Journal:Project management in laboratory medicine
| Full article title | Project management in laboratory medicine |
|---|---|
| Journal | Journal of Medical Biochemistry |
| Author(s) | Lippi, Guiseppe; Mattiuzi, Camilla |
| Author affiliation(s) | University of Verona, Provincial Agency for Social and Sanitary Services (Trento, Italy) |
| Primary contact | Email: giuseppe dot lippi at univr dot it |
| Year published | 2019 |
| Volume and issue | 38(4) |
| Page(s) | 401–6 |
| DOI | 10.2478/jomb-2019-0021 |
| ISSN | 1452-8266 |
| Distribution license | Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International |
| Website | https://content.sciendo.com/contentpage/ |
| Download | https://content.sciendo.com/downloadpdf/journals/jomb/38/4/article-p401.xml (PDF) |
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Abstract
The role and responsibilities of laboratory managers have considerably evolved during the past decades. This revolution has been mostly driven by biological, technical, economic, and social factors, such as a deepened understanding of the pathophysiology of human diseases, technical innovations, renewed focus on patient safety, cost-containment strategies and patient empowerment. One of the leading consequences is an ongoing process of reorganization, consolidation, and automation of laboratory services, whose propitious realization strongly relies on establishing an efficient project management plan. In a practical perspective, the leading drivers of project management in laboratory medicine encompass various activities supporting a clear definition of the local environment, an accurate planning of technical resources, the acknowledgement of staff availability and qualification, along with the establishment of a positive and constructive interplay with hospital administrators. Therefore, the aim of this article is to provide a personal overview on the main drivers and outcomes of project management in laboratory medicine, which will expectedly contribute to construct a new consciousness and an innovative and multifaceted job description of laboratory professionals worldwide.
Keywords: laboratory medicine, diagnostic testing, project management, automation
Introduction
Laboratory medicine is conventionally defined as a science committed to generate clinical information through analysis of concentration, composition, and/or structure of different analytes in different biological fluids.[1] To be thoughtfully capable of providing a valued contribution to clinical decision making, laboratory medicine services shall hence be developed and organized for maximizing productive efficiency and optimizing clinical efficacy. Unlike many years ago, when healthcare services were not so strongly plagued by shortage of funding and could benefit from ample economic resources, the current scenario is now overwhelmed by an unprecedented worldwide economic crisis[2], which has also obligated laboratory managers to increase volume and complexity of testing, contextually preserving quality and cutting down costs. This altered scenario has inevitably forced laboratory managers and laboratory professionals to become familiar with many different tools borrowed from other professions, such as leadership skills[3], budgeting activities[4] and, last but not least, project management.
References
- ↑ Lippi, G. (2019). "The Irreplaceable Value of Laboratory Diagnostics: Four Recent Tests that have Revolutionized Clinical Practice". EJIFCC 30 (1): 7–13. PMC PMC6416815. PMID 30881270. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6416815.
- ↑ Lippi, G. (2018). "Weighting healthcare efficiency against available resources: value is the goal". Diagnosis 5 (2): 39–40. doi:10.1515/dx-2018-0031. PMID 29858902.
- ↑ Majkić-Singh, N. (2017). "Laboratory Medicine Management: Leadership Skills for Effective Laboratory". Journal of Medical Biochemistry 36 (3): 207–10. doi:10.1515/jomb-2017-0034. PMC PMC6287220. PMID 30564056. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6287220.
- ↑ Price, C.P.; Wolstenholme, J.; McGinley, P. et al. (2018). "Translational health economics: The key to accountable adoption of in vitro diagnostic technologies". Health Services Management Research 31 (1): 43–50. doi:10.1177/0951484817736727. PMID 29084478.
Notes
This presentation is faithful to the original, with only a few minor changes to presentation, spelling, and grammar. We also added PMCID and DOI when they were missing from the original reference. Otherwise, in accordance with the NoDerivatives portion of the original license, nothing else has been changed.
