Critical Values - January 2009 - (Page 3) Volume 2 • Issue 1 • January 2009 About Critical Values Communication Barbara J. McKenna, MD, FASCP L ast year ASCP developed a communication strategy to accomplish three goals: • • Raise awareness of the value of ASCP to pathologists and laboratory professionals Raise awareness of the value of pathologists and laboratory professionals to the broader medical community and the public Develop mechanisms for ongoing dialogue between and among ASCP members and other key audiences. • ASCP reflects the future of health care, uniting pathologists and laboratory professionals into a team serving the health of individual patients and the public. What distinguishes ASCP is our inclusiveness, our size, and our commitment to work for the public good. Pathologists and laboratory professionals work behind the scenes to provide accurate diagnoses and data on which treatment decisions are made. It’s important to let people know. This issue of Critical Values reports on new ways that ASCP is reaching out to different constituencies and suggests ways in which individuals can do the same. The first step in the ASCP communication strategy is the creation of a network of ASCP spokespersons to represent the Society and the profession to the news media and the public. The new media spokespersons for ASCP are introduced on page 16, and plans are discussed for raising awareness of the profession throughout the year and during National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week. Also featured are successful efforts and useful strategies for communicating with nurses in your hospital (p. 18), legislators in your state (p. 22), and students in your school district (p. 13). Communicating scientific information when knowledge and technology are in flux can be tricky. The rapidly changing environment surrounding the human papillomavirus (HPV) test and vaccine and their impact on the Pap smear poses such a challenge. ASCP has a responsibility to inform and educate members and the public about issues that affect them, even when experts disagree. Such divergent views are presented beginning on page 24, along with numerous resources for further investigation. As always, some of the challenges associated with communicating critical values are explored—in this case, the confusion in defining “critical tests,” “critical results,” and turnaround time (p. 34). Arts in Culture presents an excerpt from an award-winning poem written from the perspective of a breast cancer patient (p. 33). Critical Values is now one year old. This newsmagazine has become an important way for ASCP to communicate by exploring substantive issues in a conversational tone and encouraging further dialogue. We start the second year by adding a regular feature: leadership messages from the ASCP President, Chair of the Council of Laboratory Professionals, and Chair of the Resident Council. Dr. McKenna is president of ASCP. Listen to the Leadership Messages online or download the audio files to your IPod Critical Values Joins the Blogosphere. Share your thoughts about topics covered in each issue of Critical Values on our new blog: http://ascpcriticalvalues.blogspot.com. or MP3. Go to www.ascp.org, click on About ASCP, Leadership, then Messages from Leadership. 3 http://www.ascp.org http://ascpcriticalvalues.blogspot.com
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