Caribbean Region  - Supporting laboratories with implementation of a  quality management system

Updating of the LQMS-SIP checklist

Date: January – March 2024
Location: The Netherlands
Client: Caribbean Med Labs Foundation

Type of services:
Revised and updated the LQMS-SIP checklist to incorporate new requirements under ISO 15189:2022.

Report(s):

[March 2024] DATOS has just completed a project together with the Caribbean Med Labs Foundation (CMLF) to update the Laboratory Quality Management Systems Stepwise Improvement Process (LQMS-SIP) that CMLF uses in its training programmes.

The LQMS-SIP supports Caribbean countries in their efforts to strengthen medical laboratory services through a stepwise quality improvement process towards fulfillment of the ISO 15189 requirements in a staged and sustainable manner. The approach consists of a 3-tiered system with the first tier representing the minimum requirements which should correspond to the minimum criteria of national licensing systems. The following two tiers are meant to support laboratories with further implementation of their quality management system in a rational and sustainable manner.

Key to the LQMS-SIP is a checklist that guides laboratories with implementation of a quality management system and assesses compliance with ISO 15189 requirements. CMLF requested DATOS to update the checklist and bring it in line with the requirements of ISO 15189:2022 so that CMLF can continue to use this tool effectively in its training.

We wish the laboratories in the Caribbean region a successful implementation of their QMS using the updated LQMS-SIP!

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Harmonization of the LQSI tool with LQMS-SIP

Date: July - August 2017

Location: Caribbean Region

Client: Caribbean Medical Laboratory Foundation

Type of services:

Led the technical harmonization of the WHO LQSI tool with the Caribbean LQMS-SIP framework. Designed and facilitated a regional workshop to build capacity in the integrated use of both tools among Caribbean laboratory professionals.

Report(s):

[6 Sep 2017] DATOS, in collaboration with the Caribbean Med Labs Foundation (CMLF), has linked the LQSI tool with the LQMS-SIP, the Laboratory Quality Management System Stepwise Improvement Process. The LQMS-SIP system is used in the Caribbean Region to strengthen laboratories and eventually attain ISO 15189 accreditation. CMLF and DATOS have combined the best of both tools by enriching the LQMS-SIP checklists with links to relevant parts of the LQSI tool. This document is called Guidance for Laboratory QMS Implementation using the LQMS-SIP and LQSI tool.

Last week Tjeerd Datema was in the Caribbean region to provide a workshop on the use of the LQSI tool and on the guidance document linking the LQMS-SIP with the LQSI tool. This workshop was attended by laboratory staff and management of six countries: Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. These countries will be assisted over the coming years by CMLF with implementation of a quality management system under a Global Fund grant. 

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