The Scientific and Practical Conference with International Participation “Innovative Directions for the Development of Laboratory Medicine” was finished in Kyiv on October 17-18, 2017, within the framework of the 10th Jubilee International Exhibition LABComplEX-2017 in the KyivExpoPlaza Exhibition Center, organized by the All-Ukrainian Association of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (hereinafter – ACCLMU), the Department of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics of the P.L. Shupik’s National Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education, and the Technical Committee on Standardization 166 “Clinical laboratory studies and systems for in vitro diagnostics”, with the assistance of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
Almost 1000 specialists in the field of laboratory diagnostics from all regions of Ukraine took part in the work of the Conference. Among the foreign guests of the Conference were leading experts from Poland, Germany, China, and UAE.
At the plenary sessions of the Conference, special attention was paid to the international and European experience in the implementation of the quality system in medical laboratories, the necessity and inevitability of such implementation were stressed, as well as all the advantages of implementation of such a system for laboratories, doctors and patients.
Besides, issues of modern requirements to the accuracy of the results of clinical laboratory studies were discussed. ACCLMU Vice-president, Associate Professor of the Department for Forensic Toxicology and Clinical Biochemistry of the Kharkov Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education Protsenko V.M. reported on the experience of approbation of recommendations regarding the accuracy requirements for the results of clinical laboratory tests in Ukraine using the results of the XIV round of interlaboratory comparisons of the results of measurements of biochemical parameters and hemoglobin content in the Kharkiv region, which allow more efficient and accurate evaluation of the quality of these results.
It was very important to discuss the experience of centralization of clinical laboratory tests in Ukraine and abroad. Head of the Laboratory of the Consultative and Diagnostic Center for Childhood Services in Darnytskyi District (Kiev, Ukraine) Redko N.A. reported on the main problems faced in this connection by the medical laboratories in Kiev, the main “for” and “against” centralization, and also stressed that centralization is the only possible way of development of laboratory medicine in the conditions of reformation of the domestic health care.
Extremely important for domestic specialists in the field of laboratory medicine was the international exchange of experience in formation of the processes in medical laboratories in the light of the requirements of international standards. Thus, the main specialist in quality management of the ALAB-laboratoria (Warsaw, Poland) Urshulya Vent shared her experience in the implementation of the international standard ISO 15189 requirements into their activities, the medical director of the Preanalytical systems of the EMA region department (Dubai, UAE), Dr Sumedha Sahni reported on the problems of ensuring the cost-effectiveness of standardization and improving the quality of the pre-analytic stage of clinical laboratory tests, expert of the Siemens Healthineers (Germany) Josef Riegelhofer spoke about new approaches to complete automation of tests in medical laboratories, and an expert in hematology products and quality control of Sysmex Europe GmbH (Germany) Monika Goemann noted features of quality assurance of hematological research.
It was also useful to discuss the clinical and economic aspects of modern diagnostics of critical conditions, of approaches to laboratory monitoring of anticoagulant therapy, of molecular allergodiagnosis, and of planning and monitoring of technological processes in the cord blood banks.
The main conclusion of the discussion at the conference was the formation of a unified platform of action and consolidated efforts in each region of Ukraine aimed at the availability and quality of laboratory research.
Within the framework of the Conference, the ACCLMU General Assembly was held, where reports and re-elections of the leaders of the Association were held. Besides, delegated were informed about the merging of the Ukrainian Society for Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics to the ACCLMU, and on the fact that the Association was granted the status of a full member of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) and of the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM).
