New Cardiac Marker Platform
Bruce Aiken, representing Response Biomedical, Inc., introduced he RAMP platform for cardiac markers.

Leadership Communication for POCCs

Rick Import, representing Medical Automation Systems presented "Leadership Communication for the POCC: Essential skills for dealing successfully with anyone”.

Following this presentation, attendees provided the following comments...

• I really liked Rick's presentation.  It was good to have a speaker who involved the audience in the discussion.  It was also nice to have a non-technical speaker mixed in with technical lectures.

• I think he should have included a "References" slide so that we could continue reading up on this subject (click here).

• I thought Rick was great.  He was well organized and was able to "communicate" his ideas very effectively.  I feel like I got a lot out of the talk and have already put some of the methods he suggested into use. 

• I thought that the presentation was very good.  Rick was a great speaker.  I do think it would help to discuss the different cultures of physicians/nurses/lab and perhaps have some role play geared towards that. Otherwise it was great!

• Being new to the group, I want to say that I enjoyed the day and what I learned from others in the group; I'm looking forward to the next meeting.  Thank you.

• Rick was very good. He was funny and demonstrated what he was suggesting very clearly. I was not interested in participating in the "acting out" parts, and was glad there were others willing to do that. I'm glad we didn't have time for whatever the groups of three were going to do. I think I learned quite a bit from his presentation, and it was wonderful that he had taken the time to become familiar with what we actually do! And I will always enjoy sharing with a fellow Monty Python fan!

• I thoroughly enjoyed Rick Import's presentation-it certainly seemed that he understood the role of a POCT Coordinator and the interactive problems that exist with the nursing staff, a group coming from a totally different orientation than we are. He was a good presenter and the humor that he interjected was very appropriate, kept things interesting and made the time pass very quickly, even too quickly. My only disappointment was  that it would have been nice to get into other problems, something that seemed to be in his original agenda.  Maybe more time could be devoted to his presentation.

• I thoroughly enjoyed this meeting. It's great to hear something other than the "same old, same old!" This was SO pertinent to our jobs! Communicating with nurses is like trying to speak to someone of another culture and language, and probably our biggest obstacle. I would even suggest a Part 2 or an advanced session down the road! I though Rick did a great job. He's very personable and knowledgeable. He used some "real life" examples and exercises--which was also great.

• I thought the whole meeting was very well planned. The session on communication was very good. I felt the role playing was especially effective. Rick was very professional and was able to keep the entire group engaged in the discussion. Keep up the good work! We all appreciate it.

Reference List

• "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", -- Stephen R. Covey
• "How to Talk to Anyone", -- Leil Lowndes
• "Yes, But", -- Charles "Chic" Thompson
• "Messages:The Communications Skills Book", Matthew McKay, PhD and Martha
  Davis, PhD, Patrick Fanning
• "Emotional Intelligence; Why it Can Matter More than IQ", -- Daniel Goleman
• "Get Out of My Life, but First Could You Drive Me & Cheryl to the Mall: A
  Parent's Guide to the New Teenager", -- Anthony E. Wolf