Great Resignation Hits Retail Pharmacies, Causing Shorter Hours, Closures

May 3, 2023 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Resources

As with clinical laboratories, worker shortage is affecting large retail pharmacy chains and independent pharmacies alike Staffing shortages in clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups caused by the Great Resignation is having a similar impact on retail pharmacy chains. Consequently, pharmacy chains are reducing store hours and even closing sites, according to USA Today. As Dark Daily covered in “Clinical Laboratories Suffer During the ‘Great Resignation,” the US Bureau of Labor...

Study Shows School-Aged Children Can Successfully Swab Themselves for COVID-19 Tests, But Is This Something That Can Help Short-Staffed Medical Laboratories?

Oct 17, 2022 | Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Resources, Laboratory Testing

Encouraging patients—even children—to be more directly involved in their own medical care may reduce the burden on healthcare workers and might even help those clinical laboratories struggling to hire enough phlebotomists to collect specimens Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have concluded a study which found that school-aged children can successfully use a nasal swab to obtain their own SARS-CoV-2 test specimens. This may come as a surprise to hospital and clinical...

Forbes Senior Contributor Covers Reasons for Growing Staff Shortages at Medical Laboratories and Possible Solutions

Jun 27, 2022 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Resources, Laboratory Testing

Factors contributing to shortage of med techs and other lab scientists include limited training programs in clinical laboratory science, pay disparity, and staff retention, notes infectious disease specialist Judy Stone, MD Staff shortages are a growing challenge for medical laboratories, and now the problem has grabbed the attention of a major media outlet. In a story she penned for Forbes, titled, “We’re Facing a Critical Shortage of Medical Laboratory Professionals,” senior contributor and...

Clinical Laboratories Need Creative Staffing Strategies to Keep and Attract Hard-to-Find Medical Technologists, as Demand for COVID-19 Testing Increases

Nov 2, 2020 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations, News From Dark Daily

Critical shortages in medical laboratory workers and supplies are yet to be offset by new applicants and improved supply chains. But there is cause for hope. Medical laboratory scientists (aka, medical technologists) can be hard to find and retain under normal circumstances. During the current coronavirus pandemic, that’s becoming even more challenging. As demand for COVID-19 tests increases, clinical laboratories need more technologists and lab scientists with certifications, skills, and...