Laboratory Management - Introduction PDF

# Introduction Laboratory Management Medical Laboratory Services (Laboratory results) are essential to all aspects of health care, and they should be: - accurate - reliable - and timely If inaccurate results are provided, the consequences can be very significant, including: - Unnecessary treatment...

# Introduction Laboratory Management Medical Laboratory Services (Laboratory results) are essential to all aspects of health care, and they should be: - accurate - reliable - and timely If inaccurate results are provided, the consequences can be very significant, including: - Unnecessary treatment - Treatment complications - Failure to provide the proper treatment - Delay incorrect diagnosis - Additional and unnecessary diagnostic testing # Introduction - The efficient operation of a clinical laboratory and the effective delivery of medical laboratory services to clinicians and their patients require a complex interdigitating of expertise in medical, scientific and technical areas. - Although the medical, scientific, and technical expertise are essential pre-requisites for the provision of medical laboratory service, success in applying these techniques to benefit patient care is vitally dependent on: - the management and communication skills of laboratory directors, supervisors, and technologists # Laboratory Management - The laboratory management task is to integrate and coordinate organizational resources to provide quality laboratory services as effectively and efficiently as possible. Organizational resources include: personnel, equipment, money, time, and space # Management Art or Science - Management is indeed a science. - There are precise elements, scientific and exact aspects that have to be learned and assimilated. - Any manager must have: - A good knowledge of certain quantitative methods and analysis of financial and statistical data. # Definitions Management The definition contains four basic elements: - Toward objectives: Goals and purposes consistent with efficient delivery of laboratory services for quality healthcare. - Through people: Guiding "leading and directing" in such a manner that these professional laboratory technicians feel a sense of responsibilities and attainment "achievement". - Using techniques: Physical resources such as laboratory equipment, computers, space and so forth. - In an organization: Into dynamic organizational units implying division of labor, specialization, protocols and procedures, and functional processing units - It must be pointed out that management is an activity, it is not letting each day take care of itself, and rather it is making things happen. - Too often laboratory managers fall into the trap of "fighting fires" on a daily basis. - For management to be effective, and to ensure efficient operation of the laboratory: - it must be in control, - planning ahead the steps # Managerial Duties and Responsibilities - A director directs the affairs of an organization by establishing goals and priorities that determine the direction the organization will take. - The director might not directly supervise in a technical sense, since his role is primarily one of broad policy-making. - An administrator administers or runs an organization within the framework of the various directives and policies given to them. - He is not the person who establishes the larger goals, but a technician who knows how to make the organization move efficiently, to achieve its purpose. - A manager takes charge of the management or oversees the functioning of an activity to achieve a set goal or purpose. - His strength is in his ability to use all of these resources to get things done properly. - A supervisor oversees the activities of others to help them accomplish specific tasks or to perform scheduled activities efficiently. # Distinction of Three Levels in The Management Team of The Laboratory - Laboratory directors and administrators: Retain ultimate responsibility in achieving goals e.g. changes in technology, capital investments, and services rendered are finalized by this level of laboratory management. - Laboratory managers or chief technologist: They create and maintain an environment for laboratory professionals to function efficiently. They plan, organize, direct, and control jobs. - Laboratory supervisors: They focus on people and operational delivery of laboratory services. - **The bench-level supervisor duties:** - Exercise a large number of technical skills in the performance of laboratory testing. - **Examples:** - instrument repair - troubleshooting - new procedure selection - development