The provision of quality results in a timely manner makes the lab a trusted partner to clinicians. By proactively communicating with clinicians and other stakeholders, however, labs can establish themselves as a critical partner in the broader hospital environment. 

Partners through clinician outreach and education

Lab leaders should start by looking for opportunities to improve the visibility of the lab. They should reach out to clinicians and other stakeholders to share information about their capabilities, including new services that are being offered or existing services that may be under-utilised or overlooked.

When Hospital Pulau Pinang in Malaysia first offered chemical pathology services, for example, their lab needed to offer formal education to clinical colleagues and hospital administration to explain their areas of expertise, capabilities and services.

“Some of our clinicians may not know what we do,” says Mohd Jamsani bin Mat Salleh, Hospital Pulau Pinang’s Head of Chemical Pathology. “That is why we always offer education to let them know that we are available to consult with them at any time for advice or interpretation of test results, or to provide any information they require.”

Partners through proactive and clear communication

Beyond clinician outreach and education, lab professionals must also increase the rate of interaction with clinicians. “We are becoming more proactive than reactive,” notes Dr Jasmani. “If we know that part of the results requires certain attention, we give the clinician a call, or we go to their ward…instead of waiting for them to ask.”

Since some lab professionals may not be accustomed to proactive communication with their colleagues, lab directors may want to consider offering them formal communication training to build their soft skills. This includes both verbal and written communication, suggests Dr Philip Chen, Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Sonic Healthcare in the United States.

After noticing that clinicians often asked the same questions repeatedly about their patients, for example, Dr Chen reformatted his lab reports to make them more reader-friendly, highlighting significant clinical findings provide next steps based on clinical guidelines. This allowed his staff to focus less on mundane queries and more on the complex diagnostic issues that leverage their true expertise.

Partners through data and insights

Labs should also start talking more about the data they collect and all the various ways it can be used, including for risk stratification and population health management. This might have resonance for both clinical and non-clinical partners, including hospital management.

At Sonic Healthcare, for example, Dr Chen cross-referenced lab data with insurance claims to determine which elements of patient care are costing his hospital the most money and identify people at risk of disease before it happens (see How to use laboratory data to improve patient care and reduce healthcare costs for a detailed case study).

“As laboratories, we really need to start thinking about what we can bring to the table,” says Dr Chen. “The laboratory is the only place where we can see the entire [patient] population, and there is a lot of value in that.”