The Montreal Conference

I have mentioned this before, but it is both reasonable and appropriate that I raise it again.  On April 6th there will be a very interesting seminar to be held at Le Westin Montreal (aka the Westin Hotel in Montreal) that will look at Quality from an interesting, maybe unconventional perspective.  

Over the years I have learned an important lesson in medical laboratory quality.  Actually it is a truth about Quality in general.  Accreditation (or Certification) is important, but insufficient.  Multiple studies have demonstrated that only about 25% of certifications to ISO9001 are actually successful.  75% are either outright ineffective, or what Boiral and Amara referred to as managerial (little impact on performance even though there were no internal barriers) or ceremonial (lots of activity, but many internal barriers and problems block effective implementation).

From what I have seen over and over the same is equally true when it comes to laboratory accreditation.  Maybe worse.  The only difference is that no organization has taken the time to do an effective study of medical laboratories post accreditation.

If accreditation has a chance to succeed, management has to see benefit for themselves, and the bench workers need to see benefit to themselves as well.  I propose that the benefit comes from knowledge and true financial value and a positive change in the laboratory to a culture of quality.   And that is what the meeting in Montreal is all about.  

We will be talking about how can we increase the communication of Quality and enhance the culture of Quality.

We have four speakers.
Michael Noble will begin with an overview of culture communication in the work place and beyond.  

Julie Coffey of Ontario Laboratory Accreditation (OLA) is going to talk about communicating Quality as an educational experience.

Robert Michel is the Editor of the Dark Report and DarkDaily.com and is going to talk about establishing the a comprehensive electronic and print Quality Megacenter

Sara Garcha, now of Fraser Health Authority in British Columbia is going to discuss defining, monitoring and evolving the culture of Quality.

The meeting will start at 1:00 PM on Wednesday April 6th, as part of a pre-conference forum that is intended for the Canadian microbiology and infectious diseases community, but as you can tell, this seminar is not intended solely for that audience.

At $80.00 including the four presentations plus coffee, it’s as good a deal as you are going to get anywhere.  

For those who live in Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada, and New York and Vermont, this can be an easy decision.

I will be reporting on the meeting in MMLQR and will try to make the four presentations available.