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Join CSMLS for a virtual symposium focused on educators, featuring industry leaders from across the country!
We’ll broadcast expert-led sessions to you so you can earn continuing education hours from the comfort of your home or lab.
Wednesday July 23, 2025 1000 - 1600 (ET)
Session 1: Pack your toolkit: Welcoming students with diverse needs into the clinical setting
Session 2: Observational Assessment in Immersion Learning - Strategies to Reduce Clinical Practicum Time
Session 3: Canada’s Evolving Lab Tech: A Qualitative Exploration of a Changing Landscape
Session 4: Hello Can You Hear Me--Developing Phone Call Competency in MLS Students
Session 1: Pack your toolkit: Welcoming students with diverse needs into the clinical setting
There is a vast amount of knowledge available about the services and accommodations, including the use of assistive technologies, that facilitate the inclusion of students with diverse needs into the classroom. But what happens when these students move from the classroom into the clinical setting to fulfill their internship requirements? The Adaptech Research Network identified useful strategies by interviewing faculty clinical internship supervisors, students with various disabilities, and adapted services counsellors in post-secondary institutions. The toolkit developed from this research can be beneficial to support both students with and without disabilities.
Learning Objectives:
Speakers: Susie Wileman, M.Ed and Alice Havel, PhD
Alice Havel completed a Ph.D. in Counselling Psychology at McGill University. Before her retirement, she was the Coordinator of the Student AccessAbility Centre at Dawson College. She has maintained her interest in learning disabilities as a board member of the Montreal Centre for Learning Disabilities. She is a research associate with the Adaptech Research Network and a Scholar in Residence at Dawson College. Her research focus is on the development of inclusive teaching practices through universal design and the use and accessibility of information and communication technologies in postsecondary education for students with disabilities.
Susie Wileman is a part-time faculty member at Concordia University, Department of Applied Human Sciences. Prior to her retirement in 2020 she was a psychologist and service provider in the Student AccessAbility Centre at Dawson College. She is currently a scholar-in-residence at Dawson College and a research associate with the Adaptech Research Network. From 2020-2021 she was member of Concordia University’s Accessibility Policy Advisory Group. Her career interest is focused on inclusion, accessibility, universal design, and services to students with disabilities. Susie continues to engage in research, teaching, and community outreach.
Session 2: Observational Assessment in Immersion Learning - Strategies to Reduce Clinical Practicum Time
Shortening clinical practicum requirements is an important goal for MLS programs that find themselves struggling to obtain clinical practicum. The use of observational assessment strategies in the classroom and didactic environment to ensure student attainment of competency is a critical skill and one that many educators are unsure or unfamiliar. In this session, we will explore the use of observational assessment in determining competence of technical and behavioral skills.
Learning Objectives
Speaker: Greg Hardy, MLT, EdD
Dr. Greg Hardy is an assistant teaching professor and co-director of the MLSc program at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, Ontario, teaching in the Medical Laboratory Science program. His research interests primarily focus on examining critical student experiences within clinical and didactic environments of health science training programs in an effort to develop curricula that prepare graduates for health care practice. He has held several roles across multiple post-secondary teaching institutions, including College of the North Atlantic, Nova Scotia Community College, and Conestoga College, where he recently completed the launch of one of Ontario's newest MLS training program. He is also a per course instructor with the Memorial University.
Session 3: Canada’s Evolving Lab Tech: A Qualitative Exploration of a Changing Landscape
There have been many changes and challenges in clinical laboratories in Canada. Most recent is an unprecedented workforce shortage. The staffing shortages are having the greatest impact in Canada’s rural and remote communities. Many of the medical laboratory professional (MLP) training programs (including the U of A) have increased enrollment in response. The scope of practice and responsibilities of medical laboratory assistants has expanded to cover some of the workforce gaps, and adding internationally-trained MLTs into the workforce is being accelerated . Further still, some jurisdictions are exploring alternate educational pathways to enter clinical laboratory work. This promises to have significant impacts on a wide variety of stakeholders, but we are interested in how practising medical laboratory professionals see themselves in the context of all of this change. Through a series of focus groups with MLPs across Canada, we explored perspectives on the current role of MLPs, and how this has changed over time. In this session, participants will learn about how MLPs are making sense of their dynamic environment, and what they think an MLP will look like in 10, 20, and 50 years. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of the professional identity of an MLP.
Learning Objectives
Speakers: Amanda VanSpronsen, MLT and Lisa Purdy, MLT
Amanda and Lisa have both been educating University of Alberta Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) program students for over 20 years. Amanda’s research interests include clinical laboratory stewardship and the evolving needs of students in an increasingly technological world. Lisa’s research interests include evaluation of simulation tools to bolster clinical training and the ways racism impacts MLPs in the workplace.
Session 4: Hello Can You Hear Me--Developing Phone Call Competency in MLS Students
Today’s MLS students are adept at digital messaging, yet often under-prepared for professional phone conversations, especially in urgent clinical contexts. Phone communication remains a vital aspect of interprofessional collaboration, where clarity, assertiveness, and empathy are critical for patient safety. Miscommunication over the phone can lead to delays in care, strained team relationships, and increased stress for healthcare professionals. This is particularly evident in situations where decisions must be made quickly, and tensions are high.
Learning Objectives
Speaker: Tammy Hardie BA MLT/RT CAE
Tammy Hardie BA, MLT/RT, CAE is currently the Simulation Coordinator for the Medical Laboratory Sciences Program and Simulation Educator supporting Lab and Allied Health Programs at British Columbia Institute of Technology. She is a graduate of the Health Sciences Center/Red River College program in Winnipeg, Manitoba and received certification from the Canadian Society of Medical Laboratory Sciences (CSMLS) in 1989. Since then she has worked as a Medical Laboratory Technologist in a variety of disciplines including Hematology, Chemistry, Microbiology and Transfusion Medicine. Her experience spans the gamut; small community centers, remote northern regional centres, major urban hospitals, and provincial reference laboratories. She made the leap from Clinical MLT work to MLS education in 2004 when she accepted a teaching position at Red River College in Winnipeg. She worked in a variety of capacities during her eight-year tenure there including: primary instructor in Hematology, General Lab Practices, and Phlebotomy and Assistant Instructor in Histology and Transfusion Medicine. She also taught Microbiology in the Life Sciences Program and Canadian Literature in the Library Information Technology program—yes! You guessed it she is a Gemini 😉
Ms Hardie graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree (*with Distinction) in Canadian Literature and Native Studies from the University of Manitoba in 2005. In 2010 she completed her Certificate in Adult Education from Red River College. Over the course of her career she has been an active volunteer with both the Manitoba Association of Medical Lab Sciences (Treasurer), the CSMLS, and the College of Medical Laboratory Technologists of Manitoba (Investigations Officer) and in 2009 she became an active member of the non-profit organization the Flying Doctors of Canada, was promoted to Chief Diagnostics Officer in 2011 and in 2012 accepted a Director position on the Board.
Tammy left the prairies in 2012 to accept a teaching position at BCIT, where she taught Hematology, Hematopathology, and Hemostasis for 10 years. In June of 2023 she was selected by her peers to fill the Secondment for MLS Simulation Coordinator. She is has contributed to the Virtu-WIL projects with CiCAN authoring a Simulation activity for Chain of Custody and co-authoring a Simulation activity in Antibody Investigation using the platform Affinity. She maintains practice and relevancy by working locums whenever she can in BC's remote northern communities. She has a passion for lab work, education, and simulation. BCIT provides an excellent environment for her to pursue these passions!