Remote support of an external quality assessment program in 10 laboratories in Bhutan, Uganda, and Malawi: Pathologists Overseas experience between 2009 and 2017.

Objectives: This article describes Pathologists Overseas (PO) experience supporting external quality assessment (EQA) programs in 10 clinical laboratories across 3 countries between 2009 and 2017.

Methods: Laboratories were enrolled in the condensed chemical pathology EQA program provided by the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia Quality Assurance Program. Participants were given an initial 2- to 4-day in-person training, followed by 1 year of active feedback on performance via emails or phone calls by a PO volunteer.

Characterizing the role of informal payments in the delivery of pathology and clinical laboratory services.

Objectives: Informal payments (IPs) are unofficial cash or in-kind payments for goods or services that should be covered by the health care system. They are a common but regressive method of financing health care in low- and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs). This study aims to characterize the prevalence and impact of IPs on pathology and laboratory medicine (PALM) services.

Pathologists Overseas: A volunteer-based model for building sustainable, high-quality pathology and laboratory medicine services in low- and middle-income countries.

For thirty years Pathologists Overseas (PO) has worked in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to provide affordable, sustainable, and high-quality pathology and laboratory medicine (PALM) services through strategic partnerships and the efforts of our large volunteer network. We address low quality diagnostic services by targeting the 3 pillars of PALM quality: human resources, systems, and quality and accreditation. To improve human resource capacity, PO and our partnering organizations provide virtual continuing education to pathologists and laboratory professionals in these countries.

African countries established COVID-19 testing in one month: Here's how they did it.

Background: As a novel and deadly acute respiratory syndrome, which later became known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), spread beyond China in late January 2020, there were no laboratories in Africa that could test for the disease. However, in early March, just over a month later, 42 African countries had developed the expertise and resources to perform COVID-19 testing. Our goal was to document this public health success story, learn from it, and use it to inform future public health action.

Corruption: An Impediment to Delivering Pathology and Laboratory Services in Resource-Limited Settings.

Objectives: Corruption is a widely acknowledged problem in the health sector of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Yet, little is known about the types of corruption that affect the delivery of pathology and laboratory medicine (PALM) services. This review is a first step at examining corruption risks in PALM.

A rapid, point-of-care red blood cell agglutination assay detecting antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant morbidity and mortality. There is an urgent need for serological tests to detect antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, which could be used to assess past infection, evaluate responses to vaccines in development, and determine individuals who may be protected from future infection. Current serological tests developed for SARS-CoV-2 rely on traditional technologies such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and lateral flow assays, which have not scaled to meet the demand of hundreds of millions of antibody tests so far.

Availability and Prices of WHO Essential Diagnostics in Laboratories in West Africa: A Landscape Survey of Diagnostic Testing in Northern Ghana.

Background: We determined the availability and pricing of laboratory testing in the Northern Region of Ghana to identify current gaps with respect to the WHO's Essential Diagnostics List (EDL).

Methods: A representative sample of facilities offering diagnostic testing within the Northern Region was geographically mapped and evaluated, with random sampling stratified by population density. Data were collected on testing menus, volumes, turn-around times, and out-of-pocket test prices.

Essential Diagnostics for the Use of World Health Organization Essential Medicines.

Background: There are numerous barriers to achieving high-quality laboratory diagnostic testing in resource-limited countries. These include inconsistent supply chains, variable quality of diagnostic devices, lack of human and financial resources, the ever-growing list of available tests, and a historical reliance on syndromic treatment algorithms. A list of essential diagnostics based on an accepted standard like the WHO Essential Medicines List (EML) could coordinate stakeholders in the strengthening of laboratory capacity globally.

Test Cost and Test Accuracy in Clinical Laboratories in Kampala, Uganda.

Objectives: To assess the accuracy and costs of laboratory tests in Kampala, Uganda.

Methods: A random selection of 78 laboratories tested external quality assurance samples at market rates. There were 40 moderate- to high-complexity and 38 low-complexity laboratories.

Voices from the Field: Interviews with Global Health Pathology Volunteers.

Volunteerism in pathology is an uncommon experience. This article attempts to shed light on this experience based on guided narrative interviews. The authors' interviews suggest that prototypical pathology volunteers participate in long-term missions, tend to be later in their careers, are motivated by personal reasons, get involved in volunteering through nongovernmental organizations, focuses on capacity building, and at least partially self-funds their efforts.

Drone Transport of Chemistry and Hematology Samples Over Long Distances.

Objectives: We addressed the stability of biological samples in prolonged drone flights by obtaining paired chemistry and hematology samples from 21 adult volunteers in a single phlebotomy event-84 samples total.

Methods: Half of the samples were held stationary, while the other samples were flown for 3 hours (258 km) in a custom active cooling box mounted on the drone. After the flight, 19 chemistry and hematology tests were performed.

Creation and Evaluation of a Laboratory Administration Curriculum for Pathology Residents.

Objectives: A clinical laboratory management (CLM) curriculum that can objectively assess the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education pathology systems-based practice milestones and can provide consistent resident training across institutions is needed.

Methods: Faculty at Emory University created a curriculum that consists of assay verification exercises and interactive, case-based online modules. Beta testing was done at Emory University and Johns Hopkins.

Drone transportation of blood products.

Background: Small civilian unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) are a novel way to transport small goods. To the best of our knowledge there are no studies examining the impact of drone transport on blood products, describing approaches to maintaining temperature control, or component physical characteristics during drone transport.

Study Design And Methods: Six leukoreduced red blood cell (RBC) and six apheresis platelet (PLT) units were split using sterile techniques.

Drone Transport of Microbes in Blood and Sputum Laboratory Specimens.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could potentially be used to transport microbiological specimens. To examine the impact of UAVs on microbiological specimens, blood and sputum culture specimens were seeded with usual pathogens and flown in a UAV for 30 ± 2 min. Times to recovery, colony counts, morphologies, and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS)-based identifications of the flown and stationary specimens were similar for all microbes studied.