Activities related to Phase 1 - Personnel

  • Create commitment to go for accreditation.

    Quality management is an activity that can only exist when the complete organization understands the need and benefit and is committed to assure quality for their own activities. Every staff member should be motivated to implement the procedures and carry out the activities that come with managing quality.

    The laboratory manager must make sure to discuss the advantages (work efficiency will increase, money will be saved in the long term; the laboratory can eventually earn money through its quality management system; working in an accredited laboratory is a valuable addition to personal CVs, etc.).

    Important is to also discuss the (perceived) disadvantages to prepare the staff (the workload will increase during the establishment phase of a quality management system. If this is a surprise the chances of resistance/protest may increase).

    Background information that could be of help can be found in the short article of Lisa M. Walters.

    * Walters, 2011: Employee Engagement Vital to ISO 15189 Success
  • Provide staff with basic orientation on principles of a quality management system.

    Provide training (a short course) to underline the fundamentals of quality in health care and the importance of quality management for the organization. Refer to available courses in the public domain. Among others, a module on the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle (as well known as the Deming cycle), customer satisfaction, and process analysis should be part of such a course.

    Archive copies of certificates for this course of each personnel member in separate folders, as these will be used in phase 2 for developing personnel files.

    Completing this activity is the responsibility of the laboratory supervisor.

    * List of Courses
  • Ensure adequately qualified staff.

    Staff should have adequate training and experience for the position to which they are assigned. The laboratory supervisor should verify this with the staff. This can be done in several ways: (actively) via a short exam hold by the lab supervisor to test the staff skills, or (passively) via monitoring the functioning of individual staff members by looking at their output (results).

    Start collecting copies of diplomas/certificates showing appropriate educational background for each staff member. This method used for this can vary: where the laboratory is part of a larger medical facility a special department may be assigned with this task.

    Store the copies of the diplomas/certificates in the folders created earlier (in the activity “Provide staff with basic orientation on the principles of a quality management system”) for making the personnel files in phase 2.

    Decide, based on the qualifications of each staff member, which additional courses are needed for each staff members. Include this all in one file that is updated regularly (biannually). Store this file in the same folder the diplomas/certificates are stored.