Projects & Initiatives

Workforce Planning

A combination of education and training, technology, and proactive recruitment and retention strategies is necessary to successfully manage staffing levels and ensure service continuity.

Education

DSM continues to collaborate with Red River College (RRC) and other training programs in medical laboratory science and radiology/x-ray to improve and expand upon educational opportunities currently offered. In partnership with RRC, the Medical Laboratory Technology (MLT) program was re-established in 2001 and subsequently expanded from 25 to 40 seats. DSM continues to provide all clinical placements for the MLT and has hired two clinical instructors to provide additional clinical and educational support to students. In 2010 RRC’s Laboratory Sciences Program was reviewed and was awarded the maximum accreditation of six years.

A Return-of-Service program is in place to help fill positions in rural Manitoba with graduating students. Further to this, the intake process at RRC has been revised to include a minimum number of spots for rural students.

DSM has worked with the Aboriginal Peoples College to introduce a technical level Medical Laboratory Assistant training program.

Cross-training programs have been implemented in lab and imaging to support service delivery in small and remote sites. The program provides working imaging skills to Medical Laboratory Technologists and working laboratory skills to Medical Radiological Technologists.

DSM’s award-winning Bridging program also helps internationally trained technologists earn Canadian credentials and return to medical laboratory technologist roles.

Technology

Technology upgrades can play a significant role in managing the time of technologists and technicians. Work processes in larger labs can be re-designed around new equipment and technological advances that are increasingly becoming available. This could include expanding the use of autovalidation and pre-analytical processing to reduce the workload pressures on staff.

Recruitment

DSM is working with site and regional managers to recruit provincially and nationally. Throughout the past two years, DSM has increased participation in national and international career fairs, building awareness of DSM and directly resulting in new hires. DSM begins recruitment efforts early, sending letters of offer/intent prior to graduation.

Retention

A number of HR programs have been developed to contribute to DSM’s culture of excellence. These include a bi-annual staff satisfaction survey, Performance Appraisal Program and a number of Workplace Safety and Health programs.

A Research and Innovation Program has also been established to engage current and attract prospective medical and scientific staff. To read more about past grant recipients and current research initiatives, please visit the Research and Innovation [link to http://www.dsmanitoba.ca/professionals/research.html] page.

Roles and Responsibilities

To better utilize the time of both technologists and medical laboratory assistants, as well as those in clerical roles, DSM has looked at opportunities to more suitably match skill sets to the requirements of the job.

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