The document discusses competencies needed by future medical laboratory science practitioners to improve patient safety and healthcare quality in the 21st century. It outlines six quality aims and five core competencies put forth by the Institute of Medicine. These include developing skills in areas like evidence-based practice, quality improvement, health information technology, patient-centered care, and interdisciplinary teamwork. The document argues that by integrating these concepts into their education, future practitioners will be better prepared to deliver safe and effective laboratory services in modern healthcare systems.

1. Improving Patient Safety and Healthcare
Quality in the 21st Century -Competencies
Required of Future Medical Laboratory
Science Practitioners
DOÑA REMEDIOS TRINIDAD ROMUALDEZ
MEDICAL FOUNDATION
COLLEGE OF MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY
JHYNES AEIRENE D. RENOMERON
B M L S 1 - B
Susan Morris, Catherine N. Otto, Karen Golemboskil

2. Abbreviations
IOM- Institute of Medicine
MLS- Medical Laboratory Science/ Scientist
MLT- Medical Laboratory Technician
NAACLS- National Accrediting Agency for
Clinical Laboratory Sciences

3. Focus: Redefining Patient
Safety in the Clinical
Laboratory
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) convened a
Health Professions Education Summit last
2002 to discuss and identify strategies for
incorporating the appropriate skills to prepare
practitioners to close the gap in the delivery of
care, improving healthcare quality, and patient
safety.

4. IOM QUALITY AIMS & CORE
COMPETENCIES
In order to prepare future medical laboratory science
practitioners to competently evaluate and improve
medical laboratory services in the practice settings, the
IOM incorporated quality aims and core competencies
that needs to be integrated into Medical Laboratory
Science curricula.

5. IOM QUALITY
IOM QUALITY
AIMS
AIMS

6. Six IOM Quality
Aims
Safe Healthcare
Effective Healthcare
Patient-centered Healthcare
Timely Healthcare
Efficient Healthcare
Equitable Healthcare

7. IOM Quality Aim: SELF
HEALTHCARE
Expanding students’ understanding of patient safety will
provide a valuable foundation for developing quality
improvement programs in their future settings.
Faculties can incorporate quality improvement case
studies in which evidence from the literature is
used as a foundation for the improvement
practice.

8. IOM Quality Aim: EFFECTIVE
HEALTHCARE
Prepare MLS students to participate in the
evaluation of testing protocols and practice
guidelines to decrease the overuse, underuse, and
misuse of laboratory testing.
The MLS curricula needs to include instruction in
evaluation of laboratory testing algorithms for
specific disease condition.

9. IOM Quality Aim:
PATIENT-CENTERED
HEALTHCARE
Laboratory services must be designed in
ways that respect and optimize the
experience of care for patients and their
families. Focusing on patient-centered
laboratory care generates significant
developmental opportunities for laboratory
medical practitioners.

10. MLS and MLT curricula need to include discussions of
meaningful opportunities to improve the timeliness of
laboratory services, particularly in the early steps of pre-
analytic and last step of post-analytic phases of
the total testing process.
IOM Quality Aim: TIMELY
HEALTHCARE

11. IOM Quality Aim: EFFICIENT
HEALTHCARE
Content in the MLS and MLT curricula should address the
impact of enhancing the efficiency of laboratory testing
services, i.e., such as addressing deficiencies in the testing
process such as reducing mislabeled, unlabeled, and lost
speciemens; improving specimen intergrity, and reducing
missed specimen collection.

12. IOM Quality Aim: EQUITABLE
HEALTHCARE
Enhanced communication skills will improve the equity of
laboratory testing services by providing educational and
consultative services for patients. Communication, both
written and verbal, and assessment of patient
understanding should be emphasized in the MLS
curriculum in order to promote patient-centered care.

13. IOM
IOM
COMPETENCIES
COMPETENCIES

14. Five IOM
Competencies
Developing Competence in Practicing Evidence-based Medicine
Developing Competence in Employing Quality Improvement
Methodologies
Competence in Using Information Technology
Competence in Delivering Centered Care
Competence in Working as Part if an Interdisciplinary Team

15. Developing Competence in
Practicing Evidence-Based Medicine
Scenarios should be created to practice participation on an
interdisciplinary team. MLS practitioners needs to develop
skills in the use of application of evidence-based medicine
through participating in a health care system which
focuses on team strategies that will help achieve improved
outcomes.

16. Developing Competence in Employing
Quality Improvement Methodologies
Students need to understand how to analyze
outcomes to determine if they meet benchmarks,
such as turn-around times for critical test results
or error rates specimen processing. It is essential
that MLS be taught to continually evaluate quality
of care in terms of structure, process, and
outcomes in relation to patient needs.

17. Competence in Using
Information Technology
Students need to learn basic principles of
new integrated electronic health record
systems, assess how these types of
systems enhance patient understanding of
their laboratory information, and facilitate
patients’ access to their own test results
through these electronic system.

18. Educational preparation of MLS needs to include
experiences targeted to develop communication and
consultative skills using problem-based scenarios and
simulation exercises. Delivering patient-centered care
includes the delivery of care that meets each patient’s
goals, tailored to their cultural, social, and physical needs.
Competence in Delivering
Patient Centered Care

19. Competence in Working as Part
of an Interdisciplinary Team
MLS education program should emphasize
communication and conflict resolution skills, as well as
respect for other healthcare professionals and their
scopes of practice. Interprofessional teamwork is
considered essential for seamless, high quality
healthcare.

20. By integrating patient safety concepts and crafting
assignments to develop the Institute of Medicine core
competencies and aims, future practioners will be better
prepared to effectively practice medical laboratory
science in the healthcare system of the 21st century in
ways that will help patients safe from harm.

21. Reference:
Morris, S., Otto, C. N., & Golemboski, K. (2013). Improving patient
safety and healthcare quality in the 21st century—competencies
required of future medical laboratory science practitioners.
American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science, 26(4), 200–204.
https://doi.org/10.29074/ascls.26.4.200

22. ”As to diseases, make a habit of two things
— to help, or at least, to do no harm”
Hippocrates

23. RENOMERON, JHYNES AEIRENE D.
BMLS 1-B
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