every point of healthcare delivery.
Under these circumstances it is easy to
recognize that laboratory medicine
has a pivotal role, increasingly integral
to many clinical decisions on disease
prevention, diagnosis, treatment and
management. The overall challenge
for the laboratory profession is to
adapt to these rapid changes, while
maintaining quality service.
A summary of these
challenges include:
• Increased scope of services
offered, requiring changes in
laboratory organization and
communication, including
workflow, scheduling, reporting
policies, data transmission and
storage; expanded relationships
with other healthcare providers;
integrated roles for information
technologists; and increased
direct interaction with the public.
• New roles and responsibilities
of the laboratory due to
changes in healthcare delivery
through integrated network
organizations—Accountable
Care Organizations (ACOs) and
Patient Centered Medical
Homes (PCMHs), integrating
the laboratory as a part of
team-based care
• The need for updating policies
and procedures to reflect this new
paradigm of increased scopes of
practice and involvement
• New personnel requirements,
recruitment and training to
“ These times call for
leadership that is
more adaptive and
agile than ever
before... This is
leadership that
understands change,
and can adapt
through creating an
organizational
culture of resilience.”
Irwin Z. Rothenberg
ensure a competent workforce to
meet these challenges.
• Adjusting to the new age of patient
empowerment: patient initiated
testing; and test results reported
and interpreted directly to patients.
• Keeping up with the changing
political and regulatory climate
• Changing population demographics
and the need for interventions for
specific subsets of the population;
use of big data influencing
government resource allocation.
Dealing with all these changes can be
stressful for laboratory professionals.
The clinical laboratory industry is
already embracing networking,
consolidation, integration,
outsourcing, and creating additional
value by providing knowledge
services related to in vitro diagnostics.
Clinical laboratory services are also
increasingly defined by their value
provided for patient outcomes.
Already, there is evidence that
ongoing technological developments
have considerably improved the
productivity of clinical laboratories.
The next thirty years comprise a
perfect storm scenario for laboratory
medicine in terms of meeting
professional staffing needs to meet
these challenges:
• Millions more people will be
insured and able to access the
healthcare system far more
comprehensively than ever before,
including laboratory services
• Millions of baby boomers adding
to the post-65 year old
demographic, requiring more
frequent and intensive healthcare,
including laboratory services
• Significant numbers of boomer
clinical laboratory professionals
are part of this retirement tidal
wave, contributing to the
shortage of available staff
• The continued rapid
development of advanced
technology such as molecular
genetics. requiring ever more
sophisticated instruments and
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