How has COVID-19 impacted on clinical laboratories?

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major impacts on individuals, organisations and economies. There have been many factors that have enabled Australia to deal with the pandemic far better than many countries, including the response by clinical laboratories. Without accurate and rapidly available results combined with access to testing, the country would have floundered. Approximately 12 million COVID tests have been performed since the pandemic started and sample collection centres popped up in many locations. This required clinical laboratories to develop and implement assays quickly, create collection centres in carparks and change working systems to allow 24 hour production of results.

There have been problems with reagent supplies and routine testing, but laboratories have been able to rapidly respond. This talk will describe the challenges and successes the pandemic has created.

About Tony (B. App Sc, BSc, BA, M Lit St (Math), MBA, PhD(QUT), PhD(UQ), FAIMS, FAACB, FAACC, FAIM, Member Aust Maths Soc, FRCPA (Hon), FFSc(RCPA).

He was Associate Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine at Bond University for 4 years before becoming the CEO of the RCPAQAP in 2015. Adjunct Professor School of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Griffith University, Honorary Associate Professor, National Centre for Epidemiology and Public Health ANU College of Health and Medicine and ANU College of Science, Honorary Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, Visiting Fellow, Australian Institute for Health Innovation, Macquarie University. He was President of the Australasian Association of Clinical Biochemists (2003-2007) and Vice President of the Australian Institute of Medical Scientists (2011-2018), is Chair of the Education and Laboratory Management Committee of the Asian Pacific Federation of Clinical Biochemistry, a member of three International Federation of Clinical Chemistry Working Groups (Value of Pathology, Traceability, Analytical Quality), member of the Joint Committee on Traceability in Laboratory Medicine, and currently the Chief Examiner of the Faculty of Science of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. Tony has also had published over 180 Papers and one book chapter (2 editions) in Health care management and chapters in Clinical Biochemistry texts (Tietz) and is Chair of the Document Review and Liaison Committee of the National Pathology Accreditation Advisory Committee.