Contributed by Dr. Manole Cojocaru, RoEQALM, President.
IFCC Nat. Repr. (Romania)
The 5th International Symposium on quality
assurance in laboratory medicine was held under the auspices of the
Romanian Academy of Medical Sciences from May 12-14, 2006 in
Bucharest, and attracted almost 200 participants. It has become the
official meeting for laboratory scientists from all over world. The
initiative is supported by Romanian Society for External Quality
Assurance in Laboratory Medicine (RoEQALM), with participation of
the Romanian Bureau of Metrology and the Romanian Accreditation
Association (RENAR). Speaking at symposium RoEQALM, the President
outlined the benefits of the collaboration and highlighted the need
for more evidence-based information and "serious analysis". These
last fifteen years have produced tremendous advances in laboratory
medicine and we have much to do together.
It is always interesting to take a look at how good (or
bad) we are at what we do. This year RoEQALM chose to look at
"Traceability of test results and standardization in laboratory
medicine; actual situation and perspective" the meeting provided a
state-of-the art review of the latest concepts and technology in
the field and presented the most recent advances in quality
assurance. Each year, the program is carefully planned by the
Scientific Committee to provide as complete coverage as possible of
the latest developments in quality assurance.
In general, the focus was on: standardization in
microbiology (Klaus Janitschke, Germany); traceability concept
(Jaana Mantere, Germany); validation of analytical procedures (Jose
M. Queralto, Spain); IFCC's traceability and standardization
programme (Mathias M. Műller, Austria); quality specifications in
coagulation testing (Andrea Griesmacher, Austria); good
laboratories need good training (Gerard T. B. Sanders, The
Netherlands); metrological traceability of IVD calibrators ( Teresa
Batet, Spain); implementation of the concept of traceability
(Lothar Siekmann, Germany); assay standardization and global
harmonization of clinical chemistry through traceability (David A.
Armbruster, USA) and; evaluation of uncertainty of measurement in
routine medical laboratories (Claude Giroud, France). With regard
to information activities in External Quality Assurance in
Laboratory Medicine, of course, the symposium cannot cover the
whole subject but tries at least to give a survey. I discussed
standardization for quality assurance of anticardiolipin antibody
testing by ELISA. The scientific sessions were very well
attended.
The interest in clinical laboratory has increased
enormously within the last years. My Romanian colleagues made a
good impression about clinical laboratory medicine in Romania and
its progress in the past decade. The symposium was a new step
toward quality assurance in laboratory medicine. The exchange of
information and the opportunity to discuss with people from all
over the world helps to make our work tremendously exciting.
RoEQALM is deeply indebted to many people who have worked together
to achieve such a successful meeting. The International Symposium
2006 was truly outstanding, providing all the pre-requisites to
attract at least the same number of participants next year. The
friendship between the peoples of Romania and Europe may be further
enhanced. It is hoped this small introduction will encourage you to
join us in Romania in 2007. Furthermore, we hope to have further
collaboration with experts from around the world.
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