Effectiveness of Preanalytic Practices on Contamination and Diagnostic Accuracy of Urine Cultures: a Laboratory Medicine Best Practices Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) in the United States is the most common bacterial infection, and urine cultures often make up the largest portion of workload for a hospital-based microbiology laboratory. Appropriately managing the factors affecting the preanalytic phase of urine culture contributes significantly to the generation of meaningful culture results that ultimately affect patient diagnosis and management. Urine culture contamination can be reduced with proper techniques for urine collection, preservation, storage, and transport, the major factors affecting the preanalytic phase of urine culture.

Autonomy and Privacy in Clinical Laboratory Science Policy and Practice.

Rapid advancements in diagnostic technologies coupled with growth in testing options and choices mandate the development of evidence-based testing algorithms linked to the care paths of the major chronic diseases and health challenges encountered most frequently. As care paths are evaluated, patient/consumers become partners in healthcare delivery. Clinical laboratory scientists find themselves firmly embedded in both quality improvement and clinical research with an urgent need to translate clinical laboratory information into knowledge required by practitioners and patient/consumers alike.

From Technical Assistants to Critical Thinkers: From World War II to 2014.

A review of professional literature was conducted to examine the history of the education of medical laboratory practitioners. This comprehensive review included historical educational milestones from World War II to present day. During this time period the standard of two years of college required for matriculation into a medical technology program increased to four years.

From Technical Assistants to Critical Thinkers: The Journey to World War II.

A review of professional literature was conducted to examine the history of the education of medical laboratory practitioners. This comprehensive review included historical educational milestones from the birth of medical technology to the advent of World War II. During this time period standards were developed by clinical pathologists for laboratory personnel and training programs.

Effectiveness of practices for improving the diagnostic accuracy of Non ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction in the Emergency Department: A Laboratory Medicine Best Practices™ systematic review.

Objectives: This article is a systematic review of the effectiveness of four practices (assay selection, decision point cardiac troponin (cTn) threshold selection, serial testing, and point of care testing) for improving the diagnostic accuracy Non-ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (NSTEMI) in the Emergency Department.

Design And Methods: The CDC-funded Laboratory Medicine Best Practices (LMBP) Initiative systematic review method for quality improvement practices was used.

Results: The current ACC/AHA guidelines recommend using cardiac troponin assays with a 99th percentile upper reference limit (URL) diagnostic threshold to diagnose NSTEMI.

Evidence based practice and advanced competencies in a MHS-CLS program.

The goals, curriculum, implementation, and immediate impacts of an entry-level Master of Health Science in Clinical Laboratory Science (MHS-CLS) degree are described as compared to the baccalaureate program (BS-CLS) in the same institution. The MHS-CLS program was instituted in fall semester, 2008; the inaugural class graduated in spring semester 2010. To document the need for the MHS-CLS, program statistics, such as the number of students entering the current BS-CLS program with previous baccalaureate degrees, numbers of students graduating with biology and chemistry degrees in the United States, CLS workforce shortages and pending retirement statistics were used.

Grounded theory in medical laboratory science expert practice development.

Grounded theory and methods related to expert practice development in medical laboratory science were described using data from a large national survey of medical laboratory scientists (MLS) overlaid on findings from analysis of expert practice domains reported in nursing literature. An extensive focus group/expert review iterative process followed by a survey of MLS practitioners produced 25 critical thinking (CT) behaviors important in expert practice. Factor analysis was applied to discern common threads or themes linking the CT behaviors.

Capturing professionalism in pre-service education: professionalism tool development and implementation.

Recognizing that all health professions educational programs seek to graduate students possessing characteristics embodying the nebulous concept of professionalism, educators in four imaging and radiation science programs and a clinical laboratory science program collaborated to create a measurement tool for professionalism in pre-service education. The Student Professional Behavior Evaluation Tool and the process for its development and implementation are described.

A typology of evidence based practice research heuristics for clinical laboratory science curricula.

A typology of EBP research heuristics was defined relative to clinical laboratory science levels of practice. Research skills requisite for CLS baccalaureate level are associated mainly with quality control of analytic processes. Research skills at master's level are associated with pre- and post-analytic investigations, as well.

A quality improvement cycle: hemolyzed specimens in the emergency department.

Objective: To determine the cause of and possible solution for an excessive number of hemolyzed specimens received from the emergency department (ED) of a large medical center.

Design: The clinical laboratory staff collected data on hemolyzed specimens for all departments of the medical center. The clinical laboratory management team and ED management team intervened with training and surveillance of the ED staff to heighten the awareness of the problem.

The doctorate in clinical laboratory science: an executive summary.

This article describes, in informational bullets, the concept of the doctorate in clinical laboratory science. The intent of the article is to support the marketing of these new practitioners and to provide the conceptual frame and links to data for proposals required to implement educational programs for them.

Evaluating distance learning in health informatics education.

The purpose of this study was to compare academic performance between distance-learning and on-campus health informatics students. A quantitative causal-comparative research design was utilized, and academic performance was measured by final GPA scores and Registered Health Information Administrator certification exam scores. Differences in previous academic performance between the two groups were also determined by comparing overall admission GPA and math/science admission GPA.

Evaluating distance learning in clinical laboratory science.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine if there were any significant differences in academic performance between distance students and on-campus students in clinical laboratory science.

Design: A quantitative causal comparative research design was used.

Setting: The research study was conducted at an academic health sciences university in the eastern United States.