CMPT holds its Annual General Meeting, October 2017

CMPT holds its Annual General Meeting, October 2017

Clinical Microbiology Proficiency Testing program, a program of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine held its annual general meeting in the Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre October 16-17. It is a time to bring all the committees and volunteers together to review the activities of the year past and to start the discussion on goals and objectives for the year forward. The meeting brings together people from across Canada (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia).

Highlights from the past year included re-affirmation of our ISO certification (ISO9001:2015) and accreditation (ISO IEC 17043:2010), increased participation from US, Europe, and Africa and news of new interest in South America and Europe. For a group with a small footprint (Dr. Noble and 4 staff) CMPT is able to cast a very long shadow across Canada and around the world.

For information on our Goals and Objectives for 2017-18 and on our record of achievements, our Annual Report is available at www.cmpt.ca under Publications

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 conference was attended by around 80 participants including UBC and BCIT students, as well as laboratorians from across Canada and from the United States. 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.

In the on-line satisfaction survey, responses were received from more than 50 percent of the participants and rated the conference highly both for content and for networking opportunities. The conference was rated over all at a mean score of 86/100 (median score 89 and mode score 90).

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