Training Laboratory Quality Managers for 2021 and beyond

In 2003 two things happened.  In that year the first version of the standard ISO15189:2003 medical laboratories – particular requirements for quality and competence was published.  One of the requirements in the new standard was that medical laboratories were required to have a person in a position referred to as the Laboratory Quality Manager.   

In the same year a new and unique course was started at the University of British Columbia to provide education for those seeking information and insight on what is required and expected for a person interested in becoming a Laboratory Quality Manager. 

That course has continued every year, training people around the world.  Because it is a certificate, non-credit course, people with a variety of backgrounds can take the course and gain the knowledge required.  Over the years we have had laboratory physicians, laboratory doctorate scientists, graduate students, physicians-in-training, research laboratory managers, clinical laboratory supervisors, laboratory technologists, all participate.  

What we require is an understanding of laboratories through 3 years of work experience, and a capability to take and actively participate in an on-line course in English.  (Actually we put on the course in a country where English was neither the first or second language, and it worked remarkably well.)

The course has been immensely successful.  It has attracted people from around the world.  We have had a successful certification rate of about 90 percent.   We have had people who have taken the course, continue to work in laboratory quality and return to the course and become mentors, replacing others who have retired.

There are reasons for our success.

•     It is on-line and accessible.
  
•    The course takes advantage of text, pictures, audio, video multimedia
  
• Because it is delivered across many time zones, the access and delivery is primarily asynchronous, meaning that people can work at their time in their time zone, but still have an active and flowing conversation.
  
• The course does focus a lot of time on ISO and ISO standards (including ISO15189).  But it also looks at other laboratory quality systems for clinical and research laboratories that are NOT ISO based.
  
• It demands active participation by the course planners, and staff, and mentors and participants.  We call it VCOLE: Virtual Classroom On-Line Education.  People’s activity is monitored and if they are away, they are contacted to make sure that remain active.  This is NOT a course where you sit in front of your computer and do a quiz and get your certificate.
  
• The course takes 22 weeks to complete (January to June).    It is long enough to gather a lot of knowledge and experience, but short enough that people can continue to work while taking the course.
  
• The course provides large group discussion, small group discussion, group projects, individual quizzes and a final examination.  People describe the course as busy, active, demanding and very very positive.  (When people finish the course, they tend to remain in touch with their small group peers who often function as peer Quality colleagues.
  
• The course works is developed and delivered using the studied principles of Knowles Andragogy (adult learning).
  
• The course is updated and revised every year to ensure that the information is always relevant to the current understanding of laboratory quality. 
  
• The course has a “holistic” approach to Quality in that addresses Customers requirements, Testing and Service and Management, and Staff Culture expectations.
   

We have just finished the 2020 session and are preparing for 2021.

For more information go to:  https://polqm.med.ubc.ca

Registration starts in September 2020

Registration is limited.

PS:  Many Laboratory Directors see value in paying the registration fees for their staff because they understand the value of having a Quality Manager who is knowledgeable, informed, and connected to peers and mentors across their country and around the world.

For what they pay, they get back 10 fold from the savings they derive from reduced expenses due to Poor Quality.

Meeting the Needs

It is remarkable that 2019 marks 40 years since Philip Crosby wrote his seminal book Quality is Free and his declaration of the Four Absolutes of Quality, the first of which was “Quality is defined as conformance to requirements” by which he meant that if the customer has certain requirements and expectations, such as defect free and durability, precision, and date of delivery, and all are met, then the product is meeting the customer’s requirements and can be fairly called a Quality product.   Meeting Requirements or Meeting the Needs of the Customer is not a cornerstone of modern quality, it is the cornerstone. 

As we think about meeting needs, it becomes clear that needs go a long way from purely “technical” considerations.  Yes, precision, and timeliness are still critical needs for medical laboratory testing, but so are clinical relevance, and interpretation, and context, and clear language and of course getting the right information to the right person and not infringing of confidentiality.  Satisfaction is essential, but is only the first step.  In our arena, our customers extend to cover health care personnel working with the “patient” as well as their family and friends and contacts and caregivers, and public health and the institutions of health.  It is not that meeting the needs has become more complicated; rather it is that we have become more aware of what people want, need and expect.  

So in November 2019 we are going to bring the discussion to the larger table.  On November 24-26 a conference will be held here in Vancouver BC Canada to look broadly at the theme of Meeting the Needs.

The conference will be an ideal forum for people interested in Quality in the Medical Laboratory field including technologists, Quality specialists, students, trainees, administrators, and pathologists from BC, across Canada and even beyond.

As we gear up you will see increasing information at https://polqm.med.ubc.ca/

This would be a good time to start thinking about your own poster presentations.

More to come!!!

A successful Quality conference

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine’s  Program Office for Laboratory Quality Management hosted its 6th October Quality Conference at the Paetzold Education Centre at the Vancouver General Hospital  from  October 1-3, 2017.  

The theme of Laboratory Quality in Challenging Times seemed to be appropriate.  While the reality of medical laboratories for the past twenty-five plus years, seems that it is always challenging, we seem to be reaching a capstone point with shrinking resources, fewer (and aging) staff, increasing customer expectations and demands, new sources of competition, and disruptor technologies.  Laboratory life is becoming a perpetual "Advil" moment.  On a more positive note, we are seeing new and thriving signs of inspiration and initiative and innovation.  

Tomorrow may yet be a better day!

The conference was attended by around 80 participants including students from the university and provincial institute of technology.  While most attendees were from my home province, there were also laboratorians from across Canada and from the United States.  Its good to have a base, but I will continue to push for a broader audience.

 For a Canadian conference on Quality I was very satisfied with the audience size.  It created a great opportunity for both individual and group participation in a way that larger conferences can't offer.  One example:  After each themed section with two or three speakers, there was a round-table discussion in which the audience, speakers, and moderators could discuss, challenge and debate for 20-30 minutes.  It was an energizing participatory exercise that created as many sparks as the presentations themselves.  Tough to do that with an audience of 500 or more..

 A coterie of excellent speakers from our department, from across Canada and international spoke to the theme of Laboratory Quality in Challenging Times, touching on topics including Patient-Centred Care, Laboratory Leadership, Improvement, Evolution of International Standardization, “Take-Away Tools”, Quality Initiatives, and the Opportunities for Quality Specialists.  Speaking to the collaborative program between POLQM and the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH), currently in conjunction with the  American International Health Alliance, and the Ministry of Health Zambia,  Dr. Lucy Perrone, University of Washington and Directory of   I-TECH Laboratory Strengthening Program spoke of the International Opportunities in Quality and Dr. Michael Noble spoke to training in Quality through the Program Office’s  on-line Continuing Professional Development course.  

We were not surprised, but were still pleased to see that the participants scored the conference for its content.  It was clear that we hit all the relevant key-points for a Quality conference. 

 

In the on-line satisfaction survey, responses were received from more than 50 percent of the participants.  Significantly and consistent with human-sized conferences the conferences was rated highly for networking opportunities.  

Overall, the conference was rated at an impressive average score of 86/100 (median score  89 and mode score 90).

Planning for our next October Quality Conference (2018) will be starting soon.  

For those interested the presentations are available at www.polqm.ca
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