OBJECTIVE To evaluate the time to communicate laboratory results to health centers (HCs) between the e-Chasqui web-based information system and the pre-existing paper-based system. METHODS Cluster randomized controlled trial in 78 HCs in Peru. In the intervention group, 12 HCs had web access to results via e-Chasqui (point-of-care HCs) and forwarded results to 17 peripheral HCs. In the contro...

BACKGROUND Occupational exposure to live meningococci can potentially cause invasive meningococcal disease in laboratory staff. While, until recently, immunization with quadrivalent polysaccharide vaccine represented one cornerstone of protection, data on long-term persistence of antibodies in adults remain scarce. METHODS We analyzed the relationship of antibody levels and time following qua...

Laboratory-based learning activities are important components of engineering and surveying education and it is difficult to offering practical activities to distance education students. Remote Access Laboratory (RAL) systems are widely discussed as learning tools to offer students remote access to rigs or hardware. In some disciplines laboratory activities are purely software based and RAL syst...

The principles underpinning these standards are that any tuberculosis laboratory-based diagnostic procedure should be performed by appropriately trained staff, working to standardised operating procedures in appropriately equipped and safe laboratories, against clear national and international proficiency and quality standards. Quality should be the pre-eminent criteria, not cost. The standards...

BACKGROUND The increasing need to reduce the costs of providing diagnostic laboratory services has prompted initiatives based on the centralization and consolidation of laboratory facilities. However, the majority of papers and experiences reported in literature focus on "cost per test" thus overlooking the real value of a laboratory service, which requires more complex economic evaluations, su...

Abstract Background There is scarcity of data on experiences patients who access laboratory services during hospital visits in sub-Saharan Africa. This study sought to evaluate the depth professionals-patient interactions pre- and post-sampling period at two hospitals Ghana. Methods used real time observations patient-laboratory staff collect first-hand data. Additionally, separate sets semi-st...

OBJECTIVE Analysis of an outbreak of Bordetella pertussis infection in a university laboratory. To prevent and control the outbreak, we conducted a survey of the laboratory staff and their family members, and we investigated the clinical features of adult pertussis. PATIENTS AND METHODS During the outbreak, four out of the 10 laboratory staff and five out of 16 family members had a primary co...

Automation in laboratory medicine is inevitable and the only way forward especially in Africa where the staff turnover is high due to migration of experienced staff to Europe and America. Described here are the common issues that laboratory Managers and Directors encounter when upgrading, replacing analytical systems as well as daily running of diagnostic laboratories. The rapid advancement dri...

[ 1 ]. It must also be kept very straightforward so as to be easily understood by all staff and easy to monitor. A quality management system aims at satisfying the laboratory's interests but also the customer's needs and expectations. All costs arising from laboratory accreditation have to be seen as costs which would otherwise have had to be borne as a result of utilising incorrect testing met...

we conducted environmental and laboratory investigations to elucidate the cause. Setting.\p=m-\Tourists traveling by bus through Alaska and the Yukon Territory of Canada. Participants.\p=m-\Staff of a restaurant at a business complex implicated as the outbreak source, convenience sample of persons on buses that had stopped there, and bus employees. Main Outcome Measures.\p=m-\Odds ratios (ORs) ...