Accreditation
QMP-LS News articles on accreditation.
The Quality Management Program—Laboratory Services is pleased to announce that Julie Coffey will assume the role of Associate Director, OLA.
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View a 3.5 minute video about the process to create Version 6.0 of the OLA Requirements and Guidance Information. Participants, Scientific Committees, Advisory Panel members, stakeholders and QMP−LS staff each have important roles in ensuring our most important document is current and useful in helping laboratories to prepare for an assessment, and for guiding our assessors to apply the requirements consistently.
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Do you struggle to meet these OLA Requirements? Through interactive activities, this workshop will provide you with the opportunity to engage with colleagues in sharing industry best practices. Individual topic discussions will be facilitated by the CLMA Education Committee as well as members who have had great success in meeting the tough requirements – and who have figured out the ins and outs we should all know!
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The current version of
OLA Requirements and Guidance Information (Version 5.1 December 2011) is due for a complete review to ensure continued suitability in light of changes to the reference sources and current methodologies. The current requirements and guidance information will be reviewed extensively during 2013 with an updated version 6.0 anticipated for release in December 2013.
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Do you struggle to meet particular medical laboratory accreditation requirements and would you like to know if you are in good company? If yes, this session is for you!
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The Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) is a regional body of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and it fosters the harmonization of accreditation practices to ISO standards. On December 5, 2012, Quality Management Program – Laboratory Services (QMP-LS) was recognized by APLAC as a competent provider of accreditation to medical laboratories against ISO 15189, and was admitted into its mutual recognition arrangement (MRA). The MRA facilitates the acceptance of laboratory test results around the globe. QMP-LS is the 35th signatory to the APLAC MRA. Linda Crawford, Director, OLA participated in a signing ceremony at the APLAC MRA Council meeting in Sydney, Australia.
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Since September 2008, OLA requirements have included six separate requirements for internal auditing (prior to this, they were Good Practice Recommendations). As a backgrounder, read the QMP–LS News article Internal Auditing – Raising the Bar Beyond Self-Assessment and the Eye on OLA: Internal Auditing: the Ten Steps, in the March 2008, Issue 124 . The chart below shows the number of times each of the six requirements have been cited from 2008–2011.
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Once again the OLA division would like to invite all laboratory professionals to comment on how well we have met our program values based on your most recent assessment.
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QMP–LS is pleased to announce the release of the OLA Requirements Version 5.1 and completion of the annual requirement references review. The release of the new version is necessary because of one change in legislation and one change in regulation. Laboratories with OLA assessment notification dates after December 23, 2011 will be assessed using version 5.1.
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By Terri Molloy
There are several requirements addressing proficiency testing (PT) which licensed laboratories in Ontario must meet in order to be accredited. OLA Version 5.0:
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VII.9 The laboratory shall participate in interlaboratory comparisons such as those organized by external quality assessment schemes for all examinations included within accreditation. When a formal interlaboratory program is not available or feasible, see VII.10.
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VII.9.2 Proficiency testing and external quality assessment samples shall be treated as much as possible in the same manner as patient samples.
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VII.9.3 There shall be no interlaboratory communication on proficiency testing and/or external quality assessment data before results are reported.
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VII.9.4 The laboratory shall document and record results from proficiency testing and/or external quality assurance programs.
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In celebration of National Medical Laboratory Week, IQMH, along with its partners the Quality Management Program—Laboratory Services (QMP–LS) and Ontario Laboratory Accreditation (OLA) have created a video showcasing the work medical laboratory professionals do.
The video highlights the work of Gaman Modi, an Ontario laboratory professional who travelled to Tanzania to help the lab at the Mnazi Mmoja Hospital prepare for ISO 15189 accreditation. Using knowledge he gained as a member of the initial OLA Advisory Panel and an Ontario laboratory quality management professional, Gaman’s goal was to transfer the knowledge he gained locally and let the staff at the hospital take the lead in the project.
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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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