2011年1月31日星期一

Seminar - The Meaning of Accreditation to Medical Testing

I attended the seminar entitled "The Meaning of Accreditation to Medical Testing" which organized by Hong Kong Council for Testing and Certification (HKCTC) and Hong Kong Accreditation Service (HKAS) on 31 January 2011. I would like to summarize the seminar below for sharing.


Mrs. Marianne Leung (Member of HKCTC) gave an opening remarks. She said accreditation to medical testing was familiar in the west. Eventhough we had doing a good thing but the accreditation could open our mind and improvement our standard continuously.


The first speaker was Ms. Bella Ho (Senior Accreditation Officer, HKAS) and her topic was "Accreditation Service for the Medical Laboratories".


Ms. Ho introduced the background of HKAS. There are three scheme under HKAS included HKCAS, HOKLAS and HKIAS. Then she briefed the international recognition through mutual recognition arrangement (MRA) of ILAC and APLAC, as well as, multilateral recognition arrangement (MLA) of IAF and PAC.


Then she mentioned the structure of HKAS. The following diagram showed the details. She said about 100 assessors for ISO 15189 and around 20 assessors for each field. Ms. Ho questioned us what is accreditation. Then she used a simple terms to explain it as "Accreditation is a formal recognition that an organization is competent to carry out specific task to an acceptable standard".


The history of medical programme for ISO 15189 in Hong Kong was reviewed.


Ms. Ho introduced the accreditation process flow for applying HOKLAS accreditation.


Assessment team constitution included HKAS officer, one pathologist and one scientist for each discipline.


The whole sample analysis cycle included pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical phase were briefed. All steps should be reviewed during assessment.


Until January 2011, 31 accreditations granted to 86 laboratories. All 13 laboratories were under Department of Health; and the other 52 laboratories were in 13 Hospital under HA. The remaining 21 laboratories were in private sector including 46 collection centres operated by these laboratories and 5 laboratories in 4 private hospitals. The details showed in the following diagram.


The scope of ISO 15189 accreditation in HOKLAS included Anatomical pathology, Chemical pathology, Immunology, Haematology, Microbiology, Molecular genetics and Cytogenetics.


Finally, Ms. Ho concluded that HOKLAS means the commitment to Quality.


The second speaker was Dr. Michael Suen (President of Hong Kong College of Pathologists) and his topic entitled "Laboratory Accreditation - How Useful Is It?"


Dr. Suen briefed the laboratory practice which was separated into Manual Work, Equipment and Automation.


Then he mentioned the quality control practice.


After that he explained how necessary/important of responsibility, Accountability and Liability.
For Responsibility, it was related to the role of Medical Laboratory and Reference Laboratory.
For Accountability, people would ask 'Who', 'What', 'How', 'Why' and 'When', if accident / error appeared.
For Liability, it was a responsiblity according to law (Action leading to Result - Medical Legal).


Dr. Suen shared one of accident investigation case to us. He said that the accreditation of laboratory was very important to show the integrity of result and traceability of the work. The safeguard of quality through accreditation included Document Control, QA Program, Delegation of Duties, Quality Meeting and Safety.


Lastly, Dr. Suen concluded that the accreditation was useful because of the followings: Record Tracing, Push for Quality (Not Guarantee for Quality), Social Consciousness, Management Incentive and Liability Issue.


After tea break, Experience Sharing from Two Accredited Medical Laboratories: Road to Accreditation was started.

Ms. Tam Chung Mei (Laboratory Manager, PathLab Medical Laboratories Ltd.) shared her laboratory accreditation journey.


Firstly, she introduced the background of PathLab Medical Laboratories Ltd.


Then she explained why choose HOKLAS. It was because of Long term cost savings and mutual recognition.


Ms. Tam shared their experience within 2-year preparation time. Getting started the process, a key responsible person was designated. They met problems with old documents. After completed the document control, they needed to prepare technical procedures and processes. Internal Quality Control should be implemented and Proficiency Testing - External Quality Assurance Programs (EQAP) should be participated. The most costly was method validation! Calibration and verification of different equipment (such as Tachometer, Balance, Centrifuge, Pipette, Thermometers, Timer and Autoclave) were must. She assigned two auditors that one was for management system and the other was for technical requirement. Lastly, management and staff meetings were implemented.


Ms. Tam concluded four benefits for accreditation as 'Improved overall efficiency', 'Standardization', 'Improved staff morale' and 'Recognition'.


The last speaker was Mr. Tsang Chun Ho (Laboratory Director, Onco Medical Laboratory Ltd.) and he shared his view on accreditation.


Mr. Tsang briefed his key concept for accreditation was continuous improvement and business sustainability. The most important was Positive Thinking!


Then he introduced Onco Med Lab Ltd services included Pap Smear and Blood Tests.
He said that the most important factors for accreditation was Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) and Staffing.


Mr. Tsang shared the benefits after accreditation below:
l Reduce number of customer complaints, incidents and accidents, as well as error result and number of missing specimens.
l Good Image, Good QC
l Good record system (Traceability)
l Technical development
l Doctors attitude overall were positive to laboratory accreditation


At the end, Mr. Tsang used computer to simulate the relationship of Soft Culture and Accreditation to Continuously Improvement. In additional, he use a famous Chinese sentence to end the talk.
(錢不是萬能, 但沒錢是萬萬不能.) Similar to
(Accreditation不是萬能, 但沒Accreditation是萬萬不能.)

Q&A Session:
There were some questions raised from participants for discussion such as backdated record signature, auditing, staff morale etc.


Reference:
Hong Kong Accreditation Service: http://www.hkas.gov.hk
Hong Kong College of Pathologists: http://www.hkcpath.org/
PathLab Medical Laboratories Ltd.: http://www.pathlabhk.com/
Onco Medical Laboratory Ltd.: http://www.onco.com.hk/

Other related information:
Quality Management for Laboratory Training by HKSQ & CityU: http://www.hksq.org/HKSQ_BCH_2010_11_18_R4.pdf
Certified Laboratory Quality Specialist CLabQS (HKSQ) Registration: http://www.hksq.org/cert_hksq_clabqs.htm
History of Certificate Course on Quality Management for Laboratory:

2011年1月29日星期六

OUHK MSc Students visit HKSTP

I am glad that Dr. Calvin Chui (PT Lecturer - The Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK)) and his students visited for Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP) on 29th January 2011. It aims to introduce the science and technology development in Hong Kong.

Firstly, I introduced the HKSTP through the corporate video and then presented the quality management system in Technology Support Centre (TSC), including ISO 9001, OHSAS 18001 and ISO 27001 certification, as well as, ISO 17025 (HOKLAS / CNAS) accreditation. After that, we visited our different laboratories such as Probe and Test Development Centre (PTDC), Reliability Laboratory (RL), Wireless Communications Test Laboratory (WCTL), IC Failure Analysis Laboratory (ICFAL), Material Analysis Laboratory (MAL) and Biotechnology Support Laboratory (BSL)



Some photos were taken for memory below:


I explained the IC tester working in cleanroom.



Group photo in PTDC (Rigth first: Dr. Calvin Chui)



I introduced the X-ray Inspection technique in ICFAL.



Then Scanning Electron Microscope was briefed.



I explained the Auger Electron Microscope to visitors.



After that they visit the Charles K. Kao Auditorium (Golden Egg) of HKSTP and take photo for memory.



Then we visit "Professor Charles K. Kao: Father of Fibre Optics" Showcase.




We took photo inside Golden Egg (It has around 280 seat.).



Finally, we visited BSL. I briefed the culture room facilities to visitors.



At the end, we took a group photo in front of Biotech SME Centre.



Reference:

Master of Engineering in Engineering Management of OUHK -

http://sct.ouhk.edu.hk/engsc/meng/



2011年1月23日星期日

「全球公民:全球化時代的通識教育」公眾研討會

今天, 新力量網絡及香港教育學院文理學院合辦「全球公民:全球化時代的通識教育」公眾研討會. 目的是探討通識教育如何定位, 中學及大學的通識課程應如何改革.



首先由方志恆先生(新力量網絡副主席)主持這場研討會. 研討會是讓在座兩位講者用十五分鐘說出對題目的看法. 之後由聽眾發問.



第一位講者是呂大樂教授. 他說全球化不只是國家內部作界線. 如環保問題. 而是說怎樣成為負責任的地球人? 通識教育的出現是多元化及重思考.

呂教授說從前大學教育是專門化, 又因在60/70年代的香港本土化, 當年人生的發展和現在很不一樣. 所以畢業的同學不一定要留在香港. 而大學是幫助培育全球公民.



第二位講者是莫家豪教授. 他談到香港要是亞洲國際都會, 首先要強化對亞洲 (及中國) 的了解. 課程要把亞洲內容豐富化. 2008年前, 全球化等同美國化. 但現在全球化不等同西化.

教授說現在的顧主心目中理想大學畢業生要有以下的才能:

l Problem Solving

l Criticization

l Creative and Innovative Thinking

l Ethic Understanding and Decision Making

l Effective Communication

l Global View and Asia Understanding



在答問環節中, 我們討論到成人教育, 專業, 本土化等等.

呂教授說不應把地區化, 本土化, 全球化分隔. 他說通識課的最大功效是在於思考方法及寫作方法. 而大學和中學的通識課是兩回事.

莫教授說增加通識的深度及量度如提升思考及分析能力. 從前是篩選學生上大學, 應試為目標. 現在教育要改革, 避免高分低能, 要培訓對全球有競爭性的人才. 尤其是文化人才.

我個人認為在大學課程中, 應先專後廣 (即先本科後通識). 我在這裡和呂教授有些出入.


Reference:

http://www.synergynet.org.hk/b5_m9_detail.php?id=1219



Technical Visit to Leading Edge Construction Materials Testing Co., Ltd.

Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) organized a study mission to visit ZhaoQing Asia Aluminium Factory Co., Ltd. (肇慶亞洲鋁廠有限公司) and Leading Edge Construction Materials Testing Co., Ltd (領鋒建材檢測有限公司) on 21 & 22 Jan 2011. America Society for Quality (ASQ) was supporting organization.


In the second day, we visited Leading Edge Construction Materials Testing Co., Ltd. It was only 3 degree Celsius (°C) in the morning!



Mr. Gavin Yi (Laboratory Manager) introduced different testing to us included:

l Performance test for building facade

l Fire resistance test for building materials

l Performance test for fixed fire fighting systems

l Performance test for building materials



After that we went outside to a large testing chamber for demonstration. Mr. Thomas Tsang (General Manager) explained the testing background to us.



Inside the testing chamber, we observed some gauges to measure deflections of the structural members under load during the test.



It demonstrated the water penetration test on site.



The aircraft propeller was used for dynamic water penetration test. It was able to produce 56.8m/s wind speed (about 2kPa wind pressure).




We took a group photo in front of the Mock-up Testing Chamber which is made of reinforced concrete with 130.6m Long times 30m High dimension.



Inside the test centre, many different fire resistance tests were performed in here.



It demonstrated the flat vertical furnace which was used for testing fire resistance properties of glazed door set or timber door set.




It tested the load bearing column assembly.



It demonstrated the fire resistance test of the flat-plate photovoltaic modules and panels.



I represented HKSQ to present souvenirs to Mr. Thomas Tsang (General Manager).




And presented to Mr. Michael Fan (QA Manager).



Also presented to Mr. Gavin Yi (Laboratory Manager).



We had taken a group photo in Leading Edge Construction Materials Testing Co., Ltd.



We left at noon and saw some goats in truck.



It had some time that we decided to visit the Seven-Star Crags for 1 hour.



It was wonder that the Star Lake National Park had achieved ISO 14001 certification.



The ISO 14001 certification was shown.



We hired a golf car to visit Seven-Star Crags.



Some photos were taken for sharing.



Seven-Star Bridge










It was a nice trip and we all had more understanding on Aluminium industry and construction testings.


Reference:

Leading Edge Construction Materials Testing Co., Ltd. (領鋒建材檢測有限公司) : http://www.le-testlab.com/



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