AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR CLINICAL LABORATORY SCIENCE
Report to: ASCLS House of Delegates
Report of: Scientific Assembly
Submitted for: 2016 Annual Meeting
Prepared by: Ashlee Ketchum, Coordinator
Date: 06/29/2016
Summary of Charges and Initiatives for SA Coordinator
1) As more patients access their test results, facilitate ways to empower our members to provide clinical laboratory science expertise to the public, in addition to the Consumer Information web team.
2) Monitor activities of SA sections discussion group/member community. Identify those sections that may require help in strengthening activities and assist them with developing a plan for communicating with and engaging members.
3) Solicit a nominee for the Professional Achievement Award from EACH Scientific Assembly by working with the chairs of each SA and other individuals such as constituent society presidents. Review barriers to the lack of nominees.
4) Work with the Director of Membership to develop a method to welcome each ASCLS member as soon as they sign up for a specific SA section
5) Ensure that each SA welcomes new ASCLS members to the section.
6) Review the SA Chair Manual with each SA chair.
SA Coordinator and Co-Coordinator Activities
1) Hosted an SA Chair planning meeting in Atlanta where the following were discussed.
a) Develop a communication plan and communicate with SA members on a regular schedule using the ASCLS member community.
b) Develop and implement a process for sending a welcome email to each new SA member and to each Annual Meeting first time attendee.
c) Identify authors for scientific and technical articles on recent developments in each laboratory discipline to be published in ASCLS Today (at least 3) and ASCLS Clinical Lab Journal (at least 2).
d) Identify methods to increase membership and activity in each Scientific Assembly.
· Discussion on cost of membership
e) Identify significant scientific developments and make recommendations on strategies to respond through educational programs (Abstract and Program Proposal Review Committee – APRC) and product development (Product Development Committee).
f) Work with the APRC to solicit proposals for the Annual Meeting and identify presenters for sessions at the ASCLS Annual Meeting.
g) Provide expert consultation for the Patient Safety Committee and CDC Laboratory Medicine Best Practices initiative, Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, Consumer Information Web Team, Government Affairs, and other Committees/Forums/Organizations that may need technical consultation.
2) Ashlee Ketchum and Beth Warning visited many SA face to face meetings during the Annual Meeting. Each group as listed in the Annual Meeting program met during this time.
3) Solicited SA Chairs to identify members to author articles in ASCLS Today. SA chairs forwarded to Cheryl Caskey.
4) Submitted SA Chair and Co-chair roster to ASCLS.
5) Identified Chairs for all SA assemblies, working on finding vice-chairs for POC and Phlebotomy.
6) Posted in member community for each SA soliciting ideas and presenters for the 2016 Annual Meeting.
7) Contacted SA Chairs for summary of activities to add to the Fall Report to the Board of Directors.
8) Sent copy of updated Scientific Assemblies Handbook to chair and vice-chairs.
9) Worked with Stephanie Mihane and Karrie Hovis November and December on finalizing the nomination form for the professional achievement award.
10) Sent reminders to SA chairs to solicit nominations for the BioRad Professional Achievement Award due in February. Received five nominations with two of them from one assembly awaiting final decision from that assembly.
11) Sent e-mail to all SA chairs and vice-chair soliciting ideas for the APHL Fall webinar series.
12) Worked with Karrie Hovis regarding the Clinical Laboratory Investigations: Case Studies Editor in Chief position description.
13) Reviewed nominations for the BioRad Professional Achievement Award. There were five applicants with one being awarded to Hematology/Hemostasis, Lab Admin, Microbiology, and Chemistry/Urinalysis.
14) Created a subcommittee to review candidates for the Editor in Chief of Case Studies. There were many applicants. The subcommittee comprised of Ashlee Ketchum, Beth Warning, Kristin Croom and Linda Laatsch. The position was awarded to Teresa Nadder.
15) Updated SA manual to include the Editor in Chief of Case Studies position description. Other updates were included for Education Assembly.
16) Sent e-mail to SA Chair for reports for the last year.
Specific SA Chair Activities to Date
Molecular Scientific Assembly – Kristin Croom
1) Held face to face meeting in Atlanta at the ASCLS Annual Meeting
2) The Vice-Chair and I worked with the annual meeting committee to rate the Molecular ideas submitted.
3) The Molecular SA submitted at least 6 ideas for the annual meeting.
4) Wendy Lumm wrote an article for the ASCLS Today for the Molecular SA in March 2016 about pharmacogenetics testing.
5) Posted a request from Abbott about product testing a new instrument for molecular microbiology testing.
6) Wendy Lumm and Dr. Barbara Kraj reviewed entry level curriculum and gave input to Kyle Redding.
7) Wendy Lumm and Kristin Croom volunteered to be judges at the poster presentations at the annual meeting.
Immunology/Immunohematology – Sharon Ziemba
1) Attended SA chair meeting at 2015 Annual Meeting at the Omni Hotel/CNN Center Atlanta, GA.
2) Held yearly meeting for the Immunology/Immuohematology SA members and took minutes at the 2015 Annual Meeting.
3) Topics submitted to Annual Meeting Steering Committee: Horror stories from transfusion medicine, Where is immunology testing performed in your lab? History of immunology testing, HLA disease association, Military/Air force blood usage session, Artificial blood products, Healthcare reform impacts on transfusion services, Soft tissue in autoimmune, HLA and blood bank, Veterinary medicine blood banking, CHOP (Children’s hospital of Pennsylvania) pediatric transfusions, Appropriate lab utilization EPO, BB Billing, Hemophilia and joint bleeding, Transfusion related gut injury.
4) Ranked and commented on 2016 session proposals for the Annual Meeting Steering Committee.
5) Recruited for Bio-Rad Professional Achievement Award recipient nominees.
Microbiology/Public Health – Linda Britton
1) Held face to face meeting in Atlanta at the ASCLS Annual Meeting
2) Welcomed each new Microbiology SA member.
3) Send an immediate response to those new individuals welcoming them to our SA with an explanation of my role as Chair.
4) Gave the new members a basic explanation regarding the Member Community as a whole and about the resources, discussion, and announcement areas.
5) Marcia Firmani, PhD, MSPH, MT(ASCP) from George Washington University was elected by ballot as Vice Chairman from a slate of three nominees.
6) Members suggested 10 topics to Frank Scarano for the 2016 Annual Meeting
7) Submitted a proposal for a microbiology update session for the 2016 Annual Meeting with the speaker and topic to be decided closer to the meeting date.
8) Web site Forum moderators (Lynda Britton & Marcia Firmani) regularly reviewed ASCLS website and the American Society for Microbiology for microbiology and public health SA links
9) Posted several updates to the Member community
10) Jim Griffith agreed to author the March 2016 ASCLS Today article due February 1 on antimicrobial stewardship.
11) Minutes written by Marcia Firmani were distributed by way of the member community
12) One nominee submitted for the BioRad Professional Achievement award from the Microbiology/Public Health Scientific Assembly.
13) Members suggested the following topics at the Clinical Laboratory Educators Scientific Assembly breakfast for the APHL Fall teleconferences and the 2017 Annual Meeting:
a. Emerging Viral Pathogens
b. Zika Virus
c. MERS
d. Infection control
e. Bioterrorism
f. Vaccination preventable viral outbreaks
g. Update of HPV vaccine efficacy
14) Requested through the Microbiology/Public Health member community for poster judges.
Informatics – Andrea Pitkus
1) Held face to face meeting in Atlanta at the ASCLS Annual Meeting
2) Elected new Chair and Vice-chair for the group
3) Member community active regarding US REALM HL7 Implementation guides which emerged in February, as well as mention of the April kick off call for pilots for those wishing to implement.
Chemistry/Urinalysis – Shawna Martin and Maja Chloupkova
1) Held face to face meeting in Atlanta at the ASCLS Annual Meeting
2) Proposals for ASCLS 2016:19 proposals were submitted by committee members.
3) One proposal accepted by the ASCLS 2016 Program Steering Committee to present in Philadeplhia – Masih Shokrani on Lipoproteins.
4) Ranking Proposals for ASCLS 2016: Co-Chairs ranked all 200+ proposals for ASCLS 2016 by the deadline – 9/4/15
5) One person nominated for the BioRad Professional Achievement Award.
6) Masih Shokrani, Vice Chair of the SA published article in the summer issue of the Clinical Laboratory Science journal. The topic is New Perspectives on Diabetes mellitus. Submitted a clinical chemistry topic for the annual meeting in Philadelphia which has been accepted.
7) A case study submitted by Shawna Martin, co-chair of the SA to appear in a issue of the ASCLS Digest.
8) Oral presentation will be given at annual meeting in Philadelphia on Novel Approaches in Lipoprotein Testing and the Role of Lp(a)
9) Poster presentation on the Assessment of Relationship between hemoglobin A1c and Highly Sensitive C-Reactive Protein Levels in Pre-Diabetic Individuals will be given at annual meeting in Philadelphia.
Hematology/Hemostasis – Elaine Keohane
1) Held face to face meeting in Atlanta at the ASCLS Annual Meeting
2) Elected new Vice-chair for the group
3) Submitted annual meeting minutes to SA Coordinator
4) Posted a welcome message and Annual Meeting minutes to the Member Community
5) Emailed 3 attendees of the July SA meeting with instructions on joining the Member Community
6) Posted a request to the Member Community for a volunteer for a specific Ebola topic for ASCLS Today, with two authors stepping forward.
7) As requested by AMSC, identified two speakers for a hematology automation session for the 2015 Annual Meeting, and agreed to serve as moderator
8) Sent welcome messages to 17 new members
9) Posted a reminder in the member community to nominate a colleague for the Bio-Rad Professional Achievement award.
10) Attended the SA breakfast at CLEC 2016 to seek ideas for topics and speakers in Hematology/Hemostasis for the Fall 2016 APHL webinar series and the 2017 Annual Meeting
Phlebotomy – Karen Larson
1) Held face to face meeting in Atlanta at the ASCLS Annual Meeting.
2) Karen Larson agreed to take on the Chair position for the SA.
3) Posted a message in the Phlebotomy Community Page introducing Karen as chair and welcoming members to this group.
4) Asked member community for anyone interested in the Vice Chair position or in becoming more active to send me a message or e-mail.
5) Contacted all state representatives to ask if they have constituent society scientific assemblies and provide contact information and start to send this group e-mails and increase activity.
6) Submitted an ASCLS Today newsletter article in the May edition on behalf of the Phlebotomy SA. It is about customer service tips in phlebotomy.
Point of Care – Marj Montanus
1) Held face to face meeting in Atlanta at the ASCLS Annual Meeting.
2) Sent out a message introducing myself as the new POC chair in August
3) Completed the 2016 ASCLS Session Proposal rankings
4) Sent out a survey to gather information for the POC SA Shared Information File
5) Gathered survey information and sent out results to members – only received feedback from 5 POC members
6) Sent out communication in January – posed five questions to the POC SA community – received only one response back
Laboratory Administration/Consulting/Quality Assurance/Accreditation/Industry – Ed Peterson
1) Held face to face meeting in Atlanta at the ASCLS Annual Meeting
2) Solicited for BioRad Professional Achievement Award resulting in two nominees.
Generalist – Connie Laubenthal
1) Held face to face meeting in Atlanta at the ASCLS Annual Meeting
2) Posted questions to member community to encourage discussion.
3) The Generalist SA Chair thanks Barbara Mannor for substituting for her at the Annual Meeting SA Meeting in Atlanta in July.
4) Sent a Welcome Message to 6 new members.
Education- Susan Stalewski
1) Held face to face meeting in Atlanta at the ASCLS Annual Meeting
2) Reviewed and revised educator mailing materials.
3) Networked with CLEC planning committee and others regarding Committee for Education Program Initiatives (CEPI) and Body of Knowledge/Entry Level Curriculum review. Time at CLEC 2016 is to be allocated to this initiative.
4) Appointed CLEC poster and technology review committee (10 members). Reviewed CLEC poster/tech abstracts in October.
5) Conducted telephone conference with CEPI chair Joan Polancic, ESA Vice Chair Darius Wilson, and Karrie Hovis. Planned for revision of professional recruitment materials, appointment of CEPI member to Government Affairs Committee, CEPI involvement in body of knowledge and entry level curriculum review/revision work.
6) Participated in monthly DCLS conference calls.
7) Participated in Product Development Committee meetings regarding Educational APP development
a. $800 reimbursed to Carol Rentas for monthly app hosting (approved at Fen. 2016 ESA meeting)
b. Discussion regarding ASCLS ESA logo and presence on APP splash page initiated with Karrie Hovis. This aspect of the APP project needs to be further developed.
8) Sue Stalewski was recruited to serve on advisory board for Allied Health CAS, Liaison International. MLS programs demonstrate low adoption of centralized application services and Liasion (via Matthew Anderson, Rush University) is interested in learning more about MLS procedures. This will be an agenda item for the ESA meeting in Philadelphia and I will also connect with others in ASCLS who have experience with CAS.
9) Attended ASCLS Legislative Symposium on behalf of the CEPI committee and as a member of the Wisconsin Delegation.
10) Participated in revisions to SA handbook related to ESA and CEPI
CLEC 2016 related:
1) Conducted Education Scientific Assembly meeting at CLEC 2016 (2/27/16)
2) Coordinated evaluation, feedback, revisions and Q&A of 25 education and technology posters for CLEC 2016. Accepted 20 education posters and one tech demonstration, 10 member reviewers
3) Prepared agenda and contacted speakers for CLEC 2016 ESA meeting.
4) Recruited for ASCLS Today authors
5) Recruited for ESA vice chair to be elected at Annual Meeting 2016
Subcommittee related:
Committee for Professional and Educational Initiatives (CEPI)
1) Committee met 10/16/2015, 11/13/2015, 12/21/2015, and 2/9/2016 regarding recruitment materials.
a. Developed survey for educators to provide input on the types of materials that need to be developed.
b. 191 responses were given.
c. A new printed pamphlet was developed and can be purchased as needed through the ASCLS website.
d. A new promotional video was created with the help of the University of Michigan Clinical Pathology Laboratory.
2) CEPI facilitated review of entry level curriculum for review at CLEC (10 member committee). After review at CLEC they were sent to all other educators who were not able to attend CLEC. Revisions were made and the new draft was sent to Scientific Assembly members and ASCLS membership with comments due June 1st.