Projects and Activities Planned (2009)

  1. An EBLM course will be held on 14-16 January 2009 in Izmir, Turkey, organized by Diler Aslan, and with the contribution of Drs. Christenson and Sandberg.
  2. Dr. Christenson will present a one-day workshop on EBLM at the Egyptian Society of Clinical Chemistry on February 23, 2009. This workshop will focus mainly on EBLM introductory materials and will encourage attendees to become more involved in EBLM activities.
  3. VLP by Drs Horvath, Sandberg and Bunting/or Oosterhuis to Paraguay on 15-20 March 2009: Course and symposium on Evidence-based guideline development. This activity was preceded by the VLP of Hernan Fares Taie and prepared the ground for a more elaborate interactive course on EBLM and guidelines.
  4. Associates and members of the C-EBLM including Drs. Christenson, Horvath and Whitfield will participate in the IFCC meeting in Innsbruck, Austria on June 7-10, 2009. The title of the session is "Evidence-based evaluation of new specialized tests and their cost-effectiveness".
  5. A one-day EBLM workshop will be conducted at the AACC Annual Meeting on July 20, 2009. This workshop is oriented toward industry partners; the title of the session is: "Evidence Based Laboratory Medicine: an industrial strength approach". Cost-effectiveness and proper trial design will be particular focus of this activity.
  6. Planning and implementation of Croatian workshop to be held in Supertar, Island of Brac, Croatia from October 7-11, 2009. This workshop course was arranged by the C-EBLM and will be of 4 days duration. This workshop will be coupled to a meeting of the C-EBLM, as all full members will attend and participate. The workshop is sponsored, in part, by EFCC, Abbott and Biomerieux. Dunja Rogic, a corresponding member of C-EBLM, has done a fabulous job in representing the Croatian Society of Medical Biochemists and arranging the logistics for this educational activity.
  7. Rob Christenson and Chris Florkowski will be Visiting Lecturers and guests of Hernán Fares Taie in Argentina in early November 2009. From April‑November the Argentine group will be organizing workshops on EBLM and guideline development. As part of the closing event for this activity, on November 10th attendants will have to present their final guideline versions. Drs. Christenson and Florkowski will participate in a round‑table discussion the group of the guidelines. Also, Drs. Christenson and Florkowski will attend and present symposia at the National Congress on Clinical Chemistry (CUBRA 11‑14 November 2009).
  8. A systematic review of POC glucose methods is planned. Tight glucose control is associated with better outcomes for intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Point of Care (POC) glucose measurement devices are frequently used for monitoring and guiding treatment of these patients. A key question that needs to be addressed is the following: "Are POC meters and methods sufficiently accurate and precise to meet the tight glucose monitoring needs of ICU patients?"