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SUMMIT II
PROFESSION IN TRANSITION It goes without saying that our field is in transition, perhaps from one technology base and one paradigm of operation to another. Nonetheless, young persons who are considering careers in our field are likely to be marginally aware of this but feel some sense of unease as they begin to spend a day in a lab or in other ways interact with current professionals and practitioners in the field. We need to be aware of this and have some way of dealing with it as the concerns arise. • In order to facilitate our own transition and indeed to broaden the depth of practice of existing professionals and send a signal to persons considering a career in our field, perhaps clinical laboratory professionals need to get out of the lab more, participate in medical rounds with physicians, PharmD’s, nurses and others. In this way we would become an enriched partner regarding test results, their meaning and their utility in further testing, diagnosis management and other arenas that are now quite possible with the array of procedures that a typical clinical laboratory possesses. • We should help define a scope of practice and articulate it clearly. This would include some statement by all of us that would be restated many times both in our publicity efforts and in legal efforts wherever they may take place that involve a description of a career path, definitions of various levels of practice, a clearer understanding of what practice at various levels (A.S., B.S., M.S., etc.) and other factors of how we operate, how we could operate and how all of us would advantage the case of the patient needing high quality medical information. • Change could be an advantage - how could we take advantage of it ? Perhaps a bit of the wrenching aspects of our field today - the many changes - are more of a problem for mature scientists and more of an attractant for young people considering a career. • Much is made of so called "Gen X’ers" and their different view toward altruism, work ethic and loyalty. To the extent that some of this is true, some of it doesn’t apply to all young people. we should try to find them. • Our scope of practice being well defined and quite purposeful may well be an attractant to a young person. We should find out to what extent this is true. • Clinical laboratory professionals are generally quite computer fluent and that should speak well to their ability to ‘make it in the scientific world’ no matter how it changes. Summit II, January,
2001 | Data
Collection | Marketing | Recruitment
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