Transcription

• Elizabeth McMahon

  Serving patients no matter the distance or the natural disaster at their door. A celebration of the professionals who keep labs humming. First stop, remote British Columbia. This story and more next. This is the Path News Network Daily Edition from the College of American Pathologists. I'm Elizabeth McMahon. It's Wednesday, April 15th. April is a special time for the laboratory professionals who play a critical role in diagnostic testing and patient care. This week, the CAP joins its northern neighbors in celebrating Lab Week in Canada with partners from the Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science. The CAP accredited its first lab in Canada in 1978. Today, there are 48 accredited labs across seven provinces. Lisette Vienneau is the Regional Director of Diagnostic Services for Northern Health, a health system in British Columbia that operates more than two dozen hospitals across 600,000 square miles and includes 14 Indigenous communities. She says the system's lab teams work across geography and disciplines, often virtually, to ensure consistent standards while remaining flexible to respond to local health needs. This collaboration was especially vital during COVID when Northern Health's lab teams had to rapidly implement new testing platforms and manage a surge in testing volumes.

• Lisette Vienneau

  What made it so successful was the regional coordination. So team shared protocols, validation, data, staffing, lesson learned across sites. And that collaboration didn't stop after COVID. It's fundamentally strengthened how we work together today. We've seen the same teamwork during major technology implementation now, system upgrade, wildfires, floods, instrument failure, and most of the staffing challenges that we're facing, and where really the planning, communication, and mutual support were critical to maintain patient safety and testing throughout our region.

• Elizabeth McMahon

  Vienneau is particularly proud of how her teams came together over a two-year lab. outpatient improvement project that connected Northern Health's 26 collection facilities. The effort fully digitized a paper and fax-based requisition system that is already reaping benefits for labs, physicians, and patients, often in unexpected ways.

• Lisette Vienneau

  Last summer, we were faced with two communities that were evacuated due to wildfires. So we had the Fort Nelson community, which is four hours north of the closest one. And then another smaller one at... which was an hour, Tumbler Ridge was an hour away from a major center. So because of digital requisition, rapid story, we were able to connect with those patients and still collect their blood in the closest center where they were actually relocated. So not delaying their collection, not delaying their care. And that really made a big impact for them.

• Elizabeth McMahon

  With the support of CAP's external quality programs and educational resources, Vienneau says her team has high confidence to act quickly and efficiently using best practices. It's a mindset that's helped the team put patients first, no matter the challenges they face or the distance they cover.

• Lisette Vienneau

  It's actually a privilege for me to work with a team that constantly rises to the challenge. I know I can count on them. It's the reason I show up for work every day. I show up for my patient and I show up for my team because they show up for me.

• Elizabeth McMahon

  Join us for tomorrow's podcast, where we'll hear from a longtime lab leader in Ontario who is given the ultimate gift in support of the patients she serves. Though it may seem far off to pathologists who are still inspecting glass slides, grading tumors, and dictating their findings, AI and digital pathology are quickly revolutionizing each step in cancer diagnostics. A new article at the Inside Precision Medicine website explores just how fast the shift is happening with some pathology leaders and companies laying the groundwork. Among them is former CAP President Dr. Marilyn Bui, a senior member of the Departments of Pathology and Machine Learning at Moffitt Cancer Center. She's leading a full digitization of clinical and research labs by 2027. Moffitt entered a multi-year collaboration with integrated AI and digital pathology company PathAI for the transition. Other health systems are building models that capture both the structural and contextual features of slides at multiple magnifications. Find out more about how Moffitt and others are training AI on cancer pathology images at the Inside Precision Medicine homepage. The CAP is a community of diverse interests, experiences, and areas of expertise. But no matter what your specialty is, all members seek to make an impact on pathology. There's nowhere better to do that than on a CAP council or committee. The 2027 application cycle to apply I for a council or committee is still open but time is running out. Whether your interest is accreditation, education, artificial intelligence or another area, there are more than 60 committees to fit your interests. Go to the councils and committees section under the member resources tab to read up on each one. Keep in mind that the number of open positions varies because they are term limited. Need a pro tip? Last minute and unexpected openings can occur. So if a council or committee you prefer doesn't have an opening, consider applying anyway. The deadline to apply is May 1st. That's all for today's Daily Edition. Be sure to check the show notes for more information on today's stories. Got a story you'd like us to cover on the Daily Edition? Write to us at stories at cap.org. We're back at 5 a.m. Eastern for another episode of the Daily Edition. I'm Elizabeth McMahon. Have a great day.