The YR Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research and Education (YRG CARE), a non-profit organization based in Chennai, is conducting a three-day workshop on Good Clinical Laboratory Practices (GCLP) in Chennai from June 18.

The venue of the programme is at the TICEL Bio Park, at Taramani in the city. GCLP outlines the principles and procedures to be followed by medical laboratories involved in patient care and in clinical research to provide consistent, reproducible, auditable and reliable laboratory results. The organizers of the workshop hope that this workshop is designed to offer comprehensive guidance for those who are implementing GCLP in their laboratories.

According to sources from YRG CARE, the participants will be able to learn GCLP principles and their relation to patient care and/or clinical research, knowledge about developing quality system and implement GCLP in a laboratory, and to familiarize the requirements of standards of ISO 15189:2007.

The participants include Microbiologists, Pathologists, Biochemists, Lab Directors & Managers, Laboratory Technologists, Quality analysis & Quality Control personnel, Quality Officers & Quality Managers, and Professionals associated with clinical laboratory management & accreditation. According to the organizers only those who are currently engaged in the diagnostic lab or clinical researches are encouraged to participate in this workshop. Students are not eligible to attend the program. Participation is restricted only for 60 persons and they will be awarded certificates on completion of the program.

The subjects in workshop, inter alia, include Evolution of GCLP, Basic elements of GCLP, Importance of GCLP in clinical diagnostics and clinical trials, How to start with GCLP in the lab, Do's and don'ts in sample collection procedures, Good phlebotomy practice, Patient preparation, Sample collection manual and its contents, Specimen management, safety and integrity, Verbal requests for examinations, Advisory services to the patients/clinicians, Documentation of validated procedures, Package insert v/s. SOP, Contents of SOP for testing procedures, Do's and don’ts in analytical procedures, Role of personnel in analytical procedures, Operation of equipment for analytical procedures, Equipment records, Equipment manual, Performance requirements, Preventive maintenance, Calibration and verification, Traceability of calibration, Handling of equipments by lab personnel, Handling of equipment by service personnel, Troubleshooting ,and Disposal of old equipments.