A Laboratory Management Primer

Abstract

A well-prepared manager is an agent of change. By using an engaged and thoughtful approach, a manager is very often the key catalyst in moving a medical laboratory from mediocrity to excellence. Laboratory managers are highly specialized employees. They serve numerous roles within the health care system. Their primary role is to provide highly technical expertise within the laboratory. They are “extenders” of the physician directors. In that role, they must remain abreast of wide-ranging federal regulations, credentialing and compliance issues, new technologies, and standards of care in laboratory testing. In addition to important technical duties, laboratory managers must also make decisions on the business side. The best managers know how to balance their varied responsibilities. They are always looking to the future. They see changes in the operational environment as opportunities to make needed improvements in staffing, technology, and processes. This progressive approach requires insight, commitment, and the ability to work with the staff to identify and solve problems. All high-performance managers share certain traits. A good manager is a strategist, one who looks to the future, makes educated guesses about the major forces and trends that can be seen, and interprets them in terms of opportunities for growth and progress. A good manager is a problem solver, one who clearly perceives the differences between the anticipated future and the unfolding present, and who decides what must be done with those factors under his or her control to influence the environment or to adapt to it most effectively. A good manager is a teacher, one who guides others and helps them to identify and solve problems, so that they can perform their tasks effectively and can develop themselves as individuals as well as workers. 1 Management is commonly broken into 4 primary areas: planning, organizing, directing, and controlling. This article provides an overview of those management functions.