International quality standards in laboratories

From 6 to 10 July in Paris a training course was held on the theme "Implementation of international standards of quality in laboratory work". The training was organized within the Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the support of the World Bank.

The training was intended for specialists from medical laboratories tasked with quality assurance and was led by leading experts in teaching and practice in the area of health and biological quality, who specializes in assessing and accrediting laboratories, in project management and auditing in accordance with the standards ISO 9001, ISO 15189 and ISO 17025, ISO 19011, GBEA, GBUI and standards for laboratory practices.

On the days dedicated to hands-on events, participants visited the state medical/biological laboratory of the European hospital complex AP-HP. This major European center combines 16 clinical and 8 medical/biological laboratories, where each day over 500 clinical studies and 800 research programs are carried out, involving more than 20,000 patients. More than half of the laboratory studies in France are done at AP-HP laboratories.

The training also involved a visit to the private medical laboratory for multicenter research BIO PARIS OUEST, one of the largest laboratory complexes in the west of Paris. Its network of over 30 laboratories involves the departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Yvelines and Val-d'Oise and is a pioneer in the field of multicenter research studies. In December 2014, the BIO PARIS OUEST laboratory was accredited for DIN EN ISO 15189: 2007 under No. 8-2552. BIO PARIS OUEST implements a system of process-based quality management, in accordance with standards for laboratory practices and the requirements of the international standard ISO 15189.