Another successful Laboratory Medicine Conference for the history books!
Hard to believe we’ve held seven of these, but last weekend was the 7th Annual Laboratory Medicine Program Education Conference. It’s our annual conference “for medical laboratory technologists and technicians, presented by medical laboratory technologists and technicians.”
What does that even mean?
It means that the entire conference, from inviting speakers, confirming schedules, organizing rooms, putting together the information packets and making sure our delegates had coffee and water, was organized by members of UHN’s Laboratory Medicine Program. The delegates – or invitees – were all laboratory medicine professionals. Some of them from here at UHN, many from our partner sites like Sunnybrook and Lakeridge.
A few from other laboratories in the area like CAMH and Sick Kids, and a few from private labs like LifeLabs and Gamma Dynacare. Plus, many delegates were students of UOIT of the Michener institute, where students earn their Medical Laboratory Technologist (MLT) certification.
Having such a wide group of laboratory medicine professionals meant that we were able to share this educational opportunity with a wide audience. Plus, encourage networking across several laboratories in the area.
Who spoke at the conference?
Fantastic question! You can’t have an educational conference without speakers, can you? Well, I suppose you can if we just handed out workbooks or something. But, we didn’t do that. We definitely didn’t do that. We decided to invite a number of speakers from UHN and beyond and encouraged them to speak on the theme of “Interprofessional Education.”
Interprofessional Education?
Yes, that’s right. We left it a bit open ended for the speakers because it’s such a vast topic, but it can mean things like:
– working with colleagues outside of the laboratory
– creating groups of like-minded individuals to tackle projects or workflow
– connecting with divisions or programs outside laboratory medicine to solve common problems
– identifying issues or areas that you could learn more about in order to move forward in your career
What made the conference so interesting is that several of the speakers took a different perspective and a new “lens” at which to look at “IPE.”
So, who were the speakers?
Here’s who we had:
Keynote Speaker – Interprofessional Education as an Enable or Collaboration and Quality Care– Elizabeth McLaney, Director of Interprofessional Education, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre – – > this session was quite popular as Elizabeth was very interactive. She used a variety of surveys, small groups and polling to find out how the delegates used IPE in their workplace
Opening Talk – Interprofessional Education for Today, Tomorrow and for the Future – with Dr. Danny Ghazarian, and introduction by Dr. Sylvia Asa – – > This was also a crowd favourite as Dr. Asa always has some great insights and Dr. Ghazarian is very charismatic and engaging – he didn’t even need the microphone!
Teaching and Learning in the Laboratory Setting – with Jill Krupa – -> Jill is a technologist from LMP, so the crowd was really interested to get her perspective on IPE
Interprofessional Teams in Action– with Kelly Kay – – > It’s always great to have some real-life case studies to being the topic to life
Pathology, Genetics and Therapeutics: how genomic profiling at UHN is being used to improve patient care – with Dr. Suzanne Kamel-Reid and Dr. Philippe Bedard – – -> with two titans in molecular profiling, the crowd was very eager to hear about the IMPACT study, the role of laboratory medicine and the direct impact this has the patient
Mass Spectrometry – with Tammy Earle – – > what sounds like science fiction to a lay person is actually a vital aspect of laboratory medicine and getting the right result, quickly and accurately. The delegates really enjoyed hearing from Tammy
Hematology at UHN – with Dr. David Barth – – > another one of our LMP medical professionals to close the day. Dr. Barth gave a very popular and engaging presentation on the unique role of hematology at UHN.
Wow. Big day. Well done!
That’s right, it was a big day. But, guess what National Med Lab Week is right around the corner. (That;s where LMP does even more educational sessions and promotes our industry throughout the hospital.) So, we’re always learning and always teaching here in LMP!
The Pathology Report 
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