Dave Doherty, senior technical consultant for APHL in Haiti, manages a four-person field team that is presently assessing the post-earthquake status of public laboratories for Dr. Jacques Boncy, Director of Laboratoire National de Santé Publique (LNSP), and in support of PEPFAR activities under the direction of Dr. Steve Harris, CDC/GAP Haiti Chief of Party.
Although many of the facilities are severely damaged, many laboratory technicians and supervisors are at the hospital sites and doing what they can under these difficult circumstances. The response of the Haitian laboratory staff is commendable and an illustration of the heroic response of the people of Haiti who have lost family and homes.
The AIDS Relief organization in Haiti identified five Vitros chemistry analyzers and the PEPFAR Supply Chain Management System will provide reagents, so these needed instruments can be used at emergency trauma centers. Doherty’s team will transport the equipment and reagents, and coordinate staff needs and training for technicians. Dr. Boncy has directed APHL to put the instruments into operation at the major hospitals in the Southwest and South where most of the trauma patients are received.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Laboratory Workforce News: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
By Nancy Maddox, MPH
The Good
U.S. News & World Report recently named “lab technician” one of America’s best careers for 2010.
Lab technician was one of 11 healthcare careers recommended for “traumatized job seekers and anxious students.” The magazine notes that “job growth is expected to be faster than average, with the number of clinical lab workers rising about 16 percent” and additional openings available to replace retiring workers.
The Bad
ASCP reports in its January 1 ePolicy News update that the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is mulling the closure of its 20-year-old clinical science program—despite the program’s status as the only of its kind in the state, and despite graduates 100% success rate securing positions within three months. ASCP indicated that it planned to approach program administrators to “shed light on the laboratory workforce shortage.”
The Ugly
Unfortunately, the U.S. News & World Report article mentions lab technician opportunities in private diagnostic laboratories and physicians’ offices and fails to mention opportunities in public health.
Ditto for the entry on clinical laboratory technologists and technicians in the current edition of the Occupational Outlook Handbook put out by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Good
U.S. News & World Report recently named “lab technician” one of America’s best careers for 2010.
Lab technician was one of 11 healthcare careers recommended for “traumatized job seekers and anxious students.” The magazine notes that “job growth is expected to be faster than average, with the number of clinical lab workers rising about 16 percent” and additional openings available to replace retiring workers.
The Bad
ASCP reports in its January 1 ePolicy News update that the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is mulling the closure of its 20-year-old clinical science program—despite the program’s status as the only of its kind in the state, and despite graduates 100% success rate securing positions within three months. ASCP indicated that it planned to approach program administrators to “shed light on the laboratory workforce shortage.”
The Ugly
Unfortunately, the U.S. News & World Report article mentions lab technician opportunities in private diagnostic laboratories and physicians’ offices and fails to mention opportunities in public health.
Ditto for the entry on clinical laboratory technologists and technicians in the current edition of the Occupational Outlook Handbook put out by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Scoop: Michael Taylor, FDA’s First Deputy Commissioner For Foods
By Nancy Maddox, MPH
The new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) post, deputy commissioner for foods (DCF), was created to help fulfill President Obama’s pledge to strengthen food safety in the wake of a number of multi-state outbreaks that have made Americans wary of the food-industrial complex.
According to an FDA press release, the deputy commissioner will:
• Help the agency plan and implement a “prevention-based strategy for food safety.”
• Implement new food safety legislation being crafted in Congress that will almost certainly expand FDA oversight authority.
• Ensure accurate nutritional information on food labels.
The first person to hold this post, Michael Taylor, has received mixed reviews from the blogosphere owing his industrial ties. Taylor has been in and out of government service, mixing work at the FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with a “public policy” (a.k.a. lobbying) position at Monsanto, a position at a law firm representing Monsanto, a stint at a think tank (Resources for the Future) and a research and teaching position at the George Washington University (GWU) School of Public Health and Health Services.
The Washington Post reports that Taylor was responsible for unpopular federal safety regulations impacting producers of seafood, juices, meat and poultry. But during his FDA tenure, the agency approved Monsanto’s bovine growth hormone, declared that milk producers have no requirement to disclose BGH use, and issued a policy stating that genetically-engineered plant varieties (such as those produced by Monsanto) require no special agency oversight.
Most recently, as a senior FDA advisor, Taylor tried to ban the sale of warm-water oysters harvested between April and October, unless treated to kill Vibrio vulnificus. Faced with opposition from Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and others, the agency has agreed to postpone a ban and study the issue further.
Noted nutritionist Marion Nestle, a professor at New York University, considers Taylor a good choice. She points out that as head of the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, he required science-based hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) systems in every meat and poultry plant—a move that took “real courage.”
Nestle also applauds “Stronger Partnerships for Safer Food: An Agenda for Strengthening State and Local Roles in the Nation’s Food Safety System,” a report Taylor co-authored while at GWU in collaboration with the Association of Food and Drug Officials, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
The report endorses many APHL food safety priorities, including implementation of guidelines produced by the Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR), of which APHL is a member.
Among other things, the report calls for more uniform laboratory methods for food safety testing, increased funding for FoodNet, greater multi-disciplinary collaboration in food safety investigations and greater federal investment—specifically in the form of a food safety block grant and federal matching grant program—to build the capacity of state and local food safety programs and “foster improvement and innovation beyond base capacity building.”
APHL wishes the new commissioner the best of luck and looks forward to working with him to advance many of these goals.
The new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) post, deputy commissioner for foods (DCF), was created to help fulfill President Obama’s pledge to strengthen food safety in the wake of a number of multi-state outbreaks that have made Americans wary of the food-industrial complex.
According to an FDA press release, the deputy commissioner will:
• Help the agency plan and implement a “prevention-based strategy for food safety.”
• Implement new food safety legislation being crafted in Congress that will almost certainly expand FDA oversight authority.
• Ensure accurate nutritional information on food labels.
The first person to hold this post, Michael Taylor, has received mixed reviews from the blogosphere owing his industrial ties. Taylor has been in and out of government service, mixing work at the FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with a “public policy” (a.k.a. lobbying) position at Monsanto, a position at a law firm representing Monsanto, a stint at a think tank (Resources for the Future) and a research and teaching position at the George Washington University (GWU) School of Public Health and Health Services.
The Washington Post reports that Taylor was responsible for unpopular federal safety regulations impacting producers of seafood, juices, meat and poultry. But during his FDA tenure, the agency approved Monsanto’s bovine growth hormone, declared that milk producers have no requirement to disclose BGH use, and issued a policy stating that genetically-engineered plant varieties (such as those produced by Monsanto) require no special agency oversight.
Most recently, as a senior FDA advisor, Taylor tried to ban the sale of warm-water oysters harvested between April and October, unless treated to kill Vibrio vulnificus. Faced with opposition from Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and others, the agency has agreed to postpone a ban and study the issue further.
Noted nutritionist Marion Nestle, a professor at New York University, considers Taylor a good choice. She points out that as head of the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, he required science-based hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) systems in every meat and poultry plant—a move that took “real courage.”
Nestle also applauds “Stronger Partnerships for Safer Food: An Agenda for Strengthening State and Local Roles in the Nation’s Food Safety System,” a report Taylor co-authored while at GWU in collaboration with the Association of Food and Drug Officials, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
The report endorses many APHL food safety priorities, including implementation of guidelines produced by the Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR), of which APHL is a member.
Among other things, the report calls for more uniform laboratory methods for food safety testing, increased funding for FoodNet, greater multi-disciplinary collaboration in food safety investigations and greater federal investment—specifically in the form of a food safety block grant and federal matching grant program—to build the capacity of state and local food safety programs and “foster improvement and innovation beyond base capacity building.”
APHL wishes the new commissioner the best of luck and looks forward to working with him to advance many of these goals.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Clinical Learning in a Virtual World
by Dorelle Engel, product line specialist, On-Demand Products
Take it with you! APHL’s Department of Continuing Education and Training has released an outstanding new online course in CD format entitled Red Blood Cell Morphology. The course can be used as a review for hematology technicians, clinical lab scientists, technologists and pathologists. To those new to the field, this course is an invaluable training tool in identification of normal and abnormal red blood cell morphology. In addition to course content, scenarios were developed to provide real-life simulations in a hematology lab setting. These 10 different scenarios include both case studies and bench work situations. Patient history and lab results are presented and the viewer can examine virtual blood smears for each activity. Several practice questions are provided for each scenario, challenging the learner’s comprehension. APHL CD format allows for training at the convenience of the laboratorian. This basic course offers 2 contact hours through the ASCLS P.A.C.E.® Continuing Education Program.
In addition to our On-Demand line up of programs, APHL strives to provide and encourage high quality Continuing Education and Training Programs using a variety of different presentation formats, including seminars, hands-on laboratory workshops, teleconferences and webconferences. Check out the link to APHL’s Featured Training and all our program offerings!
Take it with you! APHL’s Department of Continuing Education and Training has released an outstanding new online course in CD format entitled Red Blood Cell Morphology. The course can be used as a review for hematology technicians, clinical lab scientists, technologists and pathologists. To those new to the field, this course is an invaluable training tool in identification of normal and abnormal red blood cell morphology. In addition to course content, scenarios were developed to provide real-life simulations in a hematology lab setting. These 10 different scenarios include both case studies and bench work situations. Patient history and lab results are presented and the viewer can examine virtual blood smears for each activity. Several practice questions are provided for each scenario, challenging the learner’s comprehension. APHL CD format allows for training at the convenience of the laboratorian. This basic course offers 2 contact hours through the ASCLS P.A.C.E.® Continuing Education Program.
In addition to our On-Demand line up of programs, APHL strives to provide and encourage high quality Continuing Education and Training Programs using a variety of different presentation formats, including seminars, hands-on laboratory workshops, teleconferences and webconferences. Check out the link to APHL’s Featured Training and all our program offerings!
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