Course Information Page: http://www.vin.com/CE/DIAG206-0315.htm
Course Area Main Page:
DIAG206-0315: Quality Management for the Veterinary Clinical Pathology Laboratory, Part I
The lectures for this course will be presented in a predominantly text format.
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Instructor(s): Kathleen P. Freeman , DVM, BS, MS, PhD, DipECVCP, MRCPath, MRCVS,
Certificate in Laboratory Quality Management (University of Wisconsin), Senior Veterinary Clinical Pathologist at IDEXX Labs, Ltd, Wetherby, West Yorkshire, UK UK,
Ernst Leidinger, DVM, Dip.ECVCP, Specialist for Clinical Pathologist (national);
Lab director and clinical pathologist at In Vitro laboratory in Vienna, Austria
Stefanie Klenner, DVM, Dr.med.vet., Diplomate ECVCP, scil animal care company, Viernheim, Germany
Professor Elspeth Milne, BVMS, PhD, DipECVCP, FRCPath, FRCVS, Head of Veterinary Pathology, University of
Edinburgh, Scotland
Course Open: March 22-July 8, 2015
Real Time Sessions (RTS): Sundays, March 29, April 12, 26, May 17, 24, June 7 and 28, 2015: 4:00-5:30 pm ET
(USA)
Course RTS Times in Your Area: World Clock Converter
Practice Sessions: In order to prepare you for a successful experience in your CE course, we request you attend a
Practice Session prior to the first Real Time Session. Please arrive promptly at the start time; each Practice Session is up to 1 hour in length. For more information, please visit the CE Practice Area .
Level and Prerequisites: Part I is a prerequisite for Part II.
The instructors require that participants of this course have a specific type of training and experience, due to the advanced level of the course material.
The majority of candidates will be those in training for a career in clinical pathology or those who already working in the clinical pathology laboratory. In some instances there may be a practitioner or veterinary nurse with an intense interest in clinical pathology that may wish to take this course, but should be advised that the course is intensive and will require a considerable input of time and effort when coming from a background without prior experience in a clinical pathology laboratory typical of a University or reference laboratory.
Desired experience should include:
- prior experience in a clinical pathology laboratory environment
- prior experience in clinical pathology laboratory testing
- interest in quality systems for the clinical pathology laboratory
- interest in provision of leadership and quality management in the clinical pathology laboratory
- desire to gain experience in application of quality management and planning principles using data from your own laboratory, with guidance from experienced clinical pathologists who are experts in quality leadership and quality management.
VIN CE Course: Open to veterinarians and veterinary technicians.
This course has been submitted for RACE approval for veterinarians and veterinary technicians. The Veterinary
Information Network (VIN) is RACE Provider #22.
Course Description:

The course, “Quality Management for the Veterinary Clinical Pathology Laboratory,” is designed to provide an introduction to and practical application of quality management in the veterinary clinical pathology laboratory. It is given in two parts (Part I and Part II). Part I is a prerequisite for Part II.
In Part I, participants will be introduced to theories of management and concepts vital to quality planning. Examples of ISO-based and GLP standards are included. Laboratory design, Westgard Rules, QC Validation and Sigma
Metrics are covered.
In Part II, participants will learn about audits in the veterinary clinical pathology laboratory and determination of reference intervals, as well as Improvement Opportunities, external Quality Assurance performance and a Quality
Plan for the laboratory. There is an introduction to Method Validation and Instrument Performance Verification.
There will be real time classroom sessions approximately every 2 weeks. The majority of the work will be done by e-mail of drafts and revisions to the instructors, with the final products of some sections shared with the rest of the participants by posting on the course message boards. The review and participant questions will also be shared on the course message boards. In order to demonstrate satisfactory participation in this course, participants are expected to attend all of the real-time sessions, hand in completed homework assignments and to work with the instructor(s) in revising assigned items until both the instructor(s) and participant are satisfied with the results, as well as pass the examination with a score of at least 80%.
There is some flexibility in the length of time of the course to accommodate holidays for the Instructors and participants. These should be arranged in advance between the instructor and the participants assigned to him/her.
This course consists of seven (7) 90 minute real time sessions; library materials supplementing the chapters in the required text; interactive message board discussions; weekly assignments and a final exam designed to enhance course effectiveness and material retention. Successful completion (scoring 80% or better) on the end-of-course test is required to be considered for a course certificate of completion.
To learn more about the requirements for earning a CE certificate, please refer to Receiving Your CE Credit and
Course Completion Certificate .
Upon completion of this course, the participant should be able to

Understand and demonstrate knowledge by examination of current concepts of laboratory quality management, including Total Quality Management, LEAN and Six Sigma.

Understand and demonstrate knowledge by examination of ISO and GLP-based standards applicable to testing in veterinary clinical pathology laboratories.

Understand and demonstrate knowledge by examination of concepts underlying veterinary clinical pathology laboratory design and what a veterinary clinical pathology laboratory should look like.

Know how to write Standard Operating Procedures(SOP) and Policies for the veterinary clinical pathology laboratory and show how to do this by developing a list of Policies and SOPs for a depart of his/her choice, writing a SOP for am SOP, a Policy and SOP for a process of his/her choice.

Know how to apply Westgard Rules to determine acceptability of QC data and show how to do this by analyzing data from an instrument within his/her laboratory.

Know how to conduct Quality Control (QC) Validation and show how to do this by analyzing data from a particular instrument within his/her laboratory and making recommendations for QC based on his/her findings.

Know how to use and determine sigma metrics for various laboratory tests and show how to do this by analyzing data and determining sigma metrics for an instrument within his/her laboratory and making recommendations for quality assurance based on his/her findings.

Share their thoughts, experiences, comments and work with others in the course in order to contribute to better understanding of the topics and appreciation of the approaches taken by others to similar or different laboratory circumstances.

Successfully pass an examination with multiple choice, short answer and/or essay questions regarding the above topics by achieving a score of > or = 80%

Course Materials: Course materials will be available in the course library prior to each Real Time Session.
Required Textbook(s): There is no required textbook for this course.
Recommended Textbook(s) for Part II:
Westgard, J. O. (2008). Basic Method Validation: Training in Analytical Quality Management for
Healthcare Laboratories. 3 rd Edition. Westgard QC, Inc.
ISBN-13: 978-1886958258
About the Instructor(s):

Dr. Kathleen Freeman is a 1981 graduate of Oklahoma State University, College of Veterinary Medicine and received her MS and PhDs from OSU in 1984 and 1987, respectively. She was on faculty at OSU and then at
Cornell University before taking a detour and teaching all sorts of Science courses and in the Educational
Opportunity Program at Ithaca College for several years.
During these years she was also doing cytology and laboratory consultations for commercial laboratories.
She then moved into commercial laboratory medicine and worked as Director or Senior Clinical Pathologist at several laboratories. She moved to the UK in 1997 to develop a diagnostic laboratory service for the Animal
Health Trust and was Head of Anatomic and Clinical Pathology there. She subsequently moved to Scotland and works from home for IDEXX Laboratories, Ltd, based in Wetherby, West Yorkshire.
She is past founding Chair of the ASVCP Quality Assurance and Laboratory Standards Committee and the founding Chair of the ECVCP Laboratory Standards Committee. She is currently a member of both committees.
She has special interests in QA, QC, customer service, cytology and general clinical pathology.
She obtained a Certificate in Laboratory Quality Management via e-learning from the University of Wisconsin and had the opportunity to work with James Westgard which she says was a great experience!

Stefanie Klenner graduated in 2004 from the University of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover, Germany.
Between 2004 and 2006 she wrote her thesis about canine intestinal permeability tests at the same University, successfully receiving her Dr. med. vet. After a rotational internship at the Small Animal Clinic at the Justus-
Liebig-University in Giessen, Germany, Dr. Klenner started a residency in veterinary clinical pathology at the
Central Laboratory of Justus-Liebig University. Currently, she is working as scientific product manager laboratory diagnostic for scil animal care company.
She is an experienced speaker in various themes of veterinary clinical pathology and lectures often at national as well as international conferences. She is the current Chair of the Lab Standards Committee of the ECVCP.
Since 2009 Dr. Klenner is one of the instructors of the VIN Quality Management Course and provides her skills and knowledge also to other courses of VIN. She is especially interested in general clinical pathology, quality control as well as learning strategies.

Ernst Leidinger graduated from the vet-school in Vienna, Austria in 1986 and worked as assistant professor at the department for medical chemistry for about 10 years. Since 1995 he is director of a private veterinary diagnostic lab in Vienna were he established the lab’s QM system resulting in an ISO 9001 accreditation about ten years ago. Being one of Dr. Freeman’s Students in the VIN QM course, he has been course instructor for several years now.
He is a Councillor for the Executive Board of the ECVCP.
His special interest in the lab are clinical chemistry, LIMS (computer bases lab management systems) and all aspects of quality control. If there’s some time left he enjoys SCUBA diving.

Elspeth Milne graduated from the University of Edinburgh, UK, in 1979. She initially worked in small animal internal medicine then equine medicine at Edinburgh and as manager of a veterinary investigation centre in
Scotland. In 2002, she moved back to Edinburgh as Head of Veterinary Pathology. She is a Royal College of

Veterinary Surgeons and European recognised specialist in veterinary clinical pathology, is active in undergraduate and postgraduate education in this specialty and has previously been an instructor on this course.
She is currently Secretary and Exam committee member for the ECVCP.
Course Outline:
Week 1 (Real Time Session 1: March 29) : Introduction to Concepts of Total Quality Management, LEAN management and Six Sigma Management
Instructor(s): Kathleen Freeman
Week 2 (Real Time Session-None) : Introduction to Quality Planning and Quality Standards
Week 3 (Real Time Session 2: April 12) : What Should a Veterinary Clinical Pathology Laboratory Look Like?
Instructor(s):Stefanie Klenner
Week 4 (Real Time Session-None): Westgard Rules
Week 5 (Real Time Session 3: April 26) : SOPs, Policies and Audits
Instructor(s): Elspeth Milne
Week 6 (Real Time Session None) : Westgard Rules + General QC
(May 10 th – Mother’s Day, Holiday)
Week 7 (Real Time Session 4: May 17) : Biological Variation
Instructor(s): Kathleen Freeman
Week 8 (Real Time Session-None) : Sigma Metrics
Week 9 (Real Time Session 5: May 24) : QC Validation and Sigma metrics
Instructor(s): Ernst Leidinger
Week 10 (Real Time Session-None) : QC Validation
Week 11 (Real Time Session 6: June 7) : Additional Revision
Instructor(s): Ernst Leidinger
Week 12 (Real Time Session-None) : Additional Revision
(June 21 st – Father’s Day, Holiday)
Week 13 (Real Time Session 7: June 28) : Review, Discussion, Questions and Sharing
Instructor(s): Ernst Leidinger
Week 14 (Real Time Session-None) : Examination
CE Credits: 10.5
Tuition: Member $650
Non-Member $650

Course not open to veterinary students.
* To ensure participants are ready and prepared for classes, enrollment will close when the maximum number of participants is reached or at 5pm ET the day of the first Real Time Session unless otherwise noted. If the first Real
Time Session is on a weekend, course enrollment will close on the Friday before the first Real Time Session.
* For more on how online CE works see the Participant Resource Center .
To Enroll:
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1.
Enrollment qualifications: VIN CE courses are open to VIN member and non-member veterinarians.
Veterinarians enrolling in a VSPN CE course must be a VIN member. Veterinary support staff must be a
VSPN member to enroll in a VSPN CE or a VIN CE course open to VSPN member enrollment.
2.
Each enrollee must be able to receive emails from @vspn.org and @vin.com addresses.
Email is our major form of communication with participants; personal emails are highly recommended rather than clinic/hospital email addresses.
3.
Each person is individually responsible for his/her own registration. To ensure that all information received is secure and correct, please do not enroll for a course on behalf of another individual.
4.
For further assistance call 1-800-700-INFO (4636) or email (VIN CE) CEonVIN@vin.com
or (VSPN CE)
VSPNCE@vspn.org
.
Please include the course title, your full name, and contact information in your correspondence.
* Note: "This course has been submitted for approval for 10.5 continuing education credits in jurisdictions which recognize AAVSB RACE approval; however participants should be aware that some boards have limitations on the number of hours accepted in certain categories and/or restrictions on certain methods of delivery of continuing education." Call VSPN/VIN CE at 1-800-700-4636 for further information. (Attendees are encouraged to check with their licensing jurisdiction(s) for information regarding recognition by their board).
Course withdrawal and refund policy: A complete refund of the paid course price will be issued when your withdrawal request is received prior to the listed start date of the course. If you wish to withdraw after the start date please contact the VIN/VSPN office 1-800-700-INFO (4636) to discuss eligibility for a pro-rated refund.
* Note: To ensure rapid handling of your request for withdrawal, we recommend that you call the VIN/VSPN office at 1-800-700-INFO (4636).
* For more information on upcoming VIN/VSPN CE courses check the Course Catalog .
The CE team:
Katherine James, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM)
VIN Education Coordinator
VIN CE Services: CEonVIN@vin.com
1-800-846-0028 or 1-530-756-4881; ext 979 or direct line to VIN/VSPN from the United Kingdom: 01452226154
Andrea Pomposo ( Andrea@vin.com
); ext 126
Debbie Friedler ( Debbie@vin.com
); ext 756
Heather Schoffstall ( Heather@vin.com
); ext 116
Peggy Hall ( Peggy@vin.com
); ext 195