Department of
Pathology, Anatomy and Laboratory Medicine

Patient Care

  • Gather essential and accurate clinical and laboratory patient information using all relevant available modalities including the Hospital Information System (Merlin).
  • Act as a consultant to other clinicians to develop a diagnostic plan based on specific clinical questions and relevant clinical and pathologic information. This should be accomplished both in the patient-specific setting and the broader context of developing appropriate clinical pathway algorithms for laboratory diagnosis.
  • Consult as part of a multidisciplinary healthcare team in developing a therapeutic plan that includes laboratory monitoring of efficacy and toxicity. Where clinically appropriate, consult on the use of laboratory-based therapeutics such as blood transfusion and other forms of cellular therapy.
  • Provide consultation on the interpretation and follow-up of unusual or unexpected test results.
  • Consult as a clinical expert in blood banking at multidisciplinary conferences.
  • Correctly classify transfusion reactions and give appropriate treatment recommendations.
  • Choose appropriate cross-matching methods for various patients (e.g., electronic, immediate spin, and antiglobulin phase, etc.).
  • Recognize and appropriately refer serological evaluations that are beyond the scope of a hospital-based transfusion service/blood bank.
  • Correctly choose (or recommend) the appropriate blood product for patients with special needs.
  • Triage and screen requests for blood components appropriately during inventory shortages. This may include shortages of platelets and O negative RBCs.
  • Demonstrate the ability to perform blood utilization reviews of RBCs, platelets, FFP, cryoprecipitate and other blood components.
  • Be familiar with requirements for autologous and allogeneic blood donors.
  • Be familiar with the initial management of whole blood and apheresis donor reactions.
  • Be familiar with the management of reactions that occur during peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cell collections or therapeutic apheresis procedures.
  • Work with health care providers, in the generation of accurate and clinically useful clinical pathology reports and effective communication of results to clinicians.