The meeting has an image of being on the forefront of developments in quality thinking in laboratory medicine and health care. However be assured that being on the cutting-edge does not interfere with the intimateand relaxed atmosphere of the conference. An exciting program of plenary lectures, posters and workshops has been arranged on a wide range of current quality topics in Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine. There is also the opportunity for delegates to display their findings through poster presentations.
During last years conference gradually an idea emerged for our conference to be held in 2012 (March 29th and 30th 2012 at the Elzenveld Centre, Antwerp, Belgium). The total error budget is pretty well defined in laboratory medicine as well as the components involved. The ICLS (former NCCLS has a risk management guideline can be explained, and a error budget calculation workshop can be programmed). However everybody claims the entire budget: industry as well as the medical laboratory service. (Let alone intra-individual variances and other components contributing to sporadic, unpredictable variability’s.) Professor Klee as well as Professor Westgard both mentioned that a joined effort. Industry and profession, should team up. That’s the only way to improve the overall performance of the medical laboratory service.
Industry says: we do not hear any complaints, so we presume everybody is happy. The medical laboratory says: our customers are used tour service level and are happy as well. But: calculations show clearly that the total error budget (the total allowable error is low) is limited. And that only by a joined effort it can be diminished and so we can build the medical laboratory of the future.
2010 antwerp conference audience
Join the 'Quality in the Spotlight' family on their annual gathering in Antwerp, Belgium. The scientific level and atmosphere are refreshing: it's time for some new ideas !
The suitable technique for any particular laboratory will be searched for during the workshop. A perfect place for the interaction between industry and laboratory.
Various asects of Antwerp as a city were present within the program over the last years. We focused on diamonds, fashion, beer and art. In 2010 we focused on an Antwerp issue, frites, touching on the Quality of life in Belgium. This years conference will explore the quality ofwine and food. Do not miss it!
The ‘Quality in the spotlight’ meetings are an international forum within the field of health care to discuss quality, delivered as well as requested. It is a non-profit organization, founded in 1999. Each year the Westgard Quality Award is given to a person that contributed in the field of laboratory medicine and with a special interest on quality. A selection of the speakers of the 2005 Antwerp meeting : Sverre Sandberg (Norway), Sharon Erhrmeyer (USA), Nico van Duijn (Netherlands), Jean – Claude Libeer (Belgium), Henk Goldschmidt (The Netherlands), and Jonathan Kay (United Kingdom). In addition a variety of industrial High Park presentations sheded light on the NEXUS vision. The 11th conference in 2006 of the successful series ´The quality meetings´ was again the place to be. International speakers inspired the participants and lead the discussions. The Westgard Quality Award was presented to Dr. Martin Hinckley. After a decade of conferences leading towards the integral, conceptual NEXUS approach, we are back on the track of practical, down to earth, applications. However these applications consider the medical laboratory as well as the patient and his / her context. In 2007 we discussed the auditing process and norm materials in depth. And in 2008 we discussed the tools to be used. In 2010 were as practical as possible in an extreme way, we redesigned the definition of quality in LM. In 2011 we will try to prove that quality: quality indicators were within the spotlight. The 2012 edition will focus on total error budget calculations and risk management.
Conference diner 2012:
Patrick Van Herck welcomes us again in “Huis de Colvenier”, in the winter garden,
St-Anthoniusstraat 8, 2000 Antwerp, theme “Quality and chocolate”.
For inquiries see the coordinates on the registration form.
