- This is Lab Medicine Rounds, a curated podcast
for physicians, laboratory professionals and students.
I'm your host, Justin Kreuter,
a transfusion medicine pathologist
and assistant professor of Laboratory Medicine
and pathology at Mayo Clinic.
Today we're rounding with Alex Klobassa, assistant supervisor
for Transfusion Medicine in the Department
of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic
to discuss nurturing our laboratories.
Thanks for joining us today, Alex.
- Yeah, thank you for having me.
Definitely excited to get your invite.
- Hey, I think you are doing wonderful things
and I wanted to kind of bring this forward in, in this,
this venue here with our audience
and kind of kick around some of the ideas that you've had,
experiences that you've had and, and what you've learned.
Maybe we can start off with, you know, why,
why can it be a challenge to nurture our laboratory team?
- Yeah. Ironically, I find this to be one
of the more challenging questions that you have,
but I think there's always just logistical things
that come up, such as making both the time
and the space for creative thinking.
I think oftentimes in the nature of our work, you know,
the innovative ideas are really coming from, you know,
the different problems that we, that we face,
and then trying to make those ideas into actual projects
and then actually see them implement into our,
into our daily work.
You can face a lot of different things such as, you know,
scheduling and finding both the resources
and the subject matter experts.
So I think once you find the people
who are invested in those things, you can overcome
a lot of those barriers.
But just building those relationships and listening,
- I hear you about kind of paying attention to who your,
who your people are that you can tap into
about the logistics issues.
I, this really resonates with me about how do we kind
of create time and space,
and then how do we keep track of things.
It seems like, you know, for many of us, I flag my emails
if I need to respond to this,
but then it just kind of gets far enough down
that I don't go back far enough to see them.
How, how do you
keep track of these ideas, right.
You know, capture these
and if you're, maybe something isn't right for right now.
Like we're, you know,
around the holidays people are probably busy with that.
Maybe a good idea gets brought up.
You know, we all often talk about putting something in the
parking lot, but how do we not forget about the back lot?
- Man, I don't know. I think I've started trying
to use the different teams features that we have.
So a lot of electronic tools and solutions.
I think the using different channels
and creating different groups,
and then Outlook calendar is definitely my,
my magic secret wand,
because I will put things on there a couple months from now
and then it will remind you
and I'll be like, okay, yeah, I gotta look back at my notes
and see where we're at on this and reach out to people and,
and get it back going off the ground.
- Mm. So with the electronic solutions there, I'm,
I'm sensing this, you know, organization
that you have about you.
- Yeah, definitely. - So in,
in keeping those things organized, I guess that's also,
you said, looking back at your notes,
how do you keep those organized?
Are those also electronic for you,
or do you have some system of making sure you're kind of
keeping those things in order?
- I have both a OneNote that I like to call my work diary,
and it has all different sorts of tabs
and different notes from different meetings,
and that one's just for me,
but then also having, you know, the teams
where the groups are, so those meeting minutes
and saving them there so everyone can have that information.
I think there's a part of it that's personal organization
and then there's part of it that's kind of
that team organization and,
and making sure that that information is
accessible to everyone.
- Mm, I see.
So you've been working with a couple
of different teams over the years
and have, I think, kind of been perfecting your approach
to things and definitely see you
as a fellow lifelong learner.
Yes. What have you learned about,
about nurturing a laboratory team?
What have been some kind of key takeaways
as you look back on the last couple of years?
- A lot. Probably too much to cover today, but I think first
and foremost just, you know, realizing
that things don't need to be perfect to implement something.
And oftentimes it's just your, your first draft.
Once you get it going, it's just, you're gonna be able
to keep building on that.
And because you bring other people in
who are excited about it,
it's just gonna keep getting better.
So learning to be okay with being uncomfortable sometimes
and learning to be okay with it, not not being exactly
as you planned is, is really important, I think, to keep,
to keep things moving forward
and encouraging kind of that creative space.
- I, I like that when you say, you know,
perfect is not necessary probably
for a good amount of our listeners, right?
The medical community, you know,
particularly in lab medicine, you know, that that might kind
of run counter to, seems like the ethos of,
of lab medicine of, you know, we're always striving to,
you know, always be meeting the patient's needs
appropriately, getting the correct test results out.
I imagine that you've run into some resistance
when you've tried to get and
and just like, okay, it's this first draft.
Let's see how this goes.
How, how have you navigated that?
And you know, maybe if, you know, maybe that's leadership
that was kind of voicing concern, maybe
that was colleagues in the laboratory voicing concern.
How do you work through that
and get people kind of on board with let's, let's do,
let's see how draft one looks?
- Yeah, I think first
and foremost, just reassuring people
that we will circle back to this.
You know, we can celebrate both our success
and we can celebrate, you know, lessons learned
and that we will actually follow up on them.
And I think that actions kind
of speak a lot louder than words sometimes.
So sometimes if you can schedule a meeting, you know,
proactively for two months in advance
and call it the check-in meeting
or devote that time far out in the future, just anticipating
that there will be things that you can improve on
and bringing, again, bringing that information back
and keeping the most open line of communication that you,
you can, and just being really honest about where it's at
and where you want it to go.
- That's brilliant about putting that meeting in place,
because I imagine that gives you instant credibility, right?
Like you put it, the meeting on the books, people see
that you are going to circle back to that
and it seems like that probably can quell a lot of things.
And then also I imagine that gets that off
of your to-do list as well. Yes.
- Well that's my reminder, so it's a double win.
- Oh, fantastic. When you say, you know,
I guess we've kind of been maybe beating around
the bush a little bit about what, what you have done and,
and why we're kind of talking
and having this conversation today.
Would you mind sharing for our audience, like
what are a couple of the things that you have kind
of worked on over the years in our, in our laboratories
to kind of nurture the team?
- Yeah, I think two of the bigger things are a book club.
So I was really fortunate to be a part
of a divisional leadership program and in that class
and through that program I met people from all across the
division and formed different relationships.
And at the end of it, one
of my fellow like participants in the program reached out
and asked if I would be interested in kind of starting
a divisional book club.
And so just sitting down one-on-one with that person
who I was not in the same work unit as me,
but seeing both of our ideas
and how we could bring people together once a month
to talk about leadership beyond the program
was really fun.
And I think it's kind
of evolved over the past couple years.
So we just finished our third book
and we have about 15 to 20 participants each year that meet
once a month to discuss a certain chapter of the reading.
We have, you know, myself
and one other facilitator currently,
and we try to provide the questions ahead of time so
that people can kind of start mulling over things,
but they're not all encompassing questions.
They're just meant to get the, you know,
the conversation started.
And so again, being able to see that from year one
to year three, there's been things that we've changed
and there's been things that we've kept the same.
So just, you know, continuing to build off of those things
and getting new people involved every single year has been
extremely rewarding.
And then I think the, the other thing
that I've recently been working on is a
simulation center project.
So that one is more specific to my work unit,
but we were kind of having a lot of problems
and challenges with our emergency response.
So in the nature of our work, we need
to respond very quickly and rapidly
and that can be stressful at times.
And we learned that our hospital has a simulation center, so
bringing together a team within my work unit
and, you know, being able to see how we could utilize that
to go into a creative
and safe space to practice an emergency stress response has
been a really cool experience.
And there has been a ton of challenges with that project
and since we've had the right people on the team,
we've been able to overcome 'em.
- That's awesome. Let me just give you a public shout out
for your questions in the book club are
phenomenal, you know?
Yeah. So for our listeners, Alex is,
I wish I had it in front of me with some examples,
but these questions that she is sharing ahead
of time are the kind of questions where, you know,
really cau causes you to hit pause and,
and think for a bit about these things.
And then also the questions I feel like really have the
slant of not, you know, some factual kind
of recall over what was read,
but like, how does this apply in your
life or practice?
And so I, I find it a really interesting question set.
I think that's part of your secret for so much success
and participation over the years.
I also imagine that's probably one of the projects that
for our listeners is probably very applicable for them.
And so you mentioned that, you know,
some things have stayed the same and,
and yet you've changed some things.
And I was wondering if you wouldn't mind kind of elaborating
for our, our audience, like what,
what did you keep the same?
'cause that seemed to be just really kind of fundamental
and then like what, what did you change and,
and how did you go about that?
- Yeah, I think creating those questions ahead
of time and sending them out.
I am very fortunate
to have a really great co-facilitator with me.
So we kind of have a mini book club prior
to the book club coming up with all
of those really good questions.
So I definitely can't take credit for all of those,
but sending those out ahead of time really helps people.
And it's always been really great
because you see people coming
and they've not only thought about those questions,
but they've thought about other things.
So it sparks so much more discussion
and it's really free flowing.
It's not always like, okay, this question,
now this question, it, it creates a discussion instead
of just going through the motions of these,
this is the content that we read.
I think that the things
that we've changed is we've really tried to
engage people in, in the book club in the sense that
in person is so much more natural to have conversation,
but the first year we did the book club,
we were still going through Covid.
So trying to transition from that hybrid format
to a fully in-person format, you know, is challenging
because we don't wanna limit our participants either
who maybe work offsite or remotely.
- Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I, I have a huge challenge with
that these, these days, especially as like,
some meetings are in person, other ones are, are online,
and every now and then I, I get confused over
where I'm supposed to be.
- Yes. - So, you know, I I,
I really appreciate kind of how,
what you've shared with us today.
I wonder if we could kind of close with,
if you don't mind sharing what is in
that back lot for you?
You know, what, what is kind of a, a future opportunity
that kind of has been sitting in your, your mind about
a future opportunity to improve our lab team?
- Yeah. I think, I can't take full credit for many
of the things that I've been involved in,
but honestly, I don't know what the next idea is.
I think it's probably hidden somewhere in a conversation
that hasn't been had yet
and that a bunch of people will get excited about.
I think that some of the things that our department is doing
as far as bringing problem solving to the forefront
of our lab with these huddles,
I'm really excited about that.
I think that that is going to create a lot of ideas
that we can turn into different projects
and different things that we can involve people in.
But moving forward, just building on the book club
and the simulation center
and then taking advantage of the things that come out
of this frontline problem
solving approach that we're heading towards.
- Well, Alex, I think in your, in your answer there,
I really hear, you know, this, you know,
your strong sense of really this servant leadership, right?
Like the next idea for our team
is not the idea that is in your head,
but the idea you bring up that the next I great idea
for our team is in a future conversation.
Yes. I, I think that is a spot on insight
that our listeners can kind of take back
with them and think about.
Going back to the top of the interview,
you were talking about cultivating these relationships
and how key that is.
- Yes, definitely.
- We're rounding, we've been rounding. Let me start off.
We've been rounding with Alex Blasa, thanks
for being here today with us, Alex.
- Yes. Thank you so much for having
me. It's been a lot of fun.
- And to all of our listeners,
thank you for joining us today.
We invite you to share your thoughts
and suggestions via email to
MCL education@mayo.edu.
If you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe
and until our next rounds together, we encourage you
to continue to connect lab medicine
and the clinical practice through educational conversations.