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The first part of this two-part series of articles discussed laboratory personnel qualifications regarding education and experience. In this second part, we will cover competency, which is the most frequently cited laboratory inspection deficiency across the nation. Why Competency? Laboratory testing personnel competency is assessed to ensure they have the skill, knowledge, and experience to perform […]

A topic frequently overheard discussed at the American Society of Clinical Pathologists (ASCP) recent 2022 annual meeting in Chicago was the CMS proposal to allow nurses to perform high-complexity testing. The proposal by the arm of the federal government responsible for healthcare is one of many seeking to address the severe shortage of laboratory personnel across the

Getting optimal pharmaceutical care outcomes for patients is a multi-layered process. A significant factor that affects most of these processes is the competence of the staff handling them. This is why routine competency assessment for the pharmacy staff is recommended. For Pharmacies, four major competence areas are usually assessed in the overall assessment of pharmaceutical care: Ability

On June 21, 2022, StaffReady hosted a webinar on Automating CAP and CLIA Requirements in the Lab. Out of that webinar came several wide-ranging questions on the capability of StaffReady’s Competency module. For this month’s blog article, we’re taking a deeper dive into the StaffReady Competency module and uncovering some of its capabilities. Navigating Assessments In some healthcare vocations

Competency assessments have become increasingly common over the years, including in the pharmacy environment. In health care, competencies began to evolve following a groundbreaking 2003 Institute of Medicine (IOM) publication addressing gaps in health system design. The IOM identified five core competencies at the time which would be the root of further attempts to develop more specific

Can Pharmacy Management Systems Help in Pharmaceutical Compounding? Compounding extemporaneous pharmaceutical preparations is a process that is unavoidable in many pharmacies. Hospital pharmacies must ensure medication is available in the required dosage for convenient use. Sometimes this preparation extends to other medical consumables; sterile and non-sterile. Community pharmacies also share this burden and must often

Is Documentation Important to Your Pharmaceutical Compounding Process?   Compounding sterile and non-sterile pharmaceutical products is very delicate. One small procedural error can invalidate several batches of products or, worse, lead to the release of defective products for patients to use. Unlike some other manufacturing processes, there is a need for pharmaceutical manufacturers to be

Keeping the IV Room Free of Contaminants: Part II   In this two-part series, we will explore strategies to keep the IV room free of contamination, with a focus on electronic checklists. In Part I, discussed training checklists for keeping the IV room clean. In Part II, we will discuss daily, weekly and monthly checklists for

Keeping the IV Room Free of Contaminants: Part I In this two-part series, we will explore strategies to keep the IV room free of contamination, with a focus on electronic checklists. In Part I, we will discuss training checklists for keeping the IV room clean. In Part II, we will discuss daily, weekly and monthly checklists

Creating a Successful Onboarding Experience   In my previous role as Operations Manager, one of the first things I began to tackle was creating a better onboarding experience for new hires. To be honest, there was not much in place, and I started from the ground up. Like grandma’s old recipes, nothing was in writing,