Agrippa- Quality MedLab Scientist

"𝐖𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌 𝐈𝐐𝐂 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘" 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐆𝐔𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔?

One of the major activities we do in the laboratory to ensure accuracy in testing patient samples is performing Internal Quality Control.

We are accustomed to doing it daily such that we forgot to ask the questions;

𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒐 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕?

𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚?

IQC frequency can vary from test to test and lab to lab and here is why;

For each examination method, frequency is based on the stability and robustness of the examination method and the risk of harm to the patient from an erroneous result.

𝐍𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐁𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐔𝐋𝐔 𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐎( 𝐈 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐍𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊)

The pharse is very common in different fields and people who took it seriously understand or use it differently.

Some use it to betray colleagues by means of non- objective discrediting to management, stealing credit and strategically setting them up for failure while tagged to the same project. This group smiles and digs information while having showed up last minute.

Others use it to be alert to those colleagues who may potentially sabotage them. This group doesn't joke around, they act protective and at most serious. They sometimes work in solitude but push work.

While it is true that we have no relatives at work, playing around with the phrase has brought one effect; distance between colleagues o get to work in uncoordinated manner.

I for one, believe in forming better professional relationships and I have benefited skill sharpening and honest sharing of useful information from the same.

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀 𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐘 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐀 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂 𝐐𝐌𝐒 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆..

Another memory of a beautiful smiley people as we reduce space of the gallery, it reminded me of how I started to deliver a partial package of ISO 15189;2022.

I shared,

When you are starting up something that will be complex, whether Laboratory or any other scalable business, you need to consider the following:

1. General ideas of responsibilities (who is going to handle what), ethical values and how information will be managed. That's clause 4

2. Legal requirements which are registrations with relevant bodies. You will also, picture who will be the director, who will work on what, the skills they need and define the activities of your business. That's clause 5

3.Resources to run; man power, equipment and software, a building facility to perform activities from. That's cause 6

4.You need to define the process where your product of service begins and ends in a systemic way because you dont want chipantapante. That's clause 7

5. When all the above are in place, how do you manage service delivery, and improve services? How do you evaluate your management and monitor improvements? Quality Management Systems are born here. That's clause 8

💥The above was delivered in form of story/ ordinary chat before diving into the actual clauses with the prepared material for presentation.

💥Information is appreciated without concentrating hard.

𝑰𝒏 𝑰𝑺𝑶 15189;2022 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒔: 4. 𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔, 5. 𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔, 6. 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔, 7. 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 8. 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑺𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔.

𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐐𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐋𝐒

𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒕 16:40 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝑬𝑸𝑨 𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒍?

in trying to delete old pictures I have found one that was taken almost two years ago at an EQA review meeting.

I thought it is important to share and remind each other on one or two points of EQA handling.

When we asked why some facilities submitted EQA results late and some missed the deadline, the response was, late delivery of EQA panels.
" if panels are late they reach one or two days before the deadline," I tried to counter. They insisted that it was still late.

I shared the following:

👉 EQA panels should be treated like patient samples
👉 Put them on the queue with other patient samples
👉 Should be run by staff running routine samples
👉 There should no be special staff running EQAs
👉 results submitted by staff running routines

"Sometimes we run out of reagents, so we have to source and in the process, time run out."

We discussed, as end user participants:

👉 We need to anticipate for EQAs
👉 Need to know the circle dates
👉 Should care more about quality than the sender of EQAs
👉 This mindset will help you follow up on EQAs rather than been on the waiting side and surprised receipts.

Note: sometimes reagents may be completely stocked out and there is no where to turn to at that particular moment but, feedback has to be given on the EQA platform.

Agrippa- Quality MedLab Scientist Biomedical Laboratory Scientist/
Quality Management Systems Specialist/
Public Speaker/ Coperate MC/
Poet

What is your stance on this particular clause of the HPCZ professional code of ethics with regards to personal life?

𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧.

A health practitioner should observe proper standards of personal behaviour, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬. This is the reason why the conviction of a health practitioner for any offence may lead to disciplinary proceedings even if the offence is not directly connected with the health practitioner's profession. In particular, four areas of personal behaviour can be identified which may occasion
disciplinary proceedings. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞:- 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐡𝐨𝐥 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝/𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐫.

When attending events, before the professional camera flashes, we use our own gadgets to freeze memories.

Lately I have been falling in love with this picture simply because it reminds me of how a smiley guy I once was and I wish to bring it back.

𝐈𝐍 𝐐𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐄𝐐𝐀 𝐈𝐒 𝐀𝐒 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐀𝐒 𝐈𝐐𝐂.

when we ask many people about the practice they do in ensuring laboratory quality, they bring up the running of Internal Quality Control and less of External Quality Assessment panels.

Now look, IQC is a horizontal activity which checks and controls you daily accuracy as you run samples. But trends may shift slowly away from acceptable ranges over time which sometimes maybe tricky to notice.

This is where EQA comes in as a vertical activity to check what has been happening covering wide reasonable period of time detecting those systemic errors.

If you are passionate about processing samples accurately for better patient management, you will treat EQA panels as equal to IQA samples and start looking out for the periodically.

Below is a picture to appreciate a 2025 memory when we oriented a private on participating in an EQA program.

"I thank God for the blessing of life and reaching me thus far" statement is Common especially in this end of year period. Yes it shows gratitude, but to us as individuals, are we able to systematically reflect on ourselves to ensure we are fully aware of ourselves and see where we can work on? Lets not follow suit with posting the statement we "try next year" without proper reflection.

the best to you all as we end the year.