CORE LABORATORY
Early and frequent communication with key stakeholders can help ease the adoption of new hematology analyzer in your organization. As part of your communication strategy, begin by identifying major stakeholders and how they will be impacted by the transition to new technology from your current system. Additionally, consider any ways in which your organization can mitigate negative impacts to these stakeholders.
A stakeholder mapping exercise may help you in identifying these key individuals, what’s important to them, important points to communicate to set appropriate expectations, communication channel and the frequency of communication. A sample template, with considerations for various stakeholders, is provided in the table below. Even before executing the targeted communication plan, it may be appropriate to announce the laboratory’s plan to transition to a new analyzer in collaboration with the hospital public relations (PR) department and communicate via social media, the hospital newsletter, or other internal channels to ensure overall awareness of the upcoming change.
Stakeholder | Care abouts | Communication points | Communicatiton channel | Frequency of communication | Communication lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medical Technologists | • Impact on workflow • System operation and performance | • Implementation plan • Technology differences and similarities | • Staff meeting • In person workshops and demos | Weekly | Project lead |
| Laboratory Managers | • Impact on laboratory efficiency • Clinical performance | • Workflow and KPI considerations • SOP updates | • Staff meeting • In person workshops and demos | Weekly | Project lead |
| IT | • Compatibility with LIS and middleware | • Provide connectivity requirements | • In person planning meeting | Weekly, through integration | IT represenative |
| Pathologists | • Clinical performance | • Provide an update on changes to nomenclature for available parameters / flags • Discuss any revisions to reference ranges • Generate evaluation data and review results • Review any new annotation requirements • Provide progress updates and go-live date | • Interdepartmental memo • Medical staff ground rounds | As needed, continuous, post implementation | Program lead |
• Perform a key stakeholder analysis prior to the start of installation and integration
• Develop and execute a comprehensive communication plan that will help ease the transition to new analyzer
