QMS training continues in Lao PDR

The NRL has developed the tools and experience to deliver training remotely to the highest standard and continues to deliver the QMS training program in Lao PDR.

The third three-hour training workshop for Topic 3 was held on January 11, 2022 and was attended by 24 trainees and 2 observers from five human health laboratories, NCLE, Mahosot, Ouxomxay, Xayabouly and Champasack. The objective of the workshop was to provide an understanding of the requirements of the ISO 15189 standard relating to the key topics of quality documentation and quality records.

It was critical to deliver training in the Lao language as few lab technicians are familiar with English. For this reason the presentations were sent to country partners in advance of the workshop to be translated into Lao and distributed to the attendees. A professional interpreter provided simultaneous interpretation during the presentations.

Individual mentoring sessions were introduced for the first time following the workshop, and two rounds lasting one hour were held with each laboratory between February 4-11, 2022 and March 4, 2022. The sessions focused on the development of a key quality management system document, a standard operating procedure (SOP) for document control, that was identified as a gap in the laboratories’ current documentation.

The laboratories were provided with a translated SOP template to be used when writing all new SOPs to ensure a standardised format that meets quality management system requirements. A translated document register template and a partially completed document control SOP were also provided and by the end of the mentoring, the laboratories had customised the document control SOP for use locally.