My love of the laboratory stems from fond childhood memories with my mother, a dedicated food scientist with Agriculture and Agri Food Canada for 35 years. She brought me to work on occasion, in the field and in the laboratory, and it was love at first sight! Flash forward to 2008, when I got a job as an MLA. My passion grew like the Grinch’s heart! I worked at this position for eight wonderful years with an all-star team of MLAs, MLTs, students, doctors and administrative staff. Those years gave me great insight on both professional and personal growth. I can look back at the big picture and appreciate how things worked, and sometimes, did not. Now I can pass on my insights to you, specifically how to make the best use of the valuable MLAs on your team and the importance of staff retention.
Make the Most of MLAs’ Skills
The pandemic has stretched laboratory staff to a breaking point. This has greatly affected the workforce. We are seeing an augmentation of stress leaves, burnout, depression and even some valuable members permanently leaving the profession.
MLAs can’t single handedly solve these issues, but they can help. The vast majority of MLAs work in phlebotomy, specimen reception and specimen accessioning, but we can do so much more. I believe we can find tasks in all areas of the laboratory that MLAs can take on to help lighten the load on MLTs. There are pre-analytical tasks, basic maintenances, cleaning and sorting to be done in most departments. Look at each part of the process to see where an MLA could be helpful.
Scheduling can be tricky, but strategically thinking of when and how MLAs are working can help. Sometimes, scattering the MLA shifts, to have them start at different times, can immensely help workflow. By pinpointing times where there is an influx of work for MLAs, you can choose to make changes in shift start times to accommodate these.
MLAs work under a range of MLT supervision. Sometimes, this supervision is minimal, but still exists. Look at ways MLAs can be productive, even under minimal supervision, so that their work can positively influence the workflow. If MLAs can get most of the pre-analytical work done, MLTs can then concentrate on work that only they have the knowledge to do. As a gentle reminder: We must respect the scope of practice.
Why Retention is Important
The more you see, the more you know – that is experience. Working in a hospital laboratory, I can tell you that you rarely see anything just once. After all those years, I could almost predict problems. I also became an expert in reading manual requisition forms and knew what to do in difficult situations. This was possible because of my time spent learning.
Experience also meant that I knew and understood every step of the process in each specimen that we received, which is key for troubleshooting. I knew how things worked at the doctors’ offices clinics, the ER and the hospital floors. Some specimens are easy to re-collect, others impossible or next-to impossible. Those were the ones where I had to make sure we did everything we could to solve any issues. These skills and knowledge only come with experience over time.
Better Peer Training
MLAs usually learn the ropes from other MLAs. Peer-to-peer training is what can set the tone for how things will go in the future. Not everyone excels in training. It is crucial to identify the MLA that has the experience, but also the skill set to train new hires. The best peer-to-peer training is often offered by an MLA who is comfortable in the position and who has the desire to train someone that will be great to work with. These people make the training fun and informative. They usually have many anecdotes about the job and the staff they work with.
For any new employee bombarded with information, details and pressure to perform, having someone nearby who has been there, is encouraging, and understands the struggles you’re facing – and has been working for five to ten years – gives you hope that you can get there too.
Strengthening the Team
Who likes repeating themselves? When you experience too much turnaround in your staff, everyone feels like they are constantly repeating the same thing, but to different people.
I always tried to look at my lab department as a sports team. We all worked together for a common goal and did it in a very organized way. Doing so, we never overlooked the fact that everyone has strengths and weaknesses and everyone has a life outside of work. As a team, you recognize that, and you embrace it. Knowing that I could ask for help with work if I needed to leave early or swap a shift was comforting. By being attentive to everybody’s different needs, and by listening, I could excel at my job. You usually do not get this type of relationship when your MLA position turns around every month.
The longer you work with someone, the better you get to know them and how they work. After eight years, I knew who wanted help setting up for specific specimens and who instinctively needed to get things ready on their own. Both were excellent MLTs and by getting to know them, I knew what to do for us to get the most work done. Those years also gave me a chance to get to know my coworkers personally.
Time to Grow
If you retain your MLAs long enough, they will learn how to apply many soft, or learned, skills, such as organization or time management, in the laboratory. For example, my workplace efficiency improved over time. Time management skills helped me be more productive and work more independently. Once this was mastered, my confidence just grew. I was confident in my work and my position as a valuable team member.
Which leads to my final note, really a message to my fellow MLAs. Retention affects confidence in such a big way. The better you get at your position, the more confident you become, and that takes time. I tried to remind new hires that you must learn how to do something well first, then when you feel confident doing it, that same thing will become a skill. Keep mastering as many skills as you can, keep challenging yourself and you will love your job as it will be fulfilling interesting and the years will fly by.