UK NEQAS Pre-Analytical Scientific Webinars 2020
UK NEQAS successfully delivered series of eight pan-disciplinary webinars on the topic of Reducing Pre-Analytical Errors in Laboratory Medicine. The pre-analytical webinars were broadcast live on Zoom every Thursday during October ad November 2020.
These webinars brought experts in this field into your own laboratory or even your living room as a benefit of your UK NEQAS membership.
The series has included keynote presentations from Professor Ana-Maria Simundic, on Harmonisation of the Pre-Analytical Phase, and Professor Dr. Pieter Vermeesch on ISO15189 and the Pre-Analytical Phase, as well as sessions on the scientific impact and management of extra-analytical errors.
There are 8 short pre-analytical webinar presentation recordings. These can now be found below and will be available for a limited time only.
Week 1: Harmonisation of the Pre-Analytical Phase and the Role of EFLM
This session will cover the importance and significance of the harmonization of the pre-analytical phase in Europe. Objectives, challenges, and future goals will be discussed, as well as the role of the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM) in facilitating this process.
Speaker Name: Ana-Maria Simundic
Co-Host Name: Barbara De la Salle
Day/Date/Time: Thursday 8th October 2020, 15:00-16:00 (UK London time)
This session has now been delivered, please click here for the presentation recording
Week 2: ISO 15189 and the Pre-Analytical Phase
The ISO15189:2012 standard is aimed to improve quality in medical laboratories by standardization of all key processes, including the pre-analytical phase. It is, however, a common experience that accreditation bodies for ISO15189:2012 tend to spend only a small amount of time auditing pre-analytical activities. Moreover, there are also significant differences in how technical auditors interpret the pre-analytical requirements described in ISO15189:2012.
The aim of this session is to give an overview of a number of important pre-analytical requirements contained in the ISO15189:2012 standard and provide guidance for laboratories on how to meet these requirements. These ISO requirements were discussed within the EFLM Working group Pre-analytical Phase (WG-PRE) and for each ISO requirement, a minimal recommendation and a best-in-class solution were agreed upon by consensus. The target audience for this session is laboratory professionals who want to improve the quality of the pre-analytical phase in their laboratory.
Speaker Name: Pieter Vermeersch, MD PhD
Co-Host Name: Mr Andrew Platt
Day/Date/Time: Thursday 15th October 2020, 15:00-16:00 (UK London time)
This session has now been delivered, please click here for the presentation recording
Week 3: Serum Indices
Depending on the level of Haemolysis, Icterus and Lipaemia (HIL), laboratories may not be able to get an accurate result for some laboratory tests. This webinar uses data from the UK NEQAS for Serum Indices EQA Scheme to review and compare manufacturer performance of HIL Indices. As examples, we show at the impact on routine assays such as Serum Creatinine and Serum Cholesterol. The session concludes by looking at the current laboratory practice of handling indices, including their use in other matrices.
Speaker Name: Rachel Marrington
Co-Host Name: Ana-Maria Simundic
This session has now been delivered, please click here for the presentation recording
Week 4: Sample Stability
Carrying out in-house assessments of analyte stability can be a minefield. This webinar will discuss why assessing stability is important and will give an update on the current literature on how to determine analyte stability, and how to present and report findings.
Speaker Name: Sophie Hepburn
Co-Host Name: Sean Costelloe
Day/Date/Time: Thursday 29th October 2020, 15:00-16:00 (UK London time)
This session has now been delivered, please click here for the presentation recording
Week 5, 5th November 2020: Reducing Sample Rejections Due to Pre-Analytical Errors (GOSH experience) AND Managing Transgender Reference Ranges
2 in 1 – Individuals attending this particular webinar will have the benefit of listening to 2 presentation sessions in 1
Presentation 1: Reducing Sample Rejections Due to Pre-Analytical Errors (GOSH experience)
This presentation will share findings of a pre-analytical process quality improvement project at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). The aim of the project was to reduce the number of sample rejected in the laboratory due to errors in the pre-analytical stage. The presentation will highlight the challenges of collecting samples from children and the actions GOSH have actively taken to improve the process.
Speaker Name: Wisdom Musabaike
Co-Host Name: Revd Dr Gordon Sinclair
This session has now been delivered, please click here for the presentation recording
Presentation 2: Managing Transgender Reference Ranges
Laboratory professionals aim to provide safe and effective services to all patients they serve, including transgender patients. Given limitations in many laboratory information management systems, provision of laboratory medicine services for transgender patients can be challenging. This talk discusses some of the key issues facing laboratories in this regard and discusses potential ways forward.
Speaker Name: Sean Costelloe
Co-Host Name: Revd Dr Gordon Sinclair
This session has now been delivered, please click here for the presentation recording
Day/Date/Time: Thursday 5th November 2020, 15:00-16:00 (UK London time)
Week 6, 12th November 2020: Pre-Analytics in Coagulation
Speaker Name: Steve Kitchen
Co-Host Name: Ian Jennings
Day/Date/Time: Thursday 12th November 2020, 15:00-16:00 (UK London time)
This session has now been delivered, please click here to view the presentation recording
Week 7, 19th November 2020: Pre & Post Analytical Quality Surveillance (PREPQ)
There have been many initiatives to collect and collate benchmarking data on error rates in the Pre and Post-Analytical aspects of Laboratory Medicine. We report here on the findings from the UK where there has been an established monthly pre and post-analytical quality monitoring service (PREPQ) offered by UKNEQAS since 2017. A recent development has been to offer clinical scenarios presenting pre- or post-analytical errors for interpretation according to local practice. Scenarios presented have included ‘drip-arm contamination’, wrong blood in tube (WBIT), and the use of out-of-date collection tubes in coagulation. A commentary is returned to Participants with their regular report summarising findings and suggesting best practice.
Speaker Names: Barbara De la Salle and Finlay MacKenzie
Co-Host Name: David Bullock
Day/Date/Time: Thursday 19th November 2020, 15:00-16:00 (UK London time)
This session has now been delivered, please click here to view the presentation recording.