Program Office for Laboratory Quality Management (POLQM) was developed in 2002 as a program within the University of British Columbia Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine to address the increasing need in Canadian and international laboratories for Laboratory Quality Managers as required by the (at that time) pending new international standard ISO15189:2003 Medical Laboratories – Particular Requirements for Quality and Competence.
Now 23 years later, as the interest in accreditation based on the now ISO15189:2022 and the suite of related standards continues to grow, the need for laboratorians trained and knowledgeable in laboratory Quality is greater than ever.
The POLQM began as a university program to deliver an on-line format of education that would create a virtual classroom where the dominant teaching format was based on participation and discussion. The format is referred to as VCOLE for Virtual Classroom On-Line Education.
POLQM has evolved to providing a variety of programs and services in the arena of Laboratory Quality including:
- UBC Certificate Course in Laboratory Quality Management
- Microcertificate course on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing and Interpretation
- Online short course ISO 15189:2022: Standard for Medical Laboratories: What labs need to know about the changes
- Laboratory Quality Management conference (Vancouver)
- International workshops
- Research and publications
- Advanced education, and
- Quality consultations.