Speakers:
(1) Lori Beach:
As the Clinical Biochemist and Head of Chemistry at IWK Health in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Dr. Lori Beach provides clinical service in laboratory medicine specializing in pediatric and maternal care, including prenatal biochemical screening, newborn screening, and core automated and specialized chemistry. She provides organizational leadership as Director of Point of Care Testing, Director of Maritime Maternal Serum Screening, and Chair of the Laboratory Diagnostic Planning Committee. Nationally, she is the Division Head of Public Outreach and Communications for the Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. As an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at Dalhousie University, her academic interests include laboratory resource stewardship and quality, training and developing leaders in Clinical Biochemistry and Genetics, and translating research to clinical care.
(2) Miranda Brun:
Dr. Miranda Brun is a clinical biochemist working at Alberta Precision Laboratories in Edmonton, Alberta. In this role she provides support for suburban and rural laboratories in the Edmonton area, and supports provincial laboratory priorities for acute care sites, in addition to overseeing first and second trimester maternal serum screening programs. As one of the co-directors of the University of Alberta Clinical Biochemistry Fellowship Program, she works to support trainees and is an enthusiastic contributor to the CLICK study tool developed with the CSCC. Dr. Brun is also the chair of the Alberta Society of Clinical Chemists (ASCC), the provincial section of CSCC.
Overview:
In the landscape of healthcare roles and resources, laboratory medicine often remains hidden. While clinical laboratories provide the backbone of objective data in medical records and significantly influence clinical decisions, their invaluable contributions often go unnoticed, leading to shortages in medical laboratory personnel and a general lack of recognition.
The emergence of initiatives like The Lab Report podcast, launched by the CSCC, seeks to address this gap by providing an accessible platform to discuss clinical biochemistry topics in a conversational tone, thereby demystifying the laboratory for a broader audience. Since its inception, The Lab Report has garnered positive feedback and serves as a linkage tool for traditional and social media to the CSCC and the profession of Clinical Chemistry
learning objectives:
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:
1) Describe the challenges in health literacy as related to laboratory medicine and the impacts to decision making in health.
2) Identify the utility of podcasts targeted to the general public, delivered by professionals trained in that field, to improve health literacy, using The Lab Report podcast as an example.
3) Discuss challenges of applying effective communications strategies.