Sample journey poster competition

For April’s IBMS Competition (see box, below) we’re asking you to put a poster up at your local GP surgery and then take a picture and send it to us. A lot of patients are not aware or simply do not think about the fact that their samples are sent to hospital laboratories where skills and expertise are used to analyse them and produce detailed reports. This is why we have created three animated sample journey videos and put them online at www.samplejourney.com. The posters included with this month’s issue highlight some of the characters and facts from the videos and ask people to visit the website to watch them.

The videos present the stories of three patients whose tissue, urine and blood samples are analysed by biomedical scientists in histopathology, microbiology and biochemistry laboratories. All three of the videos focus on the skills involved in the processing of samples and how the work of biomedical scientists affects patient outcomes.

If you haven’t seen our sample journey animations yet, be sure to head over to www.samplejourney.com and watch how Ian’s urine, Michelle’s blood and Mohammed’s tissue sample are processed by Cherie, Danny and Jo. These short minute-and-a-half animations have been made with the general public in mind – informing them about the skills involved in the biomedical science at the heart of their healthcare.

With an estimated 150 million samples processed every year in the UK – it’s time everybody knew more about the biomedical science workforce. Your pictures will be posted in our Facebook gallery and the one with the most likes on Tuesday 30th April will be the winner.

If anybody wants more sample journey posters (or the leaflets we have produced to go alongside them) please contact us at: communications@ibms.org

We can’t wait to see your sample journey posters in GP surgeries across the land!

#IBMSCompetition

Every month, the IBMS communications team run the IBMS Competition through their social media channels – prompting members to share their pictures and promote the profession. Winners usually receive “I love biomedical science” goody boxes, but this month there will a few special extra prizes for people going the extra mile.

Competition rules

• Before you put your poster up, please ask for permission at the reception desk, show them the poster and say that you are a member of the Institute of Biomedical Science and that you want to help inform patients about the science behind their healthcare.
• Before you take a picture of yourself and the poster (or just the poster), please make sure you are allowed to do so and try not to get any unwilling members of the public in your shot.
• Post your pictures online using the #IBMSCompetition and #PosterInYourGPs hashtags on Twitter, put it in the comments of the pinned competition thread on our Facebook page, or email communications@ibms.org
• The competition closes on Friday 26th April 2019