Remote Mentorship Using Video Conferencing as an Effective Tool to Strengthen Laboratory Quality Management in Clinical Laboratories: Lessons From Cambodia.

Background: Providing professional development opportunities to staff working in clinical laboratories undergoing quality improvement programs can be challenged by limited funding, particularly in resource-limited countries such as Cambodia. Using innovative approaches such as video conferencing can connect mentors with practitioners regardless of location. This study describes and evaluates the methods, outputs, and outcomes of a quality improvement program implemented in 12 public hospital laboratories in Cambodia between January 2018 and April 2019.

Strengthening the clinical laboratory workforce in Cambodia: a case study of a mixed-method in-service training program to improve laboratory quality management system oversight.

Background: Laboratory diagnostic testing service delivery and compliance with international standards for laboratory quality are directly influenced by laboratory workforce competency. Many hospital laboratories in constrained resource settings such as Cambodia struggle to cope with the training needs of laboratory professionals in an environment of competing healthcare development priorities. Resource-limited countries need an adaptable and effective approach to provide laboratory professionals with job-specific quality oversight training to ensure the accuracy, timeliness, and reliability of diagnostic services.

Implementation research: a mentoring programme to improve laboratory quality in Cambodia.

Objective: To implement a mentored laboratory quality stepwise implementation (LQSI) programme to strengthen the quality and capacity of Cambodian hospital laboratories.

Methods: We recruited four laboratory technicians to be mentors and trained them in mentoring skills, laboratory quality management practices and international standard organization (ISO) 15189 requirements for medical laboratories. Separately, we trained staff from 12 referral hospital laboratories in laboratory quality management systems followed by tri-weekly in-person mentoring on quality management systems implementation using the LQSI tool, which is aligned with the ISO 15189 standard.