In this issue:

Article 1
Product Spotlight
Movers & Shakers
The Empowered Healthcare Manager
Article 2
This month in Phlebotomy Today
Survey Says
What Should We Do?
Tip of the Month

Article 1

Sara Ann Needs a CBC, written and illustrated by Jim Carrol, is available at www.xlibris.com.

     Sometimes When You feel Bad, written and illustrated by Deborah Brock, is available at the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Sciences’ online store at www.ascls.org.

     So You Have to Have a Blood Test was published by the Minister for Employment, Training, and Further Education, Government of South Australia, and is available in the TAFE SA online store at https://shop.tafesa.edu.au

Movers and Shakers recognizes individuals in the industry who are making a ruckus. Passionate visionaries, activists, and change-agents who are working to improve patient care by increasing the quality of blood samples collected and the caliber of those who draw them through innovation, education, legislation, and leadership. They do so tirelessly, often without any compensation besides the satisfaction of making healthcare better at delivering good health. 

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We first brought IGGBO to your attention in the July 2015 issue. Since then we've done significant research on their ambitions and find ourselves duly impressed...and we don't impress easily. In fact, we consider them true movers and shakers in the industry.

Founders Dr. Shaiv Kapadia, Nuno Valentine, and Mark Van Roekel launched IGGBO in spring of 2015. The company now operates in over 95 cities and has over 6,000 phlebotomists signed up. “We believe in connected, personalized medicine for everyone,” says Valentine, co-founder and CEO of IGGBO. “How we do that is through on-demand technology. Our goal is to reinvent blood logistics.”

Dr. Kapadia adds, “In the medical community we know that roughly 70% of healthcare decisions begin with a blood draw. Phlebotomists therefore have a unique opportunity to transform the entire healthcare experience one blood draw at a time. Our IGGBO phlebotomists are positioned at the forefront of this change and they are helping to accelerate healing for all patients.”

IGGBO connects phlebotomists with providers, health systems, and wellness programs in need of blood work for their patients, but don't have the means to perform the procedure themselves or could do it more efficiently using IGGBO’s pool of independent phlebotomists. An estimated 30% of physicians-ordered lab draws never take place. But IGGBO is averaging 98.2% appointment compliance. “IGGBO offers providers a way to quickly arrange diagnostic testing that can improve order fulfillment, health outcomes and patient satisfaction.”

It works like this. Say a patient on blood thinner calls her doctor because she's noticed she's bruising more and bleeding longer than usual. She calls her physician who decides a protime needs to be drawn. Instead of making her come into the office, he places an order in the IGGBO system. This is where you come in.

As an “IGGY” (the informal name IGGBO phlebotomists are calling themselves) you carry a specialized iPhone provided by IGGBO with the app preinstalled. If you have a good customer rating and quality score, you receive a message seeking the services of an IGGY in the area. The first IGGY to accept the request receives information about the patient's location, what to draw and where to deliver the samples. It's like Uber but for phlebotomists.

The lab pays IGGBO for the phlebotomy service. Iggbo then pays the phlebotomist a percentage. The service is free to doctors and their patients. IGGYs have full control over their schedule by accepting as many or as few appointments as they wish. IGGBO provides phlebotomists with ongoing training, a smartphone preloaded with the software, connections to suppliers, and professional services.

“The rewarding part of building IGGBO is that it gives phlebotomists an opportunity to elevate themselves in the profession while increasing their income and job flexibility,” says Van Roekel. “We are turning phlebotomists into entrepreneurs.” Many phlebotomists and nurses work full time jobs and set their availability on the IGGBO app during their off-hours to earn extra income.

“This is the future of phlebotomy,” says Dr. Kapadia. “Using modern, on-demand technology, we can work together to remove current barriers in phlebotomy and unlock all of the potential for advanced blood diagnostics. For everyone, everywhere.”

 Become an IGGY!

 
The Empowered Healthcare Manager: The value of humility 

Every month, Phlebotomy Today-STAT! reprints one of the prior month's posts to The Empowered Healthcare Manager blog, written by Dennis Ernst. 

 Subscribe to The Empowered Healthcare Manager.

Product Spotlight:  []

Article 2

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This Month in Phlebotomy Today:
 

Here’s what subscribers to Phlebotomy Today, the Center for Phlebotomy Education’s flagship newsletter currently in its 15th year of publication, are reading about this month:

Feature Article
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On the Front Lines
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From the Editor's Desk
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Sticks, Staph, and Stuff
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High-powered Talent
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Movers & Shakers
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What's Wrong Here?
A monthly image to test your powers of observations

Subscribe to Phlebotomy Today and get this issue immediately.

Survey Says: [subtitle]

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What Should We Do?: [subtitle]

 What Should We Do? gives you the opportunity to ask our team of technical experts for advice on your most pressing phlebotomy challenges. Whether technical or management in nature, we’ll carefully consider solutions and suggestions based on the industry’s best practices so that you and those in other facilities with the same problem can benefit, all the while maintaining your facility’s anonymity. What Should We Do? is your opportunity to ask us for suggestions on the best way to handle your real-life dilemmas.

This month's case study: 

Got a challenging phlebotomy situation or work-related question? Email us your submission at [email protected] and you just might see it as a future case study. (Names and identifiers will be removed to assure anonymity.) 
     Each month, our “What Should We Do?” panel of experts collaborates on a response to one of the many compelling problems submitted by our readers.

Email us your submission at [email protected] and you just might see it as a future case study. (Names and identifiers will be removed to assure anonymity.)

Tip of the Month

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