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The Division has
prospered and developed under the excellent chairmanship of
Professor Gerard Sanders from the Netherlands. He stands down from
this role in the summer of 2006 and must be congratulated on all he
has achieved. I will succeed him in this challenging, but I�m sure
rewarding, role. I have been a member of the Executive Committee of
the Division for nearly two years and this has given me an insight
into the contributions individual members make to its efficient
running, to ensure that it can provide support to IFCC member
organisations� educational needs in different parts of the
world.
The Division needs to be representative of the
international Laboratory Medicine community which includes the
Diagnostics industry as well as healthcare and academic
institutions. The Corporate Member representative on the EMD
Executive Committee is fully involved in its business and Dr Leo
Vankrieken extremely ably held this role until the end of 2005. Leo
contributed greatly to the discussions and decisions of the
Committee. His successor is to be Dr Rolf Hinzmann, who has
previous IFCC experience, having been a member of the Scientific
Committee. The other Executive Committee members, Dr Mary Burritt
and Dr Leslie Lai, are looking forward to Rolf�s involvement in the
work of the Committee.
Following the elections for the new Executive Board of IFCC, in
July 2005, Dr Michael Thomas is to be the Board member who will
provide liaison between the Division and the Board. Having worked
with Mike on professional activities in the UK, I know that he will
become actively involved in the work of the Committee.
When I take over the role of Chair, the EMD will call for
nominations for a new EC member so, by the end of 2006, the make-up
of the Committee will be very different to what it was in 2005. New
people with new viewpoints but working towards the ongoing
objectives of IFCC in the field of Education and Management. In
reviewing the activities of the Division in 2005 and new
initiatives for 2006 there is a recurrent theme that can be
identified: quality.
The area of �quality�, in its broadest sense, is one in which
clear needs exist for educational input from the Division and IFCC.
Our attempts to address this highlight the different aspects of the
work of the Division, effected primarily through its committees.
The Committee on Analytical Quality (C-AQ) is involved in providing
educational courses on EQA and IQC, in advising on the
establishment and promotion of EQA in individual countries and IFCC
regions as well as collaboration between EQA providers. Through the
Visiting Lecturers (VLP) Dr Ken Sikaris, the committee Chair, has
visited Nigeria to provide a series of lectures on EQA/IQC.
The remit of the C-AQ is set to broaden, with the interest of its
members, in biological variation and the quality aspects of the
post analytical process, including interpretation of laboratory
results. Again through the VLP, Dr Xavier Fuentes Arderiu and Dr
Callum Fraser presented lectures on these aspects of quality at the
Uruguay and Chile national congresses in 2005.
Another aspect of quality is that relating to the organisation and
management of the clinical laboratory service; quality systems,
total quality management and accreditation of clinical
laboratories. This is a subject for which the Division has received
numerous requests for visiting lecturers to cover. In 2005, the VLP
has funded lecturers to speak on quality improvement in clinical
laboratories in Guatemala and Honduras and in early 2006, in
Mexico.
The Committee on Clinical Laboratory Management (C-CLM) is aware
of the worldwide interest for education and training on quality
issues and is making one of its main initiatives the production of
basic guidelines for total quality management and accreditation,
based on ISO 15189. The Executive Committee is also formulating a
strategy to establish a working group to develop and deliver
workshops on Quality systems at International and Regional IFCC
meetings and meetings of national societies, in collaboration with
the C-CLM.
Moving onto the clinical aspects of our discipline, �quality�
comes from ensuring that we provide investigation strategies and
testing protocols that are fit for purpose in respect of diagnosis
and patient management. The Committee on Evidence-based Laboratory
Medicine (C-EBLM) has significantly raised awareness of this
important topic. Through the VLP, the Division has supported the
first IFCC/FESCC EBLM course, held in Budapest in 2005. This course
was extremely successful. As part of the same programme, Dr Rita
Horvath, who chairs the Committee, is to visit nine countries in
the Asian Pacific Region in 2006 and 2007 to present a programme of
lectures. In addition, the C-EBLM organised and contributed to
symposia at the 2005 Euromedlab Congress and the 2005 ICCC/AACC
congress in Orlando.
Activities of the Division relating to fundamental education
provision for young people starting their careers continue to
develop. The Committee on Education and Curriculum Development
(C-ECD) is currently undertaking a complete review and update of
their website. The Working Group for reviewing educational
materials has been incorporated into the Committee and there is
cross-membership with the Working Group on Distance Learning, which
has conducted a survey of IFCC member organisations to assess
requirements in this area.
To be effective any Division that has the brief of education must
keep abreast of developments and endeavour to provide knowledge and
training to incorporate them into practice. As a scientific
discipline, new technologies must be embraced into laboratory
medicine. The Committee on Clinical Molecular Biology Curriculum
(C-CMBC) has been prolific in its contributions to symposia at
international meetings and has held courses on clinical molecular
biology techniques in Italy, Vietnam, Tunisia and Paraguay in 2005,
with more arranged for 2006 and 2007.
In conjunction with Beckman Coulter and the University of Mainz, a
course on flow cytometry was held in October 2005. The Division
would welcome suggestions from IFCC member organisations of new
technologies for which there is a need for formal courses or
workshops.
The success of the Division is totally dependent on the commitment
of all members of its Committees and Working Groups and I know
their range of experience will be invaluable to me as I begin my
term of office.
Janet Smith
Incoming Chair, IFCC Education and Management
Division
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