TRAINER GUIDE
Activity 18-1: Understanding Planning, Implementation, and Monitoring Processes
Suggested
Time / 25 minutes
Instructional Method / Brainstorming
Instructions / 1. Provide each participant with a stack of post-it notes and ask:
Write down 5 major steps that you think are needed to set-up a quality system in order from set-up (Step 1) to implementation (Step 5); write one step for each post-it note and include its order as 1 through 5. Initial your post-it notes for later identification and use in Activity 18-2. You have 5 minutes to write your ideas.
Draw 5 columns on a white board or chalk board then label columns Step 1 through to Step 5 (see example image on the next page).
After 5 minutes, ask the participants to place their post-it notes in the corresponding column.
2. Discuss the order that is logical to perform the 5 major steps (listed below) and reorganize the post-it notes accordingly. Allow about 20 minutes to discuss the results, noting the pattern that seems the most realistic and efficient, then lead the discussion so that participants understand and agree with a common sense point of view.
Expected
Results / Note: Usually, participants put close to 50% of the post-it suggestions in the right order from the beginning.
Step 1: Obtain commitment from authorities (director, and/or ministry of health).
Step 2: Conduct an initial assessment of situation, existing laboratory capacities, and regulatory texts and documents.
Step 3: Organize a managerial committee (if the activity refers to a national system), or nominate the Quality Manager (if the activity refers to one laboratory system) and define corresponding charge and duties.
Step 4: Write the quality manual, and define content and objectives.
Step 5: Organize the implementation plan, monitoring and managerial review, plan for improvement.
Important points that should come from the discussion are:
· Careful planning is important to implementation.
· Monitoring is essential in order to know if implementation is being done correctly.
Available on the CD (in Excel file format) are “pre- and post-discussion” worksheets from two different training sessions, conducted with senior biologists in charge of national reference laboratories from Middle Eastern and Eastern European countries.
The example shown below is labeled 18_activity_1_pre_discussion.
Activity 18-2: Understanding Managerial and Staff Responsibilities
Suggested
Time / 20 minutes
Instructional Method / Brainstorming.
Instructions / Following activity 18-1, ask participants:
We will continue thinking on activities that should be performed to have the quality system actually running, and identify who will be responsible for it.
Whom you would assign as the person responsible for each of the 5 steps that were defined during activity 18-1?
Divide the white board or chalk board into 3 columns with headers labeled Laboratory Director, Quality Manager, and Laboratory Staff. See the example on the next page.
1. Ask the participants to reorganize the post-it notes according to those responsible.
2. Complete the list of activities for each level of responsibility according to the discussion during the module.
Expected Results / As one can expect, many responsibilities will be shared by laboratorians and the Quality Manager, or shared by the Quality Manager and the Laboratory Director. The main point and the summary of this training module is for participants to understand that being responsible is part of the quality system and each person in the laboratory is an active contributor.
Available on the CD (in Excel file format) is a “responsibilities” worksheet labeled 18_activity_2_responsibilities made by reshuffling post-its from one of the pre- and post-discussion examples in activity 18-1.
The example below shows only part of the worksheet.
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Organization ● Module 18 ● Trainer Activity Sheet