title: An overview of the European Organization for External Quality Assurance Providers in Laboratory Medicine (EQALM).
abstract: The European Organisation for External Quality Assurance Providers in Laboratory Medicine (EQALM) was founded in 1996 and currently has members from 29 European countries and 6 countries from outside Europe. EQALM provides a forum for co-operation and exchange of knowledge on quality-related matters in laboratory medicine, especially with regard to external quality assessment (EQA) programs in Europe. In addition, EQALM represent the EQA providers in laboratory medicine at European level vis-ŕ-vis political, professional, scientific and other bodies, including patients' organisations. To this end EQALM promotes activities such as organizing meetings with scientific and practical themes for members and other interested parties, issuing scientific publications, developing EQA projects and representing laboratory medicine EQA activities within other organisations and networks. EQALM is active in scientific and educational activity in different fields such as survey frequency, haematology, haemostasis, microbiology, nomenclature, virtual microscopy, traceability, accreditation, and quality assurance of the total testing process. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the EQALM organisation.
authors.affiliation: The Norwegian Quality Improvement of Primary Care Laboratories (Noklus), Haraldsplass Deaconess Hospital, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stavelin
authors.affiliation: Swiss Center for Quality Control (CSCQ), Chęne-Bourg, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Albe
authors.affiliation: External quality Control for Assays and Tests with a focus on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ECAT Foundation), Voorschoten, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Piet
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Meijer
authors.affiliation: In Vitro Diagnostic Quality Control (QualiCont), Szeged, Hungary.
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sarkany
authors.affiliation: United Kingdom National External Quality Assessment Service (UK NEQAS) for Clinical Chemistry, Institute of Research and Development, University Hospitals Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Finlay
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: MacKenzie
mesh_terms: D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques / Q000592:standards*; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D013677:Medical Laboratory Science / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards*; D010338:Pathology, Clinical / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D011786:Quality Control
keywords: laboratory medicine; laboratory proficiency testing; quality assessment