SEQC Spanish Society of Laboratory Medicine

Drs Bernabeu, Caballé, Buño, Oliver and Cocho represented the SEQC^ML

• Specifically, it has collaborated in 2 complete symposia (POCT and Accreditation) and also in several talks on Neonatal Screening and Education
• The SEQC^ML has agreements with various societies and the next challenge will be for Latin American professionals to begin to participate directly in some work groups and commissions and feel active and recognized in the Society

On September 11, 12, and 13, the XXIV Latin American Congress of Clinical Biochemistry, the most important scientific event in this region in the Clinical Laboratory field, took place in Panama.

Held biennially, it is organized by the Latin American Confederation of Clinical Biochemistry - which includes 21 countries - and offers an extensive scientific program with conferences, symposiums, and courses in the various current core thematic areas of interest to all Clinical Laboratory professionals nationally and internationally.

For the first time, the Spanish Society of Laboratory Medicine (SEQC^ML) has participated in this Congress. This represented a key opportunity to strengthen collaboration with Latin American countries, a strategic objective for the SEQC^ML.

Specifically, it collaborated in 2 complete symposia (POCT and Accreditation) and also in other talks in Neonatal Screening and Education. In total it was represented by 5 SEQC^ML members and 7 presentations.

Doctors Imma Caballé, president of the SEQC^ML, and José Ángel Cocho, member of the Board of Directors, summarize the presence of the Society in the Congress and its importance.

Assessment of the presence of the SEQC^ML in the Congress

This is the first time we went in the name of the SEQC^ML, although previously there had been collaborations at an individual level. This participation is the result of the acceptance in 2017 of the Society as an associate member of COLABIOCLI.

We believe that the presence of Spanish experts is important because collaboration with Latin American countries is a strategic objective for the SEQC^ML. It is a geographical area where we believe that we can find professional groups with which to make advances in Laboratory Medicine. We also believe a lot of work carried out here over the years and through our different committees and commissions (scientific, quality, education, etc.) can be of great use to them.

We have created a demanding plan for ourselves, and one which we believe to be generous towards COLABIOCLI, by participating in several symposia and financing almost all of our participation.

On this occasion we collaborated in 2 complete symposia (POCT and Accreditation) and also various talks on Neonatal Screening and Education.

Topics and main news of the Congress

We believe that everything related to Laboratory Quality and Accreditation is important, which is why we collaborate on it.

In addition, it is worth mentioning the symposiums in which we participated, such as POCT, Neonatal Screening, and Professional Training in different countries.

We would also like to highlight the AEFA symposium on Fertility Preservation and the IFCC Symposium on Quality in Molecular Biology.

Importance of sharing knowledge with experts from other countries, in this case from Latin America

We believe that this gives the SEQC^ML a greater international projection given the fact of having a common language.

We already have this through our participation in working groups of the EFLM and IFCC, and we believe that we can work here in a more broad-based way and on some issues from a position of co-leadership with several of the member countries of the COLABIOCLI.

The SEQC^ML as a Spanish representative in international organizations such as the IFCC and EFLM acts as a unifying bridge with Latin American countries.

In other cases it responds to the SEQC^ML's supportive approach, since in the smaller countries the scientific societies have more difficulties.

Key points of the symposium “The laboratory as a fundamental pillar of Point-of-Care Testing (POCT)”, in which the SEQC^ML participated on Thursday, September 12

This symposium was organized entirely by experts from SEQC^ML, Dr Paloma Oliver and Dr Antonio Buño.

In their discourse, they discussed topics such as: What do we mean by POCT? Where can we use it? What is the evidence of the benefits of POCT for the patient? They also discussed the main activities of the SEQC^ML POCT Commission.

Regarding the “Laboratory accreditation” symposium on Friday, September 13

The Society participated in three talks. The first, by Dr Francisco Bernabeu, addressed how the Accreditation 15189 and 22870 process for Clinical Laboratories is carried out in Spain and in other European countries, and at what point it finds itself.

The second, given by Dr Imma Caballé, dealt with Accreditation in a multidisciplinary and high-volume laboratory, and in the third, Dr José Ángel Cocho presented the topic of Accreditation in a specialized laboratory.

The SEQC^ML is a fundamental agent in both training and external quality control programs and collaborates very closely with ENAC (National Accreditation Entity). We believe that it has room for growth within some COABIOCLI countries and we would like to work with them very directly.