David Seccombe, University of British Columbia
Associate Professor
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Vancouver, British Columbia
seccombe@interchange.ubc.ca
Office:
(604) 222-1355 ext. 4
Bio/Research
Current research interests are directed towards improving the quality of testing in Medical Laboratories both nationally and internationally. More recently, with ‘finger stick’ blood testing technology moving to the point of care, the expanding professional role of pharmacists to include blood te...
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Bio/Research
Current research interests are directed towards improving the quality of testing in Medical Laboratories both nationally and internationally. More recently, with ‘finger stick’ blood testing technology moving to the point of care, the expanding professional role of pharmacists to include blood testing and governments increasing emphasis on “patient centric” medicine there will be a growing need for internet based systems that support the quality objectives of this type of testing and fulfill the information needs for patient centric management of chronic disease. Current focus is in developing and deploying such a system in collaboration with a group from Singapore (M-Powered Healthcare) (2008). This two-way communications system links to laboratory information systems for the automatic communication of test results to cell phones. It is being used by half of the hospitals in Singapore as a communications tool in support of INR outpatient clinics and for sending of critical test results to physician cell phones.Ongoing interest in the development and implementation of web based informatics systems (www.digitalPT.com) and external proficiency testing (PT) programs that facilitate standardization and improve the quality of testing in networks of clinical laboratories and at the point of care (POCT). A number of these programs have been mandated for purposes of laboratory accreditation and licensing in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec. The online digitalPT informatics system is also being used to support the standardization of testing in multi-country networks of clinical laboratories that are providing testing services for clinical trials. It is also being used to monitor the quality of INR testing that is being conducted in 350 pharmacies across Canada (2008)These activities have culminated in the formation of the DigitalPT International EQA Collaboration – this collaboration operates as a ‘collective’ with all members sharing the use of the online digitalPT informatics system to support local proficiency testing and quality monitoring programs in laboratory medicine. The current members of the collaboration include: AccuTest PT Services, Wesford MA (a CMS (CLIA) approved PT provider in the US); the National Serology Reference Laboratory of Melbourne Australia; the National Laboratory for HIV Reference Services, Public Health Agency of Canada; HealthMetrx Canada; the Asociacion Mexicana de Bioquimica Clinica, Mexico City, Mexico; the Ministry of Health, Guyana; Gruppo VEQ – AOU di Bologna, Italy; Human Quality Assessment Services (HuQAS) Kenya. Similar initiatives are underway in Malaysia, Turkey, China and the Philippines (see www.digitalPT.com for more details). This online informatics system is branded at the local level and currently operates in four languages (French, English, Spanish and Italian). Chinese is in the process of being added to the system.At the request of the BC Renal Agency and the Provincial Health Services Agency introduced a provincial quality control program to standardize the measurement of creatinine by all of the clinical laboratories in British Columbia. This program was launched in 2004 in support of the routine reporting of eGFR by the medical laboratories in BC using the MDRD formula. This BC program is currently being used for monitoring the measurement of creatinine and the reporting of eGFR by all laboratories in the provinces British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Ontario (private laboratories only).At the request of OAML (the Ontario Association of Medical Laboratories) designed and implemented a quality control program for monitoring the quality of fecal occult blood testing that is being provided in the Province of Ontario as part of the Cancer Care Ontario’s Colon Cancer Check Screening Program. This program is being offered to all adults over the age of 50 years in the province of Ontario as part of that provinces population-screening program for the early detection of colon cancer.
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