The purpose of this article is to clarify that this requirement applies to all staff involved in clinical laboratory work (as defined by the scope of accreditation)—including medical and scientific staff.
Version 5 of the OLA requirements was released in December 2010. In it, OLA requires that laboratories assess the competency of each person’s performance of assigned tasks. This means that accredited laboratories need to assess the performance of both medical and scientific staff involved in clinical laboratory work, as defined by the scope of accreditation.
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During the past five years, QMP–LS has made several significant changes to the External Quality Assessment (EQA) program, including the use of web-based worksheets, reports and discordant findings investigations and the introduction of performance scores for evaluation of performance. In making these changes, our goal was to provide our participants with a world-class program. In order to understand the acceptance of these changes and to improve our services, we invited our participants to complete an anonymous Participant Satisfaction Survey created in SurveyMonkey. An email notice with a link to the questionnaire was sent on Nov. 26, 2010 to 1261 participants whose email addresses are in the QMP–LS database. Five hundred thirty (42%) participants responded by the due date of December 13, 2010.
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The current version of references for the OLA Requirements and Guidance Information (Version 5) is due for review to ensure continued suitability of the references to the documents and methodologies which they support.
All laboratory professionals in Ontario are invited to review the current requirement references, discuss their suitability and provide feedback to OLA. Your comments will be tabulated and presented to our stakeholders, scientific committees and Advisory Panel members as part of an extensive consultation process that will culminate in the release of a new version of references for the OLA Requirements and Guidance Information (Version 5).
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The EQA Cytology Testing Program requests submission of the following slide cases to update the current slide inventory.
Type of Material Required
Gynecologic (liquid-based ThinPrep slides), preferably with abnormal diagnoses.
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By A. McGeer, C.A. Fleming, B.M. Willey, D.E. Low
QMP–LS has been tracking the evolution of resistance in common hospital pathogens in Ontario since 1996. In January 2011, QMP–LS conducted its 15th annual survey assessing the incidence of resistant hospital pathogens in the province in 2010. All 80 (64 hospital-based, 15 community-based and 1 public health laboratory) currently licensed bacteriology laboratories responded. These 80 laboratories provide service for 211 hospitals. See Table 2 (p. 12-27 of PDF file) for detailed responses.
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By Margaret Hall
QMP–LS is pleased to launch its new website that will offer all visitors a visually enhanced interface, greater functionality and easier access to the information they want.
With a fresh, polished look that reflects the excellence of our programs and services, the new QMP–LS website communicates our commitment to sharing knowledge and partnering in quality, plus it’s easy to navigate and it’s lean
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