Angela Madeiras (University of Massachusetts Amherst – NEPDN) and Tania Brenes-Arguedas (WPDN Co-Director and National Program Coordinator)
The Communicator: Volume 6, Issue 2, February 2025

The 2023 annual Laboratory Capacity and Impact Survey included a group of questions asking respondents to rate several key aspects of their labs. A total of 75 labs responded to these questions. The data are displayed below.

Survey results

The results of this survey demonstrate that most labs feel very good or excellent about their work. At least 60% of labs reported feeling positive about their diagnostic accomplishments, capability, capacity, infrastructure, collaborative endeavors, and efforts to disseminate knowledge. These results seem to indicate that most respondents are confident in the quality of their work and their ability to provide valuable diagnostic services.

Respondents in general felt less positive about sustainability and knowledge generation. We are hesitant to speculate about reasons why labs may feel less positive about knowledge generation than other subjects. One possibility may be that diagnosticians are not doing as much research as they once did. If you have any thoughts about this topic, the Communicator would like to hear from you: please e-mail madeiras@umass.edu.

Notably, the majority of labs reported feeling least confident in their funding sources and accreditation efforts. Uncertain funding would explain the weak confidence in lab sustainability.  Woodhall & Baldwin and Madeiras published in 2024 regarding the funding challenges that labs are experiencing. We hope to gather more information from you with this year’s Annual Lab Capacity and Impact evaluation.

If you feel that your lab is behind in its efforts to become accredited, you are not alone. Don’t forget that help is available! Go to the NPDN website and click the Accreditation tab on the member dashboard* to learn about online training, document templates, and other resources. Live help sessions also are available this spring. The schedule with a link to the spring 2025 live help sessions is available online*.

*Log-in is required for access

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