Dear Colleagues and Friends,
Laboratory diagnostics, also in the field of complement, is a fast-growing field, which provides a substantial contribution to the clinical decision making by supporting prevention, diagnosis, and therapeutic monitoring of most, if not all, human disorders. Quality and safety in diagnostic testing is, however, essential to furthering the goal of high-quality and safe healthcare.
It was not before 2009, after many years of discussion, that upon the initiative of Prof. George Füst, Budapest, a first expert meeting dedicated to the standardization of complement analysis was held in Budapest. Now, in 2015, at it’s 5th round of external quality assessment, the participation of 34 complement laboratories of 21 countries all over the world clearly reflect an increasing awareness in our obligation to provide clinicians with high-quality diagnostic. It was and still is our aim that with our efforts in External Quality Assessment (EQA) we provide reliable information to allow laboratories to assess and monitor the quality status of internal procedures and processes, the suitability of the diagnostic systems, the accountability and competence of the staff, along with the definition of measurement uncertainly in laboratories results.
After 6 years of our successful efforts to improve the quality of complement analysis it’s now time to critically evaluate our achievements as an indispensable prerequisite to pave the way for the future.
Therefore, we cordially invite you to attend the 2nd Strategy Workshop on the Standardization and External Quality Assessment of Complement Analysis, taking place on January 22nd-23rd in Budapest.
We hope that with our program, covering important methodological and logistical aspects of complement analysis, we’ll not only provide the basis for a comprehensive discussion, but also strengthen our network of complement laboratories.
Michael Kirschfink and Zoltán Prohászka