Klinisk Biokemi i Norden Nr 1, vol. 20, 2008 - page 53

53
| 1 | 2008
Klinisk Biokemi i Norden
EMD Visiting Lecturer Program is a program which
allows the lecturers, invited by a National Society, to
visit a country and give a lecture on a specific topic.
Abbott Diagnostics has given a substantial grant to
IFCC to expand the Visiting Lecturer Program to
developing countries. Roche Diagnostics GmbH has
also given a grant to enable persons from developing
countries to attend IFCC meetings. Ortho Clinical
Diagnostics Inc. (OCD) has given a generous grant to
hold biannual specialized meetings at a low registra-
tion fee. The first OCD Conference will be held May
18th-19th, Birmingham, UK. The topic of the meet-
ing is Biochemical Markers in Clinical Cardiology:
Perspectives from Present to Future. You will find
more information of the conference on the website
www.ifcc.org.
One of the visions of the present Executive Board
is to improve public relations, which is one of the
most important duties of Communications and
Publications Division (CPD). WHO has reported
currently that more than 80% of the diagnoses are
based on laboratory tests. All of us in the profession
of clinical chemistry have to work with physicians to
enable them to understand laboratory’s role in the
diagnosis and therapies of patients. To accomplish
this during the year 2007 IFCC has been work-
ing to improve the visibility of laboratory among
other medical specialities. For this purpose a joint
IFCC-“Labs are Vital
TM
” campaign, sponsored by
Abbott Diagnostics Laboratories, was launched dur-
ing EuroMedlab Congress. IFCC was invited to be
a partner in this campaign. The main goal of this
campaign is to promote the value of the laboratory
professional in the eyes of the health care system
and the general public. You will find more detailed
information about “Labs are Vital
TM
” on the website
(www.labsarevital.com).
Quality of laboratory tests and accreditation are
vital for the correct diagnosis and care of the patient.
Laboratories have to continuously improve their
performance. This can be achieved by training new
professionals for the field, by continuous training
of those working in the field and by accreditation
of laboratories. A new ISO Standard 15189 is being
implemented in several countries for the medical
laboratories. EMD Committee on Clinical Laboratory
Medicine has written a statement, approved by the
Executive Board, on the use of the ISO 15189. It states
that when accrediting medical laboratories according
to this standard, it has to be ensured that all aspects,
important for the quality of service by medical labo-
ratories, and mentioned in the policy statement, are
duly covered. You can find this statement on the
website (www.ifcc.org).
The past year has been active, exciting and pro-
ductive. This year is also very busy with the General
Conference in Antalya in April, OCD Conference
in Birmingham in May and the WorldLab2008 in
Fortaleza in September and many other on-going
activities. I will keep you updated of these in my
future columns.
Foto: Henrik Alfthan. Hallgrimskirkja och Leifur
Eiriksson, Reykjavik
1...,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52 54,55,56
Powered by FlippingBook