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The European Register for Clinical Chemists
Published in: Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory
Medicine, 2003; 41(2): 238-247
Copyright 2003 by Walter de Gruyter - Berlin - NewYork
| Eberhard Gurr | Abteilung für Klinische Chemie, Zentralkrankenhaus Links der Weser, Bremen, Germany |
| Ursula Koller | Institute for Medical and Chemical Laboratory Diagnostics, Hospital Lainz, Vienna, Austria |
| Vic Blaton | Department of Clinical Chemistry, AZ Sint Jan Hospitaal, Brugge, Belgium |
| Erik Lund | Department of Clinical Chemistry, Vejle County Hospital, Vejle, Denmark |
| Aimo Harmoinen | Centre of Laboratory Medicine, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland |
| Simone Zérah | Laboratoire d’analyses de biologie medicale, Bagnolet, Paris, France |
| Demetrios Rizos | Hormone Laboratory, "Aretaieion" University Hospital, Athens, Greece |
| Desmond Kenny | Department for Clinical Biochemistry, Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children,Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland |
| Mario Pazzagli | Department for Clinical Pathophysiology, Clinical Biochemistry Unit, Florence, Italy |
| Matthias Opp | Laboratoire National, Luxembourg, Luxembourg |
| Hans Willems | CKCL, Academisch Ziekenhuis Sint Radboud, Nijmegen, The Netherlands |
| Henrique Reguengo | Servigo de Quimica Clinica, Hospital Geral de Santo Antonio, Porto, Portugal |
| José Queraltó | Servei de Bioquimica, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain |
| Hans Wallinder | Department of Clinical Chemistry, Medilab AB, Täby, Sweden |
| Janet McMurray | Clinical Biochemistry Department, Hope Hospital, Salford, United Kingdom |
| Rob Jansen | Department of Clinical Chemistry, St Anna Hospital, Geldrop, The Netherlands |
| Markku Parviainen | Reagena Ltd, Kuopio, Finland |
| Graham Beastall | Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, United Kingdom |
| Klaus P. Kohse | Institut für Laboratoriumsdiagnostik und Mikrobiologie, Klinikum Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany |
EC4RC
European Communities Confederation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory
Medicine (EC4), EC4 Register Commission)
Summary
The European Communities Confederation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EC4) opened a Register for European Chemists in 1997. The operation of the Register is undertaken by a Register Committee (EC4RC). During the last years more than 1500 clinical chemists entered the register.
In this article an update of the first Guide to the Register is given, based on the experience of 5 years of operation and the development of the discipline. The registration is valid for 5 years.
Introduction
The European Communities Confederation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EC4) decided to promote recognition of the profession by establishing a Register for Clinical Chemists. The Register ensures common standards of education, training, experience and compliance, as well as continuous professional development of the registrants. The first Guide to the Register was published in 1997 (1).
The Guide to the Register gives the minimum standards of clinical chemistry education, organizes the operation of the Register and defines the procedures, whereas in the syllabus (2) the content of clinical chemistry as to be achieved for professional competence is listed. According to the guide a Register Committee (EC4RC) was formed including delegates from each member state of the European Union.
EC4RC started to work in 1998. EC4RC was setting up the internal institutions, was organizing the workflow and was judging the incoming application forms. The registration process itself started in September 1998, when the first European Clinical Chemists had been accepted. Today more than 1400 clinical chemists from nine of the 15 EU countries had entered the Register.
During the operation of the Register it became necessary to develop procedures and to add some definitions. These changes had no influence on the level of evaluation but optimized the work of EC4RC. These alterations are part of the updated Guide to the Register presented here. The title of the Guide now includes the term laboratory medicine. This is in agreement with the syllabus and the practice of clinical chemistry in the EU (2, 3) and is also expressed by the name of EC4 (European Communities Confederation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine). The title has changed to "European Specialist in Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine", the abbreviation EurClinChem remains unchanged.
Countries having a national education scheme and a national register have been able to present their education standards to EC4RC. If the national conditions met the EC4 requirements, equivalence of standards was agreed by EC4RC and the applications run through a simplified registration procedure. Applicants should both conform to the EC4-approved national equivalence of standards for registration and be member of their national register, where one exists. The election of the chairman of EC4RC and the term of office is now defined, as well as the election of the members of the Committee of Appeal and their term of office.
The code of conduct (1) remains valid until an update is given in an additional paper. Registration is valid for 5 years. The re-registration procedure remained open in the first version of the Guide. The guidelines for the re-registration procedure are here given in a separate paper, which is added to the updated guide presented here. For re-registration two main conditions are asked for. The applicants have to continue in practice as clinical chemists and they have to participate in continuing professional development programs. These programs are now evolving at national levels and the applicant has to follow the national schemes.