Question 11 (d): Management

Good laboratory management is an increasingly important component of good laboratory practice. It is the job of the laboratory supervisory and managerial staff to design and implement the supportive infrastructure that is necessary for the technical work to proceed without hindrance. An integrated coordination between technical and managerial activities is essential for the continuous, quality, error-free, efficient, and effective laboratory operations. To obtain quality and effective service, the management factor should also be control. The supervisor or managerial post should have management skills in running a laboratory. It is clearly essential that pathologists acquire managerial as well as professional skills for the direction of their departments and that technologists similarly acquire the required to become laboratory administrators/ managers. This can be done by joining courses or seminars in building skills. This can ensure smooth progress of managing and supervising a lab especially when a problem arises. Other than that, management should possess and provide a strategic planning for the organisation,
which is in this case the laboratory. Strategic planning is concerned with the medium and long

term direction of the laboratory and strategic management includes the implementation as well as the formulation of strategy. A strategic plan is essential because, without one, hospital administration will not take a director seriously and laboratory staff will not know what is expected of them and will tend to resist change. With an agreed plan, the manager has a powerful lever both to implement change and to resist external pressures, financial and otherwise. If the strategy were, for example, to provide a fast results service to doctors, an obvious objective would be to have to improve turnaround time and enhance on data information system. The strategy should be reviewed regularly to ensure that it adapts to changes in the environment. Feedback on good or poor performance should be provided on an ongoing basis by the management. Appraisals should provide the employee with an evaluation of how well they are carrying out the requirements of their job. This can make them improve and thus leads to quality work by them in trying to achieve that.

Apart from that, the management is responsible in managing the laboratory financial matters. A poor quality of laboratory services can also be attributable to poor financial management. While a small amount of income is relatively easy to generate, larger targets may require a costly marketing effort. It is also relatively easy to overload fixed capacity so that an increase in fixed costs (staff and equipment) is required to deal with the increasing workload. Successful income generation therefore requires a carefully calculated business plan. This factor may require training and experiences over the years to be absolute good in managing it. Moreover, once the organization structure and responsibilities have been established and the laboratorys physical space needs have been addressed, the laboratorys personnel is the next important resource to be established. The management have to select qualified, trained, and competent staff performing the work processes in order quality laboratory performance can be ensured. Efficient laboratory operations require the uninterrupted availability of reagents, supplies, and services. The laboratory needs to maintain a cost-effective disposable supply inventory and have the support of an adequate materials purchasing program that is setup by the management by addressing a designated person to handle the purchasing. Critical reagents and materials need to be received, evaluated, and tested as necessary (before use) to ensure that necessary quality requirements have been fulfilled.

References

Stuart, J. & Hicks, J.M. (1991). Good laboratory management: an Anglo-American perspective. Journal of Clinical Pathology. 44, 793-797. Berte, L.M. (2007). Laboratory quality management : A roadmap. Clinical Laboratory Medicine. 27, 771-790.