IFCC VLP 2016 in Cluj Napoca (RO)
1st CONFERENCE OF THE ROMANIAN ASSOCIATION OF LABORATORY MEDICINE
Cluj Napoca 18-21 May 2016
By Assoc. Prof. dr. Ioana Brudașcă
RALM president
Prof. dr. Ioana Brudașcă Prof Minodora Dobreanu
RALM President RALM vicepresident
The 1st Romanian Association of Laboratory Medicine (RALM) Conference was held between 18-21 May 2016 in Cluj Napoca. The conference was organized under the auspices of IFCC and EFLM and in collaboration with the Romanian Society of Microbiology, the Romanian Society of Hematology and the Universities of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj Napoca, Târgu Mureș, Iași, București, Timisoara.
The congress was attended by over 530 participants. IFCC representative dr. Janet Smith and EFLM representative prof. Tomas Zima were invited to the congress. Other invited speakers from abroad were Prof. Laszlo Muszbek (University of Debrecen, Hungary), Prof. Eva Ajzner (president of the Hungarian Society of Laboratory Medicine), Prof William Au (Shantou University Medical College, China).
Audience at the Conference
Many of the Romanian speakers were teachers at the medical faculties of Bucharest, Cluj Napoca, Târgu Mureș, Iași, who delivered state-of-the art lectures according to their field of expertise.
Exibition Poster Session
As our association is very interested in motivating young laboratory professionals, many communications were presented by young colleagues, most of them PhD fellows. Two awards were granted, one for the best poster, and one for professional activity.
The scientific programme covered a large area of themes in laboratory medicine (clinical chemistry, microbiology, hematology, genetics, molecular biology), which were presented in 21 plenary reports, 25 oral presentations and 67 poster presentations. Many of the presentations focused on quality assessment, standardization, performance criteria of laboratory tests, laboratory errors and patient safety, showing the interest of the participants in the improvement of our professional activity. One session was dedicated to continuous medical education for laboratory professional, and included presentations addressing e-learning, scientific publishing, harmonization of the training of laboratory specialists.
During the discussions that followed the presentations, the participants had the opportunity to share their experience and to identify solutions for the scientific or technical issues they are confronted to in their everyday practice.
Conference abstracts were published in a supplement of the Romanian Review of Laboratory Medicine (RRML).
As our profession is in a permanent partnership with the clinical diagnostic industry, during the congress an exhibition of reagents, equipment, supplies, software was organized by IVD companies. There were also 8 workshops organized by clinical diagnostic providers, which were an excellent opportunity for the development and transfer of technical innovations to clinical laboratory professionals.
Presenters at RALM 2016
The scientific quality and the diversity of the presentations, the excellent organization, the appealing social programme, as well as the charm of the historical city of Cluj (former European Youth Capital in 2015, and one of the most important academic, cultural, industrial and business centres in Romania) fully contributed to the success of this scientific and professional event.
Report on the VLP visit to the Romanian Association of Laboratory Medicine (RALM)
1st Conference, Cluj Napoca, Romania May 18-21 2016
by Janet Smith
IFCC VLP lecturer
Ms Janet Smith - IFCC representative
I felt very honoured to be representing IFCC at this important first conference of the new Romanian society, formed by amalgamation of what were the two major clinical laboratory medicine organisations. There were more than 500 delegates, with plenary sessions and symposia reflecting the broad interests of the membership, clinical chemistry, haematology, microbiology and laboratory management, as well as commercially sponsored workshops and formal poster sessions. The programme was full and I was very impressed with the standard of the presentations and the developments in laboratory medicine in Romania. We were taken to visit a brand new research institute sited on the medical faculty campus in the city of Tirgu Mures. This has been funded by the EU and is very impressive and extremely well equipped.
The conference venue was excellent, in a hotel and conference facility close to the centre of the historic city of Cluj Napoca.
The hospitality of the conference organisers and the RALM president and vice president to me and to the other invited international speakers was excellent. There was a high quality social programme organised for all conference delegates and as well as this, we were given the opportunity to visit and learn about the historic places, buildings and works of art of the city, as well as visiting some of the beautiful countryside of Transylvania.
I was particularly encouraged by the response to my presentation on the e-Academy, during which I was able to give a live demonstration of its use. There was great support for our initiative of preparing short, targeted modules by expert speakers and the RAML President addressed the delegates after my talk, pointing out what a valuable resource it is for all clinical laboratory professionals.
I thoroughly enjoyed my VLP experience in Romania and am full of admiration for the professionalism, enthusiasm and abilities of the laboratory medicine specialists I was privileged to meet during my visit. I thank EMD and IFCC for giving me this opportunity.