Baptist honors lab teams during Laboratory Professionals Week

     During National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week, April 22 -26,  Baptist recognized its laboratory professionals and celebrated their dedication as a crucial member of the health care team, collaborating to improve patient care and outcomes.

    Medical laboratory professionals deliver accurate test results each day and serve as part of the health care team to guide and assess patients’ ongoing treatment and care.

     “I salute our outstanding laboratory professionals and all laboratory teams across our system working together to provide accurate results for patients. They are the cornerstone of diagnosis and an integral part of the larger patient care team, directly contributing to preserving and enhancing patients’ lives,” said Thomas Chesney,M.D., Laboratory medical director at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis.

     Lab Week’s 2013 theme, “Laboratory Professionals Get Results,” recognized the proactive, collaborative role laboratory professionals play in advancing patient care.

    “This year has already proven to be an exciting year for our laboratories across the Baptist system,” said Daryl Blalack, system administrator for Laboratory Services. “We are currently in the process of three major technology rollouts across our system, including new blood glucose meters, new hematology analyzers, and new molecular microbiology analyzers. We also established the thromboelastograph technology from Haemonetics at Baptist Memphis.

     William Poston, M.D., laboratory medical director for Baptist Memorial  Hospital-North Mississippi, concludes, “By using state-of-the-art technology and instrumentation, our laboratory professionals perform and supervise tests that lead to the detection of potential health problems; the sooner a disease is caught, the likelihood increases for a positive outcome.”