Ralf Lieberz Lab-ManagerSenckenbergisches Institut für Pathologie Universität Frankfurt am Main

1. Window on Europe: II° European Hysto-Cytotechnicians meeting. Ralf Lieberz Lab-ManagerSenckenbergisches Institut für Pathologie Universität Frankfurt am Main Coordinatori: A. Bondi, S. Simonazzi

2. BIOMEDICAL LABORATORY TECHNICIAN • What qualifications does it take to work in a Biomedical Laboratory: MTA; BTA; Biologielaborant • In which kind of laboratories can Biomedical Laboratory Technicians work ? (Clinical Chemistry, Pharmacy, Veterinary Medicine, Forensic Medicine, Molecularbiology Laboratories, Cellculture-Labs, • The Biomedical Laboratory Technician is generally employed in public and private laboratories. He also work as a freelancer, but he is not allowed to make diagnoses. Therefore you need a pathologist.

3. BIOMEDICAL LABORATORY TECHNICIAN • Is there a technicians’ register for Biomedical Laboratory Technicians ? No! • Are there professional associations for Biomedical Laboratory Technicians ? • In Germany the DVTA; www-dvta.de

4. BIOMEDICAL LABORATORY TECHNICIAN • The Biomedical Laboratory Technicians must continually update his knowledge. How? Autonomously, you have to visit congresses, talks, workshops ect. • How can your professional career develop or improve? • You can become a lab manager or a lab leader. You can work at research and being a part in publications. You can teach young technicians.

5. LABORATORY FEATURES • Is there a technician chief or a coordinator? • Yes , in Germany we called it leitender med.- technischer-Assistant ( chief-technician!) • Does the technician chief work together with other technicians or does he only manage a department ? • In private department he works together with the other technicians. In university-departments he has nearly only management functions.

6. LABORATORY FEATURES • Do Biomedical Laboratory Technicians cooperate with other hospital professionals in different? • Yes! For a brilliant technical result it is very important to cooperate with other hospital professionals. We do a lot of talks and work-shops together. We have to understand the problems from each other. • Is Surgical Pathology Laboratory able to develop methods and procedures and to carry out scientific researches? Yes of course.

7. LABORATORY FEATURES • Do technicians work in all laboratory sector or dedicated sectors? I our department the technicians work in the routine-lab, the immunhisto-lab, the RNA-lab ect. They change there working places in the lab weekly. • Are there specialists in safety management, technology equipment and tutorship? • Yes, we have special quality-manager and technology managers and we have different persons who are specialized in safety management.

8. LABORATORY FEATURES • Is There a system of employee rating or skill evaluation? • How does it work ? • We have no employee rating or skill evaluation in Germany!

9. LABORATORY FEATURES • Is Surgical Pathology service available at daytime or 24 hours a day? How is an emergency managed? The service in our department is available from 6am to 6pm. For emergency reasons open end. Therefore it is necessary to have a telephone call before 5pm.

10. LABORATORY FEATURES • Has the laboratory a budget which enables it to choose instruments and his staff autonomously ? • Yes here at the Frankfurt university hospital is that possible!

11. LABORATORY TOOLS • Which fixatives do you use in a SP laboratory? Do you use formalin substitutes ? 4-5% (10%) buffered formalin. • Do you use xylene / toluene substitutes ? • We use Xylene • Do you make reagents yourself or do you use commercial kits? • Most of the reagents are commercial kits. RTU-reagents!

12. LABORATORY TOOLS • What is the average running time for a histology/cytological preparation ? Fast embeddings: 4h; Normal embeddig: over night; cytological preparation 1,5h • In the cytological screening may the technician sign the report ? • No, they sign only the pre-report. The final report is only signed by the pathologist.

13. LABORATORY TOOLS • How does your company take care of your health? Do you have sufficient personal protective equipment available? Do you have compensating payment for the risk exposure? Yes we have! • Do you have a personal insurance ? • Yes we have! In Germany we called it “Berufsgenossenschaft”. If you become ill from workplace-reasons you get money from the Berufsgenossenschaft.

14. LABORATORY TOOLS • What tools do you have for internal quality management? In Germany it is possible to have certification (ISO 9001) or a “Akkreditierung” and there are a lot of special cancer centers by the german cancer society. Here you must have a special “pit-fall management”. You have to use controls during immunhisto. You have to use CE-certified reagents. For immunhisto and molecular-pathology we have a nationwide test-system. Here you can see what’s going on in your lab. Witch tests are running quite good and with are running not so good.

15. LABORATORY TOOLS • Do you have an external quality assessment service? Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft und Deutsche Gesellschaft für Akkreditierung.

16. Thank you all! It was a pleasure to be a part of your meeting! Many greeting from Germany to Italy