What’s Happening to Ensure Lab Test Accuracy for Diverse Populations?
More Programs and Publications Featuring Dr. Dana Powell Baker
In this program:
What work is being carried out to help ensure lab test accuracy for diverse populations? Laboratory medicine scientist Dr. Dana Powell Baker discusses lab testing standardization efforts, healthcare roles involved, and the phases of laboratory testing.
Transcript
Deandre White:
So, Dr. Baker, what efforts are being made from an educational standpoint to standardize and harmonize laboratory testing methodology to ensure consistency and accuracy across diverse populations for the future?
Dr. Dana Powell Baker:
I feel like a lot of things are happening from an educational standpoint. If we just look at higher education and look at all the amazing advancements that we have there with healthcare simulation, interprofessional education, and so we're really increasing the awareness of these other professions, gaining clarity of the different roles that we have, even within the laboratory team, and so the lab isn't just comprised of medical laboratory scientist, but how do we all come together as pathologists, as DCLS, as phlebotomists, as histotechs, and so on and so forth. Because there's a lot that happens if you look across all three phases of testing, whether it's pre-analytical, analytical, post-analytical. And so, when we look at standardization and harmonization, it's really crucial just to have that fundamental understanding of our roles, having clarity in that, having understanding of the testing methodologies that are not being used in our facility, but what are the testing methodology being employed by our regional facilities and even beyond that, and that's where even education beyond the classroom, in our national meetings and national conferences, where we're able to network and hear presentations that also connect with others from other regions or within our region, about the testing methodologies that they're using.
Of course, when I hear harmonization and standardization, I can't help but think about proficiency testing, and that's another critical or crucial area or component of the work that we do within pathology and laboratory medicine. And so, I think that speaks to or helps to contribute to that consistency and accuracy that we see across the diverse populations that we serve. But also, by having that ongoing conversation and discussion of what we're doing, what we've employed in our practice, what has been determined to be evidence-based practice, and also best practices moving forward. And so, it's really exciting just to see all the advocacy work that's happening as well as we're looking quite heavily into workforce and what our workforce is doing and sharing and producing those reports, so that everyone has an opportunity to also review that information and kind of collect from that or gather from that what they can employ in their current practice in their institution, whether it is in that academic setting or within the training and development of a laboratory team in a clinical facility.
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