Finding an effective approach to engage staff in quality management can be challenging. Try creating an environment that encourages participation through team building activities where staff are empowered to contribute to quality conversations and improvement.

Georgia Carr has worked as a frontline medical laboratory technologist (MLT) in biochemistry, hematology, and transfusion medicine, later overseeing flow cytometry as well as quality and compliance. Both her grandparents and parents were born in Northwestern Ontario, which is where her passion lies. Georgia is currently the laboratory manager at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC), working to ensure optimal delivery of laboratory services for the region. 

Valerie Hencze has been a volunteer medical laboratory assessor with Accreditation Canada Diagnostics for over 12 years. Her expertise is drawn from her 20 years of experience as a core lab technologist. For the past 17 years, Valerie has worked in the department of anatomical pathology at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario. She describes her role as an assessor being a key piece of quality management, as a medical laboratory technologist.

With over 33 years of healthcare leadership experience, Manuel Giraldo has held several positions in private and public organizations. He had worked in various capacities at two major teaching hospitals in Toronto and currently is a senior leader of the Department of Laboratory Medicine at North York General Hospital. Manuel has participated in several hospital-wide initiatives, such as breast cancer accreditation and improvements around Access to Care. He is also quite engaged in Choosing Wisely national and international initiatives.

Laurie Sweeting is a medical laboratory technologist (MLT) with further education in health services management and public administration. Laurie has had the opportunity to work with numerous laboratory teams in major academic hospitals. Through her work at the Ontario Ministry of Health (MOH) and Cancer Care Ontario (CCO), Laurie has helped shape provincial laboratory policies and programs. She is currently the director of operations and quality manager at In-Common Laboratories (ICL), a not-for-profit laboratory and broker of laboratory tests that provides test referral services upon which Ontario laboratories depend. Laurie notes that ICL services have recently expanded to work with pharmacists to support the COVID-19 response.