Change Management in Clinical Laboratories: A Detailed Analysis

This report examines the crucial topic of change management within clinical laboratories, emphasizing the need for adaptation in response to advancements in medical science and the digitalization of laboratory services. It highlights the role of clinical leaders in facilitating these changes, particularly through strategies that address employee concerns and promote a smooth transition. The report focuses on the application of Kotter's change management model, detailing its eight-step process for implementing changes related to digitalization and compliance with ISO 15189:2012 standards. It stresses the importance of generating a sense of urgency, building a coalition, developing a vision, removing barriers, generating short-term wins, and sustaining acceleration to ensure the successful integration of new systems and practices. The report also underscores the significance of quality assurance and the role of clinical leaders in supporting employees throughout the change process, ensuring that the goals are achievable and that employees remain committed to the transformation.

Clinical Laboratory Science
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Abstract
Change is a continuous process that allows organizations to match with contemporary
challenges. Clinical laboratory science is a dynamic field in healthcare profession, concerning
performance related to various diagnosis and analysis. It deals with a wide range of medical
topics and testing across clinical laboratories at hospitals, biotechnology labs, reference labs and
also across non-clinical industrial labs. Continuous and constant innovations across medical
science domains make it necessary to bring about changes in the domain of clinical laboratories.
Such changes are generally brought about by Clinical Leaders. A clinical leader can be a manger
or senior level personnel involved with management of all aspects especially human resources
within the organization.
The role of a clinical leader in bringing about any type of change within the organization
by suitable motivating and directing its employees towards the change. Change is a process often
disregarded by employees, who tries to prevent them as well considering negative consequences.
Therefore, clinical leaders often accommodate change management strategies to bring about a
process of transition by breaking down the process of change into smaller components. There are
a multiple number of change management models that can be accommodated by clinical leaders
as Lewin’s change management model, the McKinsey 7-S model, Kotter’s theory, Nudge
theory, ADKAR, Bridges’ transition model, Kübler-Ross’ change curve and the Satir
change management model.
In order to bring about changes into the organization and evolve it becomes
necessary to adopt a model and follow a strategy. A Clinical Leader will adopt a successful
change only in case he is able to transform processes present within the organization
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suitable for new roles. The current state of organizational change incorporates changes
made in laboratory services digitalization from traditional systems. Kotter’s model of
change is most appropriate in this case as it focuses employees behind the change. In this
case staff training has to be accommodated for allowing them to operate on digitalized
systems. The laboratory has to also accommodate ISO standards as ISO 15189:2012.
In this Kotter’s change management model steps by step processes will be
accommodated for the entire transformation as generating a sense of urgency, building of a
core coalition, developing strategic vision, getting everyone on board, removing barriers
and reducing friction. Then generating short-term wins, sustaining acceleration and finally
setting the changes permanently. The 8 step process will allow leader to establish vision for
the future and then designing strategy for achieving the change. All the processes
accommodated for change to take place according to ISO certification will ensure that
quality and competence is developed in medical laboratories. Such quality assurance is
developed keeping in line with analysing own competence of medical laboratories and then
regulation compliance. At every step of the change process, change management leader
will be there ensuring that employees do not face any sort of challenges or difficulties in
the same. The leader will motivate employees and break down change management goals
into smaller accomplishable goals for individual employees. He will also ensure that
employees remain com mitted to such goals for accomplishing goals of change
management.
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