National Lab Week (April 24-28, 2023) is an annual celebration of medical and lab professionals who play an important role in healthcare. Premier Lab Solutions celebrates the appreciation of all staff by hosting a fun activities week with food, games, and activities.
Take a look at some of the fun events happening throughout the week:
Dress Up Days
Staff are encouraged to dress up according to the day’s theme, such as Pajama Day, Sports Day, and Crazy Hat Day. Each day offers a new theme challenge, and the best costumes are awarded prizes.
Phoenix staff having a blast from the past on Decade Day, a throwback to a favorite era.
Games with Prizes
Management spun a clever twist to some classic team games. A new take on the childhood favorite Candy Guess Game has staff trying to guess how many candies are in a urine cup or laboratory beaker, while Where’s Waldo gets a makeover with lab manager heads pasted onto Waldo bodies for staff to find. Another workplace favorite, Two Truths and a Lie, will have staff competing to learn which of their managers has the most interesting past.
Someone found the winning Lab Waldo in an unexpected place.
Contests
Two fun contests are running all week long, culminating in a competitive showdown at the end of the week. The Create-a-Mascot contest will have teams competing to build a unique lab mascot using everyday lab materials and the Create-a-Lab-Coat contest will have teams decorating a lab coat using only materials found in a lab setting. For extra credit, lab coats can be given a name and slogan.
Lab Mascot “Space Ventura” by “The Zookeepers” team in Phoenix.
Food, Food, Food!
Staff will be getting their grub on all week long as each day brings a new food adventure. From free lunch on Monday to Ice Cream Social Friday, each lab location will host their own Potluck throughout the mid-week.
Sacramento lab enjoying a pizza party on Pajama Day.Serving up Mexican food for the Potluck in the Phoenix lab courtyard.
Appreciation
We firmly believe that our employees are the backbone of the company and that management is lucky to have staff that are great employees and wonderful people. At its core, our company is about serving the community and we couldn’t do that without a community-first workforce. We are so appreciative of our hard-working and dedicated staff.
If you’d like to support our staff during Lab Week, consider sponsoring a meal. For more information, please contact HR at 877-211-4523.
Before 2009 you would have never heard of Candida auris (C. auris). This relatively new fungus is spreading primarily in healthcare facilities such as assisted living and hospital settings, causing deadly infections and illness in humans. It is especially dangerous to elderly and immunocompromised patients but can also affect healthy people. Per the CDC, C. auris is spreading at an “alarming rate” and is an “urgent threat”.
Who is at greatest risk?
C. auris poses the greatest threat to people with compromised immune systems such as nursing home patients and cancer patients. Patients in hospital settings with invasive medical devices or who are enduring extended stays are also at risk.
Why is it so dangerous?
Identification is often difficult, resulting in misidentification or mismanagement of treatment.
C. auris can be carried on a patient’s skin and is often asymptomatic. Patients sick with other diseases may not exhibit symptoms unique to C. auris and thus get overlooked.
C. auris has been found to be drug-resistant, which means once identified, patients have a more difficult time fighting the fungus.
C. auris spreads quickly and easily due to a coupling of the aforementioned reasons.
What can be done?
Proper laboratory screening is vital to detecting and mitigating the spread. Screening new patients to nursing and assisted living facilities and those who have transferred from a hospital will be especially important. Partnered laboratories should be able to provide fast turnaround times.
Deep cleaning hospital and nursing home settings regularly and especially in the presence of afflicted patients will be beneficial in reducing the spread. The fungus can live on surfaces for weeks, so wipe down surfaces and medical equipment thoroughly with proper disinfectants. Staff should practice frequent hand washing.
We can take bold measures and strategic steps to reduce the global impact of Candida Auris by better sanitation practices in medical facilities and screenings of new patients to detect the presence of the fungus. If your facility needs a lab with expertise in testing for C. auris, we provide quicker turnaround times with greater lab capacity than most local labs. Contact us to learn more. Our lab experts are standing by ready to assist.
References: The Washington Post, CDC, University of Mississippi Medical Center
