PRESIDENT ’ S MESSAGE / CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER ’ S MESSAGEand a member gathering perspective . Because we are member-centric , I doubt that we will ever be a fully virtual workplace . But I have also seen from the laboratory perspective that you need laboratory staff in the brick-and-mortar workplace , and I ’ ve also seen a number of positions be very effective outside of the physical laboratory … I ’ ve seen the inside of more laboratory director ’ s homes than I ever thought I would ! And you have been very effective leaders no matter where you are — that ’ s something we never would have thought about pre-pandemic .
D : I think we have also increased the exposure for our staff to public health and created more learning opportunities for them because of the virtual environment . There have been opportunities to attend conferences that they may not have had before . Additionally , training is something that I think will never go back to the way it was before . There is such potential to provide high-quality training virtually and in a way that is convenient for folks who desire work / life balance , yet want to take advantage of professional development opportunities by spending time listening to webinars or seminars — either live or after the fact — instead of trying to carve out the time needed to attend an in-person training . So between training and other opportunities for education and professional development , I think the pandemic has pushed us into a new era where we can transition into a hybrid program , instead of going back to pre-pandemic days .
S : Exactly . For APHL , it gave us the realization that we can go deeper into the laboratory and serve more lab staff who did not have that access or opportunity before . I am really excited at the challenge and opportunity to test our innovation muscles and continue to serve our membership better .
D : I also think that this new way of training can provide us with the opportunity to tap into new talent that may not necessarily have the years of experience behind them . With minimal resources , we can bring them up to a certain level of understanding quickly through virtual training , then partner them with subject matter experts in the laboratory to complement and strengthen what they have learned virtually . I think this will improve quality and safety , as well as their ability to perform laboratory work more accurately . And hopefully , educating them virtually in the “ why ” of doing things will complement the in-person “ what ” of doing things , creating stronger scientists and stronger leaders .
S : When we think about virtual and laboratory , it seems like they are at opposite ends of the spectrum . But there are aspects of the laboratory workforce that are knowledge workers as well as hands-on workers . I ’ m excited that CDC is thinking and investing in virtual trainings , but another area that is going to provide an opportunity is the idea of linking with academia . One path will be on workforce development into careers , using the public health laboratory as a living , learning laboratory . That is an important function and many labs in the past did not have the ability to make that relationship happen . The other path will be on innovation in informatics and diagnostics . We have had such an opportunity to work with the academic community in a new and different way , thinking about collaborations with not only traditional laboratory science programs , but also biomedical engineering , data science and others .
D : In Virginia , we have always had a strong collaboration with our academic partners , but COVID-19 really opened up opportunities to collaborate on a common testing initiative . We worked together to figure out ways to support each other in our testing capabilities and capacities — ensuring that the testing that was being performed in academia was comparable with the testing being performed at the state public health laboratory . We were working on a common initiative , and making sure that everything we did was seamless and transparent .
S : This is definitely the time to invest in these relationships … if we have not formed these connections , let ’ s do it now . Like you said before , Denise , we need to strike while the iron is hot . n
Scott Becker , MS Chief Executive Officer , APHL
APHL partnered with other public health organizations and CDC to encourage a really large-scale study — the first of its kind — of the mental health status of the public health workforce . And the results were not surprising . At some point in the next few months , APHL will be able to get a more definitive report on the responses from the laboratory community .”
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APHL
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Summer 2021 LAB MATTERS 3 |