3 Questions with Brooke Dishaw, MS, MLS(ASCP)CM

Brooke Dishaw, MS, MLS(ASCP)^CM, is a Laboratory Evaluation Specialist in the Laboratory Improvement Section, Acute and Continuing Care and Support Division for the Bureau of Survey and Certification, in the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. She is also a member of the ASCP Council of Laboratory Professionals, and here, she shares her insight on how she got involved with ASCP and more.

How did you first get involved with ASCP? What or perhaps who pushed you to become a volunteer? 

Targeting new groups of laboratory professionals pushed me to volunteer! As someone who inspects laboratories for compliance with CLIA regulations, I often work with physician-owned laboratories. These laboratories hire people to do laboratory testing who may not have a medical laboratory science background. If they have great training and leadership, I find they are successful, but I often see these laboratories are the ones with higher rates of compliance issues. Laboratories I find with ASCP-certified staff have a higher rate of success with their compliance inspections. Because of this, I wanted to provide more information to ASCP about this potential group of laboratory professionals that could want to provide a higher quality of work, get more education, and become ASCP certified.

What strategies or methods have you found most effective for teaching others about laboratory medicine, particularly those without a science background? 

Giving folks a “why?” When explaining to a medical assistant who may think internal humidity indicators on a urine test strip is an appropriate control to determine the entire test system is accurate, one must provide them information for why it isn’t. Reciting manufacturer’s instructions isn’t going to help them understand. Explaining what the instrument is doing when it reads the test strips, that those optical parts can wear out over time, and the new bottle of test strips may not work exactly as the last bottle or lot did gives them more insight into why we do quality control and why it is important.

What do you see as the most significant barriers to young people considering a career in laboratory medicine, and how can these be overcome?  

Unpaid internships and practicums. Students are often required to do a 40-hours per week internship and pay for the credit hours. Students are discouraged from having a job during this time, and it can be a huge financial burden.