E- for education

Italbioforma’s Scientific Director and coordinator of the Scientific Committee is
Dr Antonio Goglio, (left) professor and director of the School of Microbiology and Virology, University of Milan, and director of the department for the prevention and surveillance of infections at the Riuniti di Bergamo Hospital.
Members of the committee include:
Giuseppe Banfi – Healthcare Director at the Galeazzi Orthopaedic Institute in Milan and Supervisor of the Italbioforma training programme
Claudio Farina – Director of Microbiology, Azienda Ospedaliera ‘San Carlo Borromeo Hospital’, Milan
Luigi Ferrari – Haematologist
Carlo Franzini – Clinical biochemist at the Medical & Surgery Faculty, Università degli Studi, Milan
Federico Maggi – Laboratorio TOMA Advanced Biomedical Assays SpA, Busto Arsizio (VA)
Fiorenzo Pastoni – National Order of Biologists
Roberto Rescaldani – Faculty of Medicine, University of Milan-Bicocca

The group has the direct cooperation of the French Ministry of Health, promoted by Professor Adrien Bedossa of Bioforma, who is also president of a French association that has, for years, trained laboratory technicians.

Between 2003–2005 Italbioforma began to present distance learning and scientific updates on its website (see below), using QconLine – an evaluation of clinical cases. Eleven programmes covered bacteriology, hemal and non-hemal parasitology, mycology, haematology, spermiology, histopathology, citopatology, immuno-haematology, cytogenetics and electrophoresis. Each aimed to constantly update professionals with an immediate evaluation of their diagnostic performances in various sectors of laboratory medicine. 10 clinical case reports were published monthly, over the year, and included microscopic and macroscopic images simulating what was observed in the laboratory; educational literature from experts to train and help with further understanding of each clinical case; at all times the possibility of direct contact with an expert to clarify doubts and compare personal experiences and, finally, constant access to educational archives with images, cards and experts’ comments. To make the programmes accessible at a European level, QConLine was presented in Italian, French (ControlImage), Portuguese, English, Spanish and Rumanian. 

QconLine suspended
However, disregarding its success, QconLine, was suspended at the end of 2006, because Italbioforma wanted to widen its horizons and make its FAD programmes compatible with the training objectives of national and regional interest. Thus it purchased FE.E-Learning for on-line training, and compatible with AICC standards. In recent months, Italbioforma has been defining new training programmes.

Also thanks to important partnerships with e.g. the National Order of Biologists (ONB) – already accredited as the provider – Italbioforma will soon offer not only its own ECM distance learning courses but also courses already available from other providers – e.g. the FAD Criteria of Quality: conceptual and technical evolution of normatives produced by the ONB, with Italbioforma’s technological partnership.

Organization of distance learning courses, particularly online courses, with a national or regional plan for the continuous creation (education/training/updating) of healthcare operators: Italbioforma is registered with the Ministry of the Health as a provider for the creation of distance training events and is accredited by the ECM (Educazione Continua in Medicina).

Italbioforma also aims to provide information and modernise medicine and healthcare. For each year a section has been activated on the association’s site dedicated to the SOPs – i.e. the translation into Italian of methods and national standards in clinical fields. These publications became possible through collaboration with the Health Protection Agency. Besides the SOPs, Italbioforma has dedicated a section of its site to medical laboratory news, edited by Professor Ferruccio Mandler, who has also retained interesting and useful news items dating from May 2003. All the priceless scientific information in the SOPs section is made freely accessible to the public.
In 2004, Italbioforma’s System for Quality Management was successfully audited according to the European & International standards of UNI EN ISO 9001:200, and it is certified by Certiquality (certificate no. 7039) to organise and implement distance learning projects in medicine and health. Italbioforma also wants the on-line ECM programmes to be accredited as soon as the ministry has defined modalities for accrediting the FAD.

In 2004 the association collaborated with the FIASO (the Italian Federation of Sanitary Hospital and Institutions) during the ECM experiments for the FAD, making available to FIASO all its technical and scientific knowledge and experience from about three years of management and publication of QConLine.

Since 2005 Italbioforma has been accredited by FON.TER, a multi-professional fund for continuous education of out-source contractors – companies that provide services to healthcare structures. (www.fonter.it).

Between 2002 and 2005 Italbioforma had organized FAD events (ControlImage) for French analysis laboratories, with the contribution of the French Ministry of Health, through Bioforma.
In addition, Italbioforma proposes itself as ECM provider and/or professional co-provider for other scientific bodies that share the same learning objectives.

Continuing in this direction, the association goes beyond its consolidated and positive collaboration with the National Order of Biologists and is also consolidating collaborations with AMCLI and the CIRM. It is also evaluating a possible collaboration with ANISAP.
Based on information from our Italy correspondent Danilo Camisasca
Further details: www.italbioforma.org

01.05.2007

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