April 4, 2025 • 10 mins
As we approach Lab Week, this episode of “Lab Medicine Rounds” includes a compilation of interviews from previous episodes highlighting the pivotal role laboratory professionals play in healthcare. Featured interviews include Dr. Eric Hsi, Dr. Curt Hanson, and Jane Hermansen, all from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Discussion includes:
· The importance of highlighting the laboratory presence in current medical practice.
· How laboratory medicine is informing the future successes of the field.
· Wishes for the future of laboratory medicine and pathology.
Timestamps:
00:30: Interview w/Dr. Hsi
· Why is it important to highlight the presence of the laboratory in current medical practice?
· What would be your advice for clinicians who haven’t thought about the role the laboratory plays, and how to bring it more explicitly into their practice?
· Where is the laboratory headed?
· What do you think might be the biggest challenge in stepping forward into more of the clinical domain?
05:32: Interview w/Dr. Hanson
· Why is it important in lab medicine to look at the past when planning for the future?
· How do you see certain aspects of laboratory medicine informing the future successes of the field?
· How do we as laboratory professionals, shift from being service-oriented to being colleagues/equals with other health care professionals?
07:45: Interview w/Jane Hermansen
· What do you wish for the future of laboratory medicine and pathology?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
- This is Lab MedicineRounds, a curated podcast
for physicians, laboratoryprofessionals and students.
I'm your host, Justin Kreuter,
a transfusion medicine pathologist
and assistant professorof Laboratory Medicine
and Pathology at Mayo Clinic.
This episode, we're really kind
of continuing this celebration
of celebrating the laboratory.
And so I wonder if wecould kind of get into this
(00:26):
by kicking off with, youknow, from your perspective,
why is it important tohighlight the presence
of the laboratory incurrent medical practice?
Dr. Hsi (00:37):
I mean, it's always a good time to sort of remind people
that the laboratory, youknow, is, is there to provide,
you know, services for our patients.
I think the number bandied aboutthat, you know, 70% of all,
you know, medical informationcomes from the laboratory.
And so, you know, we have amajor role in providing data,
(01:00):
actionable information toour clinical colleagues
to make patient careand treatment decisions.
And so with such an importantrole, it doesn't help,
you know, hurt to get in front of people
and raise that awareness again, that we,
we are a part of the care team.
- I mean, when you say it's providing 70%
(01:20):
of the information,that's pretty substantial,
but then also to talk about,it's a reminder, I guess it's,
it's easy to kind of be always counted on
to be providing theseresults in a timely fashion.
- Oh, certainly. AndI think, you know, I, well,
COVID was a huge example ofgetting lab front and center,
(01:41):
and it certainly raised awareness.
And at other institutions I'vebeen, you know, the awareness
that, you know, at some point in time,
the laboratory touchespretty much every single
patient in their journey.
And there's not a lot of specialties
that can say that, right?
So one of my colleagueshere says, you know,
(02:02):
we are involved in healthcarefrom cradle to grave,
and that actually is to some degree true.
- And so for, for the listener
who maybe hasn't thought about the role
of the laboratory in their practice,
what would be your advicefor how to kind of approach
(02:22):
building that bridge maybe more
explicitly in their practice?
I think maybe someclinician listeners may not
understand where to start.
- Yeah. I would say, you know,please reach out, contact us.
We don't bite.
We love, in fact,I'm part of our, you know,
pathologists oftentimes are introverted
(02:44):
and, you know, we need to be brought up,
but we are always happy to consult
and, you know, lend our expertise.
You know, we becomeintegral parts of the care team.
I think that's one areathat we, as a field,
our next big push is
to become a little moreintegrated and front
(03:05):
and center in the care team.
You know, having pathologists get out
and speak to patients is another avenue
that is really satisfying
because patients are alsocurious about laboratory testing
and their particular results.
And so that's another, you know, way
(03:26):
that pathologists may nothave not traditionally been
involved in part of the care team.
But that's certainly was a veryfulfilling exercise for me.
Other pathologists actuallyare involved with that.
Transfusion medicinepeople deal with, you know,
more directly with patientsand things like that.
So I think, you know, aswe as a field develop,
(03:47):
you know, our next frontier is really
to get a little more frontand center in the care teams.
- Where is the laboratory headed?
If you could elaborate a little bit for us
- As, as we move forward in information.
'cause I think at the end of the day, yes,
we're doing all thesetesting, our laboratories are
generating, like we said,you know, a large chunk
of the information beingused to treat patients.
(04:08):
But at the end of the day,it's information, right?
And so how do we leveragethat information in new ways
to add to, you know, the,the diagnostic decisions?
- What do you think is, mightbe our biggest challenge
with that step forward into more of those
that clinic domain?
(04:30):
- Yeah. Well I think it's,you know, part of it is,
you know, workforce
and kind of like keepingpeople interested in
going into the field.
You and I bothknow, it's getting harder
and harder to find peoplethat get into the field
because, you know, there's somany things people could be doing
(04:51):
and how do we make sure thatpeople understand there's this
super interesting career paththat is contributing to health
of the population,
and you know, how do we keepthose people interested?
And then how do we continueto develop the skill sets
that we need in terms of, you know,
(05:12):
information management
and computational pathology, which is kind
of the new buzzword, right?
And build those skill setsinto the training program so
that we can continueto grow as a specialty.
I think those are thingsthat we will be trying
to figure out over the nextcoming, you know, decade.
(05:32):
- You know, why is it importantfrom your perspective for us
to look at our past whenplanning for our future?
Dr. Hanson (05:39):
That's a great question.
I think that one of thefirst things that comes
to mind is it's anopportunity to re-look at
and validate what our principles are.
Too often we just keepgoing down the path.
We're busy, you know, we dotoday, you go to today's list
and you do today's list
(05:59):
and you worry about yesterday'sthings you didn't get done.
And we don't take thetime to really sit back
and reflect on what's my vision?
What are my principles,am I upholding those?
Are they still valid? Dothey still work for us?
How can I incorporatethem more into what we do?
And I think by lookingback, you can really go,
(06:21):
have I been consistent over time?
Have we been consistent over time
with why we do what we do?
And I think that's reallysomething we don't spend a lot
of time thinking about,
but that really should drive what we do.
It certainly shoulddrive our decision making
and our planning and ourprioritization of things.
(06:42):
- How do you see these aspectsthat you're celebrating,
informing kind of thefuture, you know, kind
of the future projections assuccess in our, in our field?
- I think we really, weneed to move beyond some
of our historical approaches to things
and really kind of grabthat discipline of change
(07:03):
and really drive it in the laboratory
and challenge how we do things.
- How do we shift from service orientation
to really being colleagues, youknow, equals with our other,
you know, healthcare professionals.
That's really going to, one,help us to be able to advocate
for best laboratory practice
(07:24):
to support the clinical practice,
but also certainly makeus more visible as well.
- We need to always think ofourselves that we are every bit
as involved with and responsible for
and taking care of our patients.
And I think that's a,that's an important mindset.
A lot of these things are themindsets I think that we need
to really work on as a, as a profession.
(07:45):
- What do you wish for the future
of laboratory medicine and pathology?
Jane Hermansen (07:50):
I think that as we
as professionals become moreremoved from the patient
bedside, we don't have that,
that insight into the patient.
We don't have the empathy of seeing what
that patient is going through.
So going forward, looking tothe future, I hope that we
(08:12):
as professionals never lose touch
with the reason we'rein laboratory medicine
in the first place.
To me, it really made allthe difference to have
that patient aspect andit has really an informed
and truly created theprofessional that I am today
because I did have that inthe trenches experience.
(08:32):
And without it, I don'tthink that I'd be,
as effective as I am today.
So that's one piece - to not letgo of the the patient piece.
And if you have an opportunity
to be in a more generalist position
and then tie the pictureof the diagnostics back to
that patient, it actually is going
to help you feel likeyou're adding more value.
(08:54):
My hope for the future of our industry
and our profession as laboratoryprofessionals, that we are able
to bring more people in,advocate for the profession,
bring more people in to our programs so
that they can actually bringthat same joy to the work
that we do every day.
(09:15):
And then it's not justabout the profession,
it really comes down tothe fact that we are there
for the patients and thework that we do helps provide
and improve great patientcare, improving the outcomes,
and they can't do it without laboratory
medicine and pathology.
- To all of our listeners,thank you for joining us today.
We invite you to share your thoughts
(09:36):
and suggestions via email.
Please direct any suggestionsto MCLeducation@mayo.edu
and reference this podcast.
If you've enjoyed LabMedicine Rounds podcast,
please subscribe untilour next rounds together.
We encourage you to continueto connect lab medicine
and the clinical practice (patient care)
(09:57):
through insightful conversation.
- This is Lab MedicineRounds, a curated podcast
for physicians, laboratoryprofessionals and students.
I'm your host, Justin Kreuter,
a transfusion medicine pathologist
and assistant professorof Laboratory Medicine
and Pathology at Mayo Clinic.
This episode, we're really kind
of continuing this celebration
of celebrating the laboratory.
And so I wonder if wecould kind of get into this
(00:26):
by kicking off with, youknow, from your perspective,
why is it important tohighlight the presence
of the laboratory incurrent medical practice?
Dr. Hsi (00:37):
I mean, it's always a good time to sort of remind people
that the laboratory, youknow, is, is there to provide,
you know, services for our patients.
I think the number bandied aboutthat, you know, 70% of all,
you know, medical informationcomes from the laboratory.
And so, you know, we have amajor role in providing data,
(01:00):
actionable information toour clinical colleagues
to make patient careand treatment decisions.
And so with such an importantrole, it doesn't help,
you know, hurt to get in front of people
and raise that awareness again, that we,
we are a part of the care team.
- I mean, when you say it's providing 70%
(01:20):
of the information,that's pretty substantial,
but then also to talk about,it's a reminder, I guess it's,
it's easy to kind of be always counted on
to be providing theseresults in a timely fashion.
- Oh, certainly. AndI think, you know, I, well,
COVID was a huge example ofgetting lab front and center,
(01:41):
and it certainly raised awareness.
And at other institutions I'vebeen, you know, the awareness
that, you know, at some point in time,
the laboratory touchespretty much every single
patient in their journey.
And there's not a lot of specialties
that can say that, right?
So one of my colleagueshere says, you know,
(02:02):
we are involved in healthcarefrom cradle to grave,
and that actually is to some degree true.
- And so for, for the listener
who maybe hasn't thought about the role
of the laboratory in their practice,
what would be your advicefor how to kind of approach
(02:22):
building that bridge maybe more
explicitly in their practice?
I think maybe someclinician listeners may not
understand where to start.
- Yeah. I would say, you know,please reach out, contact us.
We don't bite.
We love, in fact,I'm part of our, you know,
pathologists oftentimes are introverted
(02:44):
and, you know, we need to be brought up,
but we are always happy to consult
and, you know, lend our expertise.
You know, we becomeintegral parts of the care team.
I think that's one areathat we, as a field,
our next big push is
to become a little moreintegrated and front
(03:05):
and center in the care team.
You know, having pathologists get out
and speak to patients is another avenue
that is really satisfying
because patients are alsocurious about laboratory testing
and their particular results.
And so that's another, you know, way
(03:26):
that pathologists may nothave not traditionally been
involved in part of the care team.
But that's certainly was a veryfulfilling exercise for me.
Other pathologists actuallyare involved with that.
Transfusion medicinepeople deal with, you know,
more directly with patientsand things like that.
So I think, you know, aswe as a field develop,
(03:47):
you know, our next frontier is really
to get a little more frontand center in the care teams.
- Where is the laboratory headed?
If you could elaborate a little bit for us
- As, as we move forward in information.
'cause I think at the end of the day, yes,
we're doing all thesetesting, our laboratories are
generating, like we said,you know, a large chunk
of the information beingused to treat patients.
(04:08):
But at the end of the day,it's information, right?
And so how do we leveragethat information in new ways
to add to, you know, the,the diagnostic decisions?
- What do you think is, mightbe our biggest challenge
with that step forward into more of those
that clinic domain?
(04:30):
- Yeah. Well I think it's,you know, part of it is,
you know, workforce
and kind of like keepingpeople interested in
going into the field.
You and I bothknow, it's getting harder
and harder to find peoplethat get into the field
because, you know, there's somany things people could be doing
(04:51):
and how do we make sure thatpeople understand there's this
super interesting career paththat is contributing to health
of the population,
and you know, how do we keepthose people interested?
And then how do we continueto develop the skill sets
that we need in terms of, you know,
(05:12):
information management
and computational pathology, which is kind
of the new buzzword, right?
And build those skill setsinto the training program so
that we can continueto grow as a specialty.
I think those are thingsthat we will be trying
to figure out over the nextcoming, you know, decade.
(05:32):
- You know, why is it importantfrom your perspective for us
to look at our past whenplanning for our future?
Dr. Hanson (05:39):
That's a great question.
I think that one of thefirst things that comes
to mind is it's anopportunity to re-look at
and validate what our principles are.
Too often we just keepgoing down the path.
We're busy, you know, we dotoday, you go to today's list
and you do today's list
(05:59):
and you worry about yesterday'sthings you didn't get done.
And we don't take thetime to really sit back
and reflect on what's my vision?
What are my principles,am I upholding those?
Are they still valid? Dothey still work for us?
How can I incorporatethem more into what we do?
And I think by lookingback, you can really go,
(06:21):
have I been consistent over time?
Have we been consistent over time
with why we do what we do?
And I think that's reallysomething we don't spend a lot
of time thinking about,
but that really should drive what we do.
It certainly shoulddrive our decision making
and our planning and ourprioritization of things.
(06:42):
- How do you see these aspectsthat you're celebrating,
informing kind of thefuture, you know, kind
of the future projections assuccess in our, in our field?
- I think we really, weneed to move beyond some
of our historical approaches to things
and really kind of grabthat discipline of change
(07:03):
and really drive it in the laboratory
and challenge how we do things.
- How do we shift from service orientation
to really being colleagues, youknow, equals with our other,
you know, healthcare professionals.
That's really going to, one,help us to be able to advocate
for best laboratory practice
(07:24):
to support the clinical practice,
but also certainly makeus more visible as well.
- We need to always think ofourselves that we are every bit
as involved with and responsible for
and taking care of our patients.
And I think that's a,that's an important mindset.
A lot of these things are themindsets I think that we need
to really work on as a, as a profession.
(07:45):
- What do you wish for the future
of laboratory medicine and pathology?
Jane Hermansen (07:50):
I think that as we
as professionals become moreremoved from the patient
bedside, we don't have that,
that insight into the patient.
We don't have the empathy of seeing what
that patient is going through.
So going forward, looking tothe future, I hope that we
(08:12):
as professionals never lose touch
with the reason we'rein laboratory medicine
in the first place.
To me, it really made allthe difference to have
that patient aspect andit has really an informed
and truly created theprofessional that I am today
because I did have that inthe trenches experience.
(08:32):
And without it, I don'tthink that I'd be,
as effective as I am today.
So that's one piece - to not letgo of the the patient piece.
And if you have an opportunity
to be in a more generalist position
and then tie the pictureof the diagnostics back to
that patient, it actually is going
to help you feel likeyou're adding more value.
(08:54):
My hope for the future of our industry
and our profession as laboratoryprofessionals, that we are able
to bring more people in,advocate for the profession,
bring more people in to our programs so
that they can actually bringthat same joy to the work
that we do every day.
(09:15):
And then it's not justabout the profession,
it really comes down tothe fact that we are there
for the patients and thework that we do helps provide
and improve great patientcare, improving the outcomes,
and they can't do it without laboratory
medicine and pathology.
- To all of our listeners,thank you for joining us today.
We invite you to share your thoughts
(09:36):
and suggestions via email.
Please direct any suggestionsto MCLeducation@mayo.edu
and reference this podcast.
If you've enjoyed LabMedicine Rounds podcast,
please subscribe untilour next rounds together.
We encourage you to continueto connect lab medicine
and the clinical practice (patient care)
(09:57):
through insightful conversation.
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