Outreach operational plans are designed to provide excellent customer service, support staff efficiency, and maintain high quality. As with any business, laboratories may face unexpected circumstances that temporarily impact operations.

In this episode of Mayo Clinic Laboratories’ “Leveraging the Laboratory” podcast, host Jane Hermansen, outreach manager at Mayo Clinic Laboratories, speaks with outreach solutions strategists Ellen Dijkman Dulkes and Brianne Newton about how to establish processes that allow outreach programs to efficiently recover from road bumps and minimize visible impact to the customer.

Their discussion topics include:

• Navigating inclement weather and adverse events that may impact courier services.
• Managing disruptions and outages to the information technology systems.
• Preparing effective downtime plans.
• Maintaining operations during a staffing shortage.

In this episode of Mayo Clinic Laboratories’ “Leveraging the Laboratory” podcast, host Jane Hermansen, outreach manager at Mayo Clinic Laboratories, speaks with Camille Jewell, outpatient laboratory service technician at Mayo Clinic. They discuss how laboratory outreach programs can incorporate outcall or home phlebotomy to help prevent hospital readmissions, support patients with mobility challenges, and provide patient-centered care to the community.

Specific topics of discussion include:

• What to consider when developing a home phlebotomy program, including patient criteria, physician collaboration, community need, scheduling, logistics, and staff training.
• Real-life examples of home phlebotomy scenarios.
• Lessons learned through Mayo Clinic’s home phlebotomy program.

In this episode of Mayo Clinic Laboratories’ “Leveraging the Laboratory” podcast, host Jane Hermansen, outreach manager at Mayo Clinic Laboratories, is joined by Mark Kjer, supervisor of technologist support at Mayo Clinic Laboratories. They discuss the different perspectives of the outreach program from the laboratory’s operational and technical levels.

Their discussion topics include:

• Challenges related to the outreach program from the lab's perspective.
• How to support staff so they can successfully manage the variations in the pre-analytic phase.
• The distinct roles of the laboratory staff in the outreach program.
• The importance of staff and client feedback in developing effective workstreams.
• How to be an advocate for both the hospital and outreach laboratory programs.

Learn more best practices at the Leveraging the Laboratory conference on Sept. 17 and 18, 2024, in Rochester, Minnesota. Register online.