[The need to improve the quality of laboratory results in the study of biological occupational risk].
In the field of occupational medicine, the laboratory medicine gives fundamental contribution not only to evaluate the risk connected to different environmental, biologic, chemical and physical factors, but also to manage the quality of the work condition. For this purpose, it's fundamental that the finalized health efficiency measures and the individuation of interventions partially or totally based on laboratory results, have to be correlated to reliable analytical results, to be validated by internal and external quality controls. During the last years, a new and in some way innovative interest in occupational exposition to biological agents increased. Although, in this sphere, the immunoenzimatic methods are widely used, standardization and quality controls are often absent. For the molecular investigation that is widely used in occupational medicine, adequate quality control systems should be promoted. The work medicine, as the laboratory medicine, should develop "Quality Assurance" programmes not only referred to different occupational infections study, but also to the use of different laboratory methodologies, including immunochemical, cellular, molecular or the ones ending by ... omic as proteomic, genomic, transcriptomic, etc.. The carrying out of such programmes is necessary to aim to support the integration in the involved different professional positions, to guarantee higher comprehension, transparency and reliability on analytical results.
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Dipartimento di Medicina del Lavoro, Istituto Superiore per la Prevenzione e la Sicurezza del Lavoro (ISPESL) Centro Ricerche Monteporzio Catone (RM), Roma, Italy. mariaconcetta.dovidio@ispesl.it
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D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007753:Laboratories / Q000592:standards*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D011786:Quality Control; D012307:Risk Factors