the X-ray techs, the, dialysis nurses, the nurses over the patient care.

Kahul Patel: I regularly communicate with clinicians to understand their specific testing needs and provide consultations and appropriate laboratory test and interpretation of those results.

Micah Jones: For me, I collaborate with our providers. And in terms of expanding or improving what we currently have in our test menu, and also to bring in, any tests that would give them, more robust panels or results. How can we improve turnaround time for them if they need to consolidate testing.

We interviewed lab professionals to get their thoughts on advancements, trends and the future of laboratory testing.

Question: How do you stay up to date with advancements and changes in laboratory technology?

Sierra Quinones: We have, like our medical directors that will give us presentations like monthly, they'll do a presentation on new techniques and new improving tests and, if they find that there's an instrument that'll be a lot faster, run our tests a lot faster or more efficiently, like, we always have presentations for that. And companies come in and for that and show us their technology, their results, their testing, they also do like tours for us. That way we could see where our tests go and like how how it all works and how it all flows for patient care.

Jay Helmer: We go to other labs and talk to them about what they're doing. What's what they're seeing come out. What are they investing in? We may be competitors in the landscape, but inside the lab, we're essentially teammates in what we do. And in turn, people do come to us, you know, as a center of excellence for Roche to look at what we're doing with automation, with, you know, different tests or any different molecular testing And frankly, Roche does a good job of coming to us with new things, meeting with our doctors. We have invested in digital pathology. I see that in our field as the next generation coming  in the next few years. That really speeds patient care.

Question: What future trends in laboratory science do you see developing, and how do you plan to adapt?

Kahul Patel: The future of laboratory science holds exciting prospects, particularly in areas such as personalized medicine, automation, and data analytics. Scientists anticipate advancements in technology will enable faster and more accurate diagnostic testing, leading to improve patient outcomes.

Kelly Bailey: As time progresses in the future, I truly believe that we're going to be able to have less hands on the specimens of, transporting them, hence transporting them to the departments that we currently do, where we could easily put it on our analyzer. And the analyzer will be able to do more for us.