Proud staff
Vancouver General Hospital Cytogenetics Laboratory is delighted to announce our recent successful ISO 15189 accreditation inspection!
As an ISO 15189 accredited operation the VGH Cytogenetics Laboratory has met the internationally recognized standards for the provision of quality medical laboratory services certified by the Canadian Standards Council.
Our voluntary decision to be accredited is consistent with our general principle that all areas of our clinical laboratories should have regular and on-going accreditation.
This certification distinguishes our laboratory, confirming the high quality of care we provide to our patients by independent external evaluation.
ISO accreditation entails an extensive self-assessment and an on-site inspection by national experts. The on-site survey included a close examination of our facility, safety, technical procedures and organizational activities against 367 required standards to which we achieved 97% compliance success!
Highlights of the many benefits derived from this quality improvement process include:
- Implementation of internal audits for continuous improvement
- Review of all quality and technical procedures
- Enhancement of learning and creativity by implementing staff performance evaluations, yearly goal setting, and competency assessment
- Improved communication by better documentation of interactions with healthcare providers
- More staff satisfaction and pride from successful implementation, documentation and validation of improved quality
- Improved complaints resolution process
- Better procedural improvement review meetings and procedural quality control
We are pleased to acknowledge Christine Haessig, Supervisor VCH Cytogenetics Laboratory; Sara Garcha, Lead for
Quality; Dr. Helene Bruyere, Medical Director VGH Cytogenetics Laboratory; Richard Walker, Director of Operations, Anita Kwong, Director for Quality and all Cytogenetics Staff for their contribution, teamwork, and commitment in achieving this success.
As the first public laboratory in BC, we are proud to have met the challenge of the ISO 15189 certification and the principles of quality improvement, creating value for our patients.