Take advantage of this special opportunity to interact with peers and speakers. While enjoying breakfast, you’ll share ideas regarding common problems and issues. Each roundtable discussion is focused in one general topic to allow for active discussion among participants after a brief introduction by the roundtable facilitator. On Friday you can choose to participate in one of four topics, and Saturday offers a choice of 10.

There is an additional $39 fee for participating in the Breakfast Roundtable Discussions. Space at each table is limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. So be sure to register early for this engaging exchange.

Saturday Roundtables
1.  Competency
Facilitator: Ann Tiehen
2.  Regulations
Facilitator: Sharon Ehrmeyer
3.  Interview Skills
Facilitator: David Glenn
4. Team Building
Facilitator: Susan Kozlowski
5. Process Improvement
Facilitator: Sharon Martin
6. Motivation
Facilitator: Nathan Johnson
7. Staff Recruitment & Retention
Facilitator: John Davis
8. Counseling and Termination
Facilitator: Michele Best

Following this session, you will be able to:

• Discuss solutions to common problems.

This interactive program will provide you with a solid understanding of how to perform critical financial analyses, make defensible decisions, and prepare cost estimates based on reliable information. You will be guided in critical and creative thinking related to laboratory finances, including: perceptively understanding costs, looking at the big picture, progressively slicing through laboratory operations, understanding what and where costs are, balancing costs versus service demands, and analyzing "make-versus-buy" tests. Case histories, with spreadsheets given to participants, will be used to show how vendor proposals for instrument system acquisition should be compared, what questions to ask, and how to critically assess total costs and cost per billable test. Case history examples will also illustrate various strategies for increasing lab profitability.

Following this session, you will be able to:

• Select and utilize appropriate financial management tools to determine and evaluate costs in your laboratory.
• Perform professional-level evaluations of instrumentation and methodologies to determine the complete financial impact of different options and eliminate post-implementation surprises.
• Describe various strategies for improving laboratory profitability, including the relative advantages and disadvantages of each.

Praise from past attendees:
"Dr. Painter gave a number of very useful pieces of wisdom that I will definitely use in my job."

If you are a new supervisor or if you have been told that you are participating in the next inspection/survey of your laboratory, this session is for you! This program will provide you with an up-to-date view of the regulatory environment, plus a blueprint for developing strategies to successfully comply with those numerous, and often confusing, regulations, including patient safety. You'll learn how to meet the surveyor/inspector and pass inspections with confidence!

Topics will include:

• The latest laboratory and patient safety requirements from CLIA, JCAHO, and CAP.
• Common inspection deficiencies and pitfalls.
• Techniques to identify and correct problems.
• Surefire strategies for meeting the inspector with confidence—dos and don'ts.

You will have plenty of opportunity to identify key areas of concern and ask questions.

Following this session, you will be able to:

• Describe the latest testing regulations that will specifically impact your area.
• Discuss common deficiencies and pitfalls cited by laboratory inspectors.
• Develop strategies to avoid inspection failures.
• Integrate workshop information to create an appropriate game plan for meeting the regulations.

Praise from past attendees:
"I think I finally understand the differences between calibration, calibration verification, and AMR vs. linearity."

"I heard Sharon Ehrmeyer speak twice before and I always learn something new."

"My eyes were opened to everything that is required (I'm new to the inspection process). Very good speaker—did not read, but spoke to us."

To avoid unfortunate consequences, you need an awareness of the risks inherent in your laboratory environment and processes. A strategic combination of risk management and quality improvement efforts will detect potential hazards and prevent errors before patient and employee safety are compromised.

For example, a call center records calls for quality assurance purposes. A recorded conversation to human resources regarding a patient (and former employee) includes information about the patient’s HIV results. What risks are inherent in this scenario?

In this session, you will examine the core concepts of risk analysis and learn how to integrate risk management strategies into daily activities of your laboratory. Case studies will reinforce the information presented.

Following this session, you will be able to:

• Discuss the nature of laboratory risks, common and unusual.
• Utilize operational methods for analyzing and evaluating risk.
• Apply quality management tools to reduce risk.
• Respond appropriately to risk events.

The “difficult” subordinate is one of the most dreaded aspects of supervising. However, applying external pressure will rarely achieve a long-term solution. Case studies using “real life” examples will prepare you to meet the challenge of working with a variety of problem employees and the unique challenges each presents. You’ll succeed by helping employees utilize the practical advice provided in this lively and informative workshop.

Topics will include:

• Motivational theory and powerful skills for your “supervisor’s toolbox”
• Dealing one-on-one with the different types of “difficult” employees
• Controlling absenteeism
• External resources for assisting problem employees
• Discipline

Following this session, you will be able to:

• Explain motivational theory and how this practical knowledge can assist you in dealing with problem employees.
• Describe the different types of problem employees and the unique challenges each presents.
• Apply specific skills for dealing with problem employees.

Meet new people! Build relationships! We’ll make it easy for you. Bring your coffee to a specially designated comfortable area of the hotel to meet other like-minded participants. Each day we’ll have small group networking niches where you can find people to whom you can relate and who can help support you in your professional endeavors. Take advantage of the “exchange” in ASCP Leadership Exchange!

If your laboratory is cluttered and your Standard Operating Procedures are collecting dust, then you need “a cLEAN sweep for the laboratory!”

You can de-clutter a laboratory—physical space and procedures—with the use of several tried-and-true tools. Lean—a streamlining concept that originated as the Toyota Production System—is now a popular healthcare concept. Using Lean tools, you can improve patient and employee safety by increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of laboratory processes, services, and environment.

You’ll participate in discussions on:

• What is value, to a patient or customer?
• How do we identify waste in a process?
• What are the 5S tools?
• How do we drive waste out of our laboratories?
• How can we organize a Lean improvement team?

In this hands-on workshop, you will discover Lean concepts and tools and gain experience in using them though simulations. You will return to your organization prepared to spot the waste and lead a team to eliminate it!

Following this session, you will be able to:

• Describe the philosophy and concepts of Lean process improvement methodology.
• Describe the eight wastes that can be found in most processes and give examples of these wastes that can be found in a laboratory setting.
• Describe the five tools, starting with S that can be used to eliminate waste from a process.
• List ten Lean tools that can be applied in the laboratory to improve processes, giving an example of potential use in a laboratory setting.

Is performance appraisal time filled with anxiety—for you and staff? Are your performance appraisal and development tools simple, easily implemented and useful? Attend this session to discuss the goals of performance appraisals and investigate the questions:

• What works and how can the process be improved?
• What are the results and outcomes of appraisal?
• What are common appraisal traps and how can you avoid them?

You’ll examine conventional assumptions and gain new strategies for mastering stress-free performance appraisals. Effective coaching and integrating feedback in everyday processes will be highlighted. Case presentations and small discussion groups will be utilized as appropriate.

Following this session, you will be able to:

• Describe the goals of effective performance appraisals.
• Discuss common appraisal pitfalls and rating errors and how to avoid them.
• Apply strategies to remove the dread from performance appraisals.
• Utilize alternative strategies for performance evaluation in the changing workplace.

This is the session you would never sign up for, because no accrediting agencies cover it and you do not need to know anything about it. BUT it just might be the most important topic at the conference and could lead you to a distinguished career and success beyond your imagination. So don’t skip lunch!

Picture this: you start by recognizing a big gap in laboratory quality that no accrediting agency has yet addressed. Suddenly, you understand that the issue has universal applications in the laboratory, many industries, and life itself. You think of a fix which leads to a six-figure book deal and world tour. Everybody wants you and they are willing to pay to hear your message. Finally, you are on Oprah. All because you learned a little secret at a life-changing conference for laboratory leaders.

But don’t expect us to give the secret away in this description, because, if we named the topic, only the chairs would be in on it! Come, chance it, and find out for yourself!

Daniel Haun, MT(ASCP)H, a laboratorian whose lectures and publications have spanned three decades, is an enthusiastic, eclectic, and vibrant innovator. His articles have appeared in Laboratory Medicine, Medical Laboratory Observer, Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Safety, and other periodicals. Audiences have enjoyed his unique vision at regional and national medical laboratory conferences. His roles at the Department of Pathology at the Medical Center of Louisiana and at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Allied Health Professions in New Orleans include director of client services and hematology, instructor in clinical and management topics, performance improvement leader, and website designer/webmaster.

Is the quality of the test results produced by your laboratory good enough? With the aid of Six Sigma metrics, you can objectively assess the quality of your tests, as well as the worth of your quality control (QC) procedures. This presentation will describe practical tools and validation processes that can be readily applied to tests and methods in your own laboratory. Discover whether you are controlling quality in your laboratory or just running controls!

Following this session, you will be able to:

• Define quality requirements for laboratory tests.
• Assess the performance of your laboratory methods with quantitative metrics that can be benchmarked against other processes and other industries.
• Determine whether you're doing too much QC or too little QC.

Praise from past attendees:
“Dr. Westgard is phenomenal!”

“The step-by-step process of this program was foundational in format, and I was engaged throughout the program.”

Monitoring and correcting staff performance are two of the most important and difficult supervisory functions. Effective communication, feedback, coaching, and counseling are essential skills for gaining staff commitment on a daily basis. Do you find that you get sidetracked by employee excuses or feel that you're walking on eggshells applying performance standards to a very diverse workforce?

Appropriately hiring, disciplining, or terminating employees requires you to ask effective questions, keep discussions on topic, make difficult decisions, and deal with different personalities. In this session, you'll gain useful, practical information in the areas of coaching, counseling, and discipline. Plus, you'll learn legally-sound management and documentation techniques that will have a positive impact on your staff's performance.

Following this session, you will be able to:

• Discuss suitable applications of coaching vs. counseling.
• Conduct successful coaching and counseling sessions.
• Improve substandard staff performance according to policy.
• Describe the components of effective feedback.
• Discuss the dos and don'ts of documenting performance.
• Utilize an effective eight-step process for performance management.
• Apply appropriate conflict management skills.

Praise from past attendees:
"Ms. Best provided many concrete examples and strategies for use with employees."

"Michele was very thorough and knowledgeable in employee discipline actions. She was extremely approachable and engaged her audience."

"This was my favorite session. Michele's approach conveys the material in a useful manner. She shared her personal experience, including her mistakes." – Debbie Stinett

"Michele is a wonderful presenter. I wish she was my lab manager!'”

Direct from the speaker about the patient safety aspects of her session:
Managing staff performance has everything to do with patient safety. When performance issues exist, patient safety is affected by prolonged test TAT, failure to identify patients properly, delays in phlebotomy, failures of teamwork and communication, etc. Managers who do not address performance issues effectively will have safety and customer service issues.

You won't want to miss this fast-paced program, packed with fundamental information for overcoming obstacles to becoming an effective and powerful leader.

Here’s the picture frame: You have a new boss. Your lab is under new ownership. There’s a tech shortage. The budget has been cut, again. Everyone seems to be complaining, and you don't feel so great yourself!  If these don’t resonate with you now, THEY WILL. Laboratory trends point to a future with inevitable transformations.

In this session, you will discover the "How To" essentials for:

• Motivating yourself and others for optimum performance.
• Doing more with less: shared work teams.
• Coping with difficult people.
• Using 10 tricks for success.

Following this session you will be able to:

• Describe at least five ways to keep yourself and others motivated.
• Explain how to cope with difficult people using Transaction Analysis.
• Define the difference between self-directed work teams and shared work teams.

Praise from past attendees:
"Particularly enjoyed delightful sense of humor used to defuse dynamite situations in dealing with challenging people and attitudes. Thank you." – Connie Lang

"Reminded me that we can be more flexible/creative in our day-to-day operations and reinforced the need to involve staff as much as possible in making decisions/changes." – Deb Gianko(?)

"David Glenn was an excellent speaker, one of the best I've heard in a breakout session in recent years."

Direct from the speaker about the patient safety aspects of his session:
Motivated people look out for the best interests and safety of the patient; shared management work teams are patient focused, resulting in fewer errors, faster turnaround times, and improved patient safety; coping appropriately with difficult people increases communication and lowers error rates.

Several recent cases have focused attention specifically on error in clinical laboratories. While some information was made available through professional publications, neither the root cause analysis nor the failure mode and effects analysis of these incidents was disseminated. Because many clinical laboratories remained uninformed of these incidents, they could not proactively analyze their own processes to avoid similar error. Using four institutions as case studies, this session will explore the reasons for the widespread lack of awareness; discuss how laboratory professionals can apply the lessons learned from these errors to their own institutions; and examine causes and impact of error in the clinical laboratory. You will acquire heightened sensitivity to develop a systematic approach to analyze and compare such incidents to practices in your own institution. In addition, you will gain a proactive approach for incorporating the lessons learned from these events into your laboratory quality plan.

Following this session, you will be able to:

• Explain the impact of error in the clinical laboratory on patient care.
• Discuss the role of quality systems in the laboratory in preventing significant error.
• Analyze published error reports and apply significant lessons to your own laboratory.

Praise from past attendees:
“Practical examples for evaluating practices.”

“I really enjoyed the interaction of the speaker and participants on what they do.”

“It really got me thinking about my own laboratory and what steps I should be taking preventatively.”

“Excellent information, provided in an understandable thought-provoking manner.”

Successful leaders are able to establish and maintain respectful relations while modifying behaviors. During this session, you will learn how to influence outcomes effectively and ethically. You’ll gain communication tools to achieve individual and organizational goals through positive interactions with others. The ability to positively influence people in your personal and professional life is a skill that will pay many dividends in your career.

Following this session, you will be able to:

• Develop simple techniques to modify others’ behaviors in order to achieve your goals and objectives.
• Establish effective relationships with the people who directly affect your leadership ability.
• Enlarge your scope of influence beyond your own work team, department, and/or clinical laboratory.