Some professional schools have replaced microscopes for histology laboratory instruction with printed and electronic media. It is recognized that these media cannot replace experience with the microscope and that there is a cognitive dissonance of completely replacing microscope study. In addition, students believe that their time is not optimally used ...

Accurate results from the world's microbiology laboratories are essential for care of patients, control of hospital and community infections, and global epidemiology. Yet those laboratories differ greatly in their access to supplies, published literature and standards, training courses, peer interaction, and mandated quality control. Because much of what is needed ...

PURPOSE: A 2-part survey of United States dental schools was conducted. The first part of the survey was published in 1998 and determined the curricular structure, techniques taught, and materials used in predoctoral fixed prosthodontics courses. The purpose of the second part of the survey was to ascertain the delegation ...

The historical database from the Environmental Measurements Laboratory's Quality Assessment Program from 1982 to 1998 has been analyzed to determine control limits for future performance evaluations of the different laboratories contracted to the U.S. Department of Energy. Seventy-three radionuclides in four different matrices (air filter, soil, vegetation, and water) were ...

Major forces are now reshaping all businesses on a global basis, including the healthcare and clinical laboratory industries. One of the major forces at work is information technology (IT), which now provides the opportunity to create a new economic and business model for the clinical laboratory industry based on the ...

In this article, the production and validation of a new certified reference material "PCBs in animal fat" for the control of the maximum level of 200 ng/g setup by the European Communities for veterinary products from Belgium is described. Three materials are established: a blank, one material with about 100 ...

This article describes how benchmarking can be used to assess laboratory performance. Two benchmarking schemes are reviewed, the Clinical Benchmarking Company's Pathology Report and the College of American Pathologists' Q-Probes scheme. The Clinical Benchmarking Company's Pathology Report is undertaken by staff based in the clinical management unit, Keele University with ...

Programs for Accreditation of clinical laboratories consider participation in External Quality Assessment Schemes (EQAS) a key element in the evaluation of testing procedures and improving them. One of the main functions of EQAS is to assess whether laboratories perform tests competently. It is therefore of utmost importance for laboratories to ...

One of the priorities of the European Confederation of Clinical Chemistry (EC4) is the harmonisation of the clinical laboratory profession in Europe. One of the first steps is to try to harmonise the quality systems, that is, the clinical laboratory organisational structure, responsibilities, procedures, processes and resources involved in quality ...

The mission of the Federation of European Societies of Clinical Chemistry is to support and promote clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine in Europe, to aid communication between the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) and National Scientific Societies, to develop education and quality in the discipline, and ...

Since 1994, when the NIST/NOAA Quality Assurance Program in Chemical Measurements was discussed in Queretaro, CENAM, the National Measurement Institute (NMI) of Mexico, has become involved in the development of reference materials. In the field of biological and environmental reference materials, in particular, the NORAMET collaboration program with NIST and ...

We evaluated the performance of independent microbiology laboratories in Tokyo over an 18-year period of participation in the external quality assessment (EQA) program, and we estimated the impact of the EQA program. The study design was a longitudinal retrospective analysis of performance, including isolation, identification, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of ...

OBJECTIVES: To establish the rates with which reference laboratories resolve inquiries telephoned to them from primary laboratories and to identify reference laboratory practices associated with higher rates of inquiry resolution. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: For 2 months, or until 50 contacts had occurred, 545 primary laboratories participating in the College of ...

In the last academic year, a training period in a surgical skills laboratory, using plastic models, was included as a part of the 'Cirurgia 3' ('Surgery 3', 6th year) programme of Faculdade Medicina Lisboa. To evaluate the training period, a structured, anonymous questionnaire was administered at the end, seeking students' ...

Clinical laboratory science (CLS) students are presented courses in each of the laboratory disciplines and often are not given the opportunity to correlate data from all areas of the laboratory as it relates to a patient. Management courses are often taught in a classroom setting without an opportunity for real-life ...

A research program in space radiobiology is described in this report. The program is focused on the effect of the shielding on the biological effects of heavy ions. Both experiments and models are included in the program. Experiments aim to determine genetic effects of heavy ions with or without shielding. ...

Since 1997, after having identified for the first time C4N2 (the only molecule detected on Titan and undetected in the laboratory at this date) in a simulated atmosphere of Titan, our group intended to determine several properties (including optical behavior) of laboratory analogues of Titan's tholins. This article summarizes the ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine what value a senior departmental comprehensive examination holds in predicting the future success of a student on the MT(ASCP) certification examination. DESIGN: Part 1: To evaluate the efficacy of the comprehensive examination, scores were obtained in the examination categories of hematology, clinical chemistry, immunohematology, and microbiology for ...

BACKGROUND: Staffing core laboratories with appropriate skilled workers requires a process to schedule these individuals so that all workstations are appropriately filled and all the skills of each worker are exercised periodically to maintain competence. METHODS: We applied a genetic algorithm to scheduling laboratory personnel. Our program, developed in Visual ...

BACKGROUND: A growing number of laboratories are using the mouse as a model system in developmental biology as well as in molecular biology. Surprisingly, most of these laboratories do not have reliable computerized systems to track these animals, and the few commercial solutions available are expensive. We thus developed MICE ...

Significant advances within the field of laboratory automation and instrumentation have greatly benefited the pharmaceutical industry in its quest to discover, develop and monitor the quality of its products. Necessitated by the need for efficiency and greater productivity, faster and more cost-effective means of analyses exist in the form of ...

For nearly a year prior to this past June, grad student Roger Hu had been following with increasing anxiety the case of Wen Ho Lee, the Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist who had been arrested and jailed in New Mexico under suspicion of mishandling classified data. Now Hu struggles to ...

A post-baccalaureate certificate program in diagnostic molecular sciences was created in 1995 by the Diagnostic Genetic Sciences Program in the School of Allied Health at the University of Connecticut. The required on-campus lecture and laboratory courses include basic laboratory techniques, health care issues, cell biology, immunology, human genetics, research, management, ...

Competency assessment is an ongoing, continuous process of monitoring individuals' abilities to perform their specific job functions. A variety of methods are useful in monitoring cytology competency, including rescreening studies, descriptive monitors (abnormality rates), discrepancy rates, workload patterns, competency-based educational programs and programs using unknown slide challenges. The goal of ...

OBJECTIVE: To develop a training program with intervals of continuous quality control assessments for the evaluation of strict sperm morphology. DESIGN: Prospective analytical study. SETTING: Academic hospital and academic institution setting. PATIENT(S): Healthy sperm donors. INTERVENTION(S): Nine individual andrology laboratories in Switzerland were invited to participate in a training course ...

The Queen's University Department of Pathology and its affiliated hospital laboratories (Kingston, Canada) have operated a successful laboratory outreach program for more than a decade in Southeastern Ontario. The outreach program provides high quality reference testing and technical and professional expertise in laboratory medicine to largely rural and small urban ...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where 10210 cases of tuberculosis (TB) were reported in 1997, 86.2% of them with pulmonary TB. To assess laboratory resources, practices, biosafety measures and training needs relative to the volume of work required for the TB control program and implementation of directly observed therapy, short course ...

We developed a program to facilitate the monitoring of biological samples (cell lines, sera, etc.) that are stored in liquid nitrogen containers. The program consists of a "virtual" container in which scientists can store their samples and a program that records the location of each sample, cell characteristics, storage dates, ...

The Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA'88) established national standards of laboratory practice and test performance in the areas of registration and certification, inspection, proficiency testing, personnel qualifications, quality control, patient test management, and quality assurance. A memorandum of agreement between the Department of Health and Human Services and ...

BACKGROUND: To determine the contribution of laboratory costs to the overall costs of managing hospital patients with different diseases, we studied the costs of laboratory testing overall and in relation to the other costs incurred during hospitalization. METHODS: We used a database developed by the University HealthSystems Consortium containing >1 ...

Over half of the undergraduate students entering physiology hold a misconception concerning how breathing pattern changes when minute ventilation increases. Repair of this misconception was used as a measure to compare the impact of three student laboratory protocols on learning by 696 undergraduate students at 5 institutions. Students were tested ...

Educators have placed an emphasis on the development of laboratory materials that supplement the traditional lecture format. The laboratory materials should encourage active learning, small group discussion, and problem-solving skills. To this end, we developed a virtual experiment designed to introduce students to the theory and application of the electrocardiogram ...

The restructured laboratory experience offered a safe environment that supported student experimentation with psychomotor skills and self-initiated approaches to problem solving. Restructuring psychomotor laboratory experiences with emphasis on communication and conceptualization of principles supported students to begin addressing clinical problems with flexibility, creativity, and the premise for lifelong skill acquisition. ...

BACKGROUND: Trends in laboratory automation and critical project principles and design concepts are presented. APPROACH: MDS AutoLab technology development and automation projects were reviewed. Successful methods and approaches were extracted. ISSUES: Continued pressure on the laboratory to reduce costs and increase productivity has catalyzed dramatic development in laboratory automation. Today, ...

BACKGROUND: In an effort to reduce overall laboratory costs and improve overall laboratory efficiencies at all of its network hospitals, the North Shore-Long Island Health System recently established a Consolidated Laboratory Network with a Core Laboratory at its center. METHODS: We established and implemented a centralized Core Laboratory designed around ...

OBJECTIVE: To describe a comprehensive integrated laboratory quality management plan for gynecologic cytology. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cytopathology laboratory performance monitors with interlaboratory comparison. RESULTS: Utilizing College of American Pathologists Q-Probes studies, the College of American Pathologists Interlaboratory Comparison Program in Cervicovaginal Cytology, and other published data, a quality management program ...

While it has been said that PCR is likely to replace DFA as the test of choice, accessibility to and cost of the technique may limit the number of laboratories that are able to implement the process. Still, the advantage of DFA staining relative to other diagnostic methods, including PCR, ...

Existing proficiency-testing (PT) programs do not address the complexity of postmortem forensic toxicology. These programs do not include decomposed samples and solid tissues. Therefore, the Federal Aviation Administration in July 1991 started such a needed PT program. This program is used to: (i) professionally develop and maintain technical currency on ...

Inter-technician and between-laboratory differences, especially during the evaluation of sperm morphology, have been a major cause of concern. The study aimed to develop an intensive training programme with intervals of continuous quality control assessments for sperm morphology. Twenty andrology laboratories from sub-Saharan Africa were invited to participate in a World ...

The aim of the present study (part of an EU AIR programme on boar taint) was to make objective the perception of boar taint in entire male pork, and to relate the perception to skatole and androstenone levels. Trained analytical sensory panels in seven European countries assessed pig meat with ...

The unique and challenging nature of work with animals requires special animal care and use training at all levels. Degree programs, certification boards, and continuing education programs ensure that those who work with animals have the knowledge and skills necessary to provide the best care possible.

The German Societies for Clinical Chemistry (DGKC) and Laboratory Medicine (DGLM) have established an official working group on molecular diagnostics in the field of laboratory medicine. The group's objectives are to support the establishment of molecular biology methods for the use in diagnostics in German clinical laboratories. Towards this end, ...

Enrollment in clinical laboratory science (CLS) programs has declined over 50% since 1980. This has led to the closure of many CLS programs while putting others at risk. This article examines the environmental changes that have occurred since the early 1980s and their impact on CLS programs and enrollment. Recommendations ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine managers' perceptions of the impact of teaching students on the clinical laboratory, including: productivity, costs, recruitment/new employee orientation, staff morale/attitude, and staff professionalism. Managers' views on responsibility for teaching and reasons for not having students were also determined. DESIGN: Written survey, randomized sampling. PARTICIPANTS: Five hundred laboratory ...

BACKGROUND: The Foundation for the Accreditation of Hematopoietic Cell Therapy (FAHCT) was established in 1996 to develop and implement the inspection and accreditation program of the parent organizations, the International Society for Hematotherapy and Graft Engineering (ISHAGE) and the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplant (ASBMT). Training of inspectors ...

Laboratory information systems (LISs) have evolved into complex applications to meet the specialized needs of laboratories. As integrated delivery systems (IDSs) continue to emerge as a dominant model for healthcare delivery, clinical laboratories serving them face two imperatives that affect IS decisions. First, laboratories in IDSs must consolidate to reduce ...

OBJECTIVE: To conduct a study to show possible differences in clinical laboratory science (CLS) education in relation to knowledge and skill levels deemed most important to job performance success of entry bench level CLS practitioners as determined by laboratory supervisors. Information gained from the study may indicate areas of program ...

In recent years students have increasingly objected to laboratory exercises involving animal subjects. We have replaced the valuable animal experiments with demonstrations using a full-scale human patient simulator. In small groups first-year medical students observe realistic clinical situations such as opioid-induced hypoventilation, pneumothorax, and pulmonary edema. Students obtain information through ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine essential content areas of immunology/serology courses at the clinical laboratory technician (CLT) and clinical laboratory scientist (CLS) levels. DESIGN: A questionnaire was designed which listed all major topics in immunology and serology. Participants were asked to place a check beside each topic covered. For an additional list ...

Understanding the contributions that the laboratory can make in product/process development, process improvement, market surveil lance and general business is key to the pharmaceutical business today. Poor laboratory practice yields compliance issues, increased cost, increased cycle time and delayed product introductions. This paper covers key areas of customer satisfaction, the ...