EDITORIAL
CONFERENCE ON PRE- AND POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION IN LABORATORY
MEDICINE AND RECOGNITION OF PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
Arleta Zaremba, Aneta Mrozek, Department of
Science and Higher Education, Ministry of Health, Warsaw,
Poland
Grazyna Sypniewska, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Collegium
Medicum, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Bydgoszcz, Poland
The conference organised by the Polish Ministry of Health and
National Chamber of Laboratory Diagnosticians, under the auspices
of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and
Laboratory Medicine (IFCC), was held on 25-27 March in Warsaw,
Poland. We had the honor and pleasure to host almost 150
participants from all over the world.
The conference was divided into four sessions during which
participants had an opportunity to listen to presentations given by
invited speakers who came from Belgium (Prof. V. Blaton), Croatia
(Prof. A. M. Simundic), Czech Republic (Prof. V. Palicka, Prof. J.
Drsata), France (Dr S. Zerah), Ireland (M. Culliton), Italy ( Prof.
G. C. Guidi ), Norway (P. Haugum), Poland, Portugal (Fernando
Mendes), Serbia (Prof. N. Majkic-Singh), Slovakia (Prof. G. Kovac),
Spain (Prof. J. Queralto), Sweden (Dr M. Silvestri) and United
Kingdom (Dr J. Mc Murray, A. Lubasinska and R. Houghton).
During the first session entitled Teaching and Training of
Laboratory Professionals, chaired by Prof. Victor Blaton
(Belgium) and Prof. Grazyna Sypniewska (Poland), the speakers
presented and discussed the pre - and postgraduate teaching and
training curricula in laboratory medicine in Belgium, the Czech
Republic, Italy, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Slovakia. The second and
third sessions were dedicated to different specialisations in the
field of laboratory medicine for Medical Doctors and Laboratory
Diagnosticians in Poland. E-learning platforms and public sources
on laboratory medicine on the internet (the Labtestonline
project) were also discussed.
The last session, chaired by Associate Prof. Roman Danielewicz,
Director of Department of Science and Higher Education in the
Polish Ministry of Health, focused on the recognition of
professional qualifications. It included presentations from
delegates from Croatia, France, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Serbia,
Portugal, Poland and the UK and was followed by lively
discussion.
Participants at the Conference shared their experiences and
discussed the most pressing issues concerning the recognition of
professional qualifications. This included the Commission's Code of
Conduct for Directive 2005/36/EC, difficulties arising from the
implementation of the Directive, and concerns over the language
ability of some healthcare professionals practicing in host
countries in Europe. It was emphasised by all participants that in
the context of free movement of professionals in Europe, the main
aim of European countries is to ensure a high quality of
professional standards and practice in the field of laboratory
medicine. Hosts and participants of the conference expressed hope
that the conference will become a trigger for future
cooperation.