SSCC Scientific Working Groups

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President of the Scientific Board : Dr. Reto Savoca

Formation and FAMH Commission	Dr. Martin Hersberger	Martin.Hersberger@kispi.uzh.ch
Molecular Diagnostics (web)	Prof Dr. Beat Thöny	beat.thony@kispi.uzh.ch
Mass Spectrometry	Dr. Pierre-Alain Binz	pierre-alain.binz@isb-sib.ch
Medicaments	Prof. Dr. Katharina Rentsch	rentschk@uhbs.ch
Post Analytics	Dr. Brigitte Walz	brigitte.walz@ksl.ch
Quality Control	Dr. Reto Savoca	reto.savoca@spitaeler-sh.ch
Fähigkeitsausweis Praxislabor (FAPL)	PD Dr. Lorenz Risch / Dr. Olivier Boulat	ril@lmz-risch.ch / olivier.boulat@chuv.hospvd.ch
Swiss Group for Inborn Errors of Metabolism (SGIEM)	Prof. Dr Brian Fowler	brian.fowler@ukbb.ch
DRG	Prof. Dr. med Heike Freidank	hfreidank@uhbs.ch

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Description and activities of the SSCC scientific working groups

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Formation and FAMH Commission
Olivier Boulat, Martin Hersberger (chair), Denis Hochstrasser, Jean-Luc Magnin, Katharina Rentsch, Lorenz Risch, Arnold von Eckardstein 
The working group represents the Swiss Society of Clinical Chemistry in the FAMH commission responsible for the formation of professionals in laboratory medicine. The FAMH commission organizes the entry and final exams for trainees in laboratory medicine FAMH, decides on the recognition of courses in laboratory medicine for the formation and for continuing education, is responsible for the recognition of laboratories as training institutions, and evaluates the equivalence of any foreign formation in laboratory medicine to the Swiss formation.

Molecular Diagnostics
Beat Thöny (chair), Martin Hersberger, Friedrich Maly 
Die Arbeitsgruppe "Molekulare Diagnostik" mit Prof. B. Thöny, PD Dr. M. Hersberger und Prof. Dr. F. Maly organisierte mit Unterstützung von Roche Diagnostics (Schweiz) AG wieder einen 1.5 tägigen Weiterbildungs-Blockkurs "Diagnostik auf Molekularem Niveau" am Mi 2. und Do 3. März 2011 in Zürich. Diese Veranstaltung richtete sich an Kandidaten für das Diplom als Laborleiter FAMH und weitere Interessenten aus Laboratoriumsmedizin und klinischer Medizin, an Studierende und Mitarbeiter medizinischer Laboratorien. Mit ca. 200 Teilnehmenden auch im 2011 stösst diese Veranstaltung nach wie vor auf reges Interesse. Das Ziel ist die molekulare Diagnostik unter den Aspekten der Indikation, moderner technischer Realisierung und klinischer Interpretation zu präsentieren. Schwerpunktsthemen und Programm mit weiteren Informationen zum Inhalt sind auch auf der Homepage einsehbar (http://www.molekularediagnostik.ch/).
Die Teilnahme ist in der Schweiz auf die obligatorische Fortbildung FAMH mit 9 Credit-Punkten und auf die Weiterbildung FAMH mit 1.5 Tagen anrechenbar sowie mit 9 Fortbildungpunkten auf die obligatorische Fortbildung nach Deutscher Fortbildungsordnung für Ärzte.
Eine Fortführung dieser Weiterbildung und Organisation durch die AG "Molekulare Diagnostik" ist auch für das kommende Jahr vorgesehen - die Veranstaltung findet voraussichtlich am Mi 29. Februar und Do 1. März 2012 im CS FORUM in Zürich statt.
(BT, 29.6.2011)

Mass Spectrometry
Pierre-Alain Binz (chair), Marc Fathi, Vittorio Raverdino, Katharina Rentsch
The goals of the Mass Spectrometry (MS) working group are: 1) to organise courses in mass spectrometry  to share knowledge on the possibilities and use of the technology in Laboratory Medicine; 2) to inform about the analyses processed in Switzerland that use Mass Spectrometry as analytical tool; a growing list of laboratories is made available on the website of the SSCC; 3) to keep contact and exchange experience with similar activities  in other countries.

Medicaments
Katharina Rentsch (chair), Daniela Buhl, Chin Eap, Marc Fathi, Wolfgang Thormann, Dominique Werner (Status December 2009)
The goals of the working group "Medicaments" are: 1) To assemble different pharmacokinetic and pre-analytical data on the commonly measured drugs in the context; 2) to organise meeting on therapeutic drug monitoring; 3) to keep contact and exchange experience on therapeutic drug monitoring and clinical toxicology within Switzerland and abroad.

Post Analytics
Brigitte Walz (chair), Charly Nusbaumer, Olivier Boulat
The process of validation is a time-consuming and rather difficult part of the analytical process. It is important to make this process simpler without losing quality. The group recommends two simple rules to be included into the validation program in the LIS. The time consumed by Validation can be reduced by 40 - 70%. (see Publication in Pipette 2011*)
The reference change value (RCV) is the most important topic, with which the group will work in the months to come. The intraindividual variation of an Analyte is often much smaller than the reference values, that are given by the provider and that are established using a few hundred apparently healthy individuals. Clinicians are often not aware of this and much education will be needed coming from the laboratories.
* Publication in Pipette 2011; 3:6-8 Validation assistée: Apport de deux règles simples appiquées aux résultats des paramètres les plus fréquents de la chimie clinique générale et de l'urgence.  Une enquête du groupe de travail "post-analytique" de la SSCC. Olivier Boulat, Charly Nusbaumer, Brigitte Walz

Quality Control
Reto Savoca (chair), Hansruedi Achermann, Roman Fried, Eric Grouzmann, Dagmar Kesseler, Konstantin Kiouplidis, Remy Sitterle
The working group is engaged in the actualisation of the guideline for internal quality control by the QUALAB. It works out suggestions for new analyses to be submitted to external quality control and is also involved in the revision of the limits of acceptance for external and internal quality control. If needed, new limits of acceptance are elaborated and proposed to the QUALAB. Finally if a technical question from the QUALAB arises, this group is prepared to do the background work and to provide possible answers.

Fähigkeitsausweis Praxislabor (FAPL/AFCPL)
Brigitte Walz (chair), Olivier Boulat, Lorenz Risch (co-chair)
To meet the requirements of QUALAB on quality assurance within the laboratory of the practitioner, the FMH had to ensure a post-graduate training for doctors which offer laboratory analyses. The task was delegated to the FAPL/AFCLP commission of the KHM/CMPR (composed of representatives of scientific societies SSCC, SSH, SSM and delegates of the FMH, SSP, SMI, SMG) to develop a training program to ensure the training. Regular meetings of the commission (2 / year) are organized 1) to guarantee an “unité de doctrine” between the different Swiss centres offering the course.
The development of an e-learning course is well on its way. The first blended-learning course will be given in March 2012, where activities of about one day are offered on an online-platform, which can be assessed individually. Two days of special courses in microbiology, haematology, clinical chemistry and urine diagnosis (incl. microscopy) are offered in the AMTS training centre in Lucerne.
Since 2003, more than 1'600 doctors attended the entire course. More than 10'000 certificates have been distributed by the KHM / CMPR including many practitioners benefiting from transient conditions.


Swiss Group for Inborn Errors of Metabolism (SGIEM)
Brian Fowler (chair), Matthias Baumgartner (Secretary), Diana Ballhausen, Ilse Kern, Jean-Marc Nuoffer, Peter Jacobs
This group comprises Scientists, Physicians and nutritionists from all of the Swiss Centres involved in provision of laboratory and clinical services for inherited metabolic disorders, mainly from the University Children's Hospitals of Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne and Zürich, now with ca. 30 members. We are concerned with all issues related to IEMs and meet formally twice a year. Current issues which are sometimes addressed in depth in working groups include the networking of laboratory services and patient management, recommendations regarding newborn screening, development of common approaches to treatment, care of patients with lysosomal storage disorders and efforts to guarantee payment of laboratory analyses and special treatment products by health insurance organisations.
Two relevant articles have been published in Paediatrica, one on the activities of our group (Paediatrica Vol. 19 No. 2 2008, p 59) the other on Recommendations about the use of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) in phenylketonuric (PKU) patients in Switzerland (Paediatrica Vol. 21 No. 5 2010 p 37).
A major educational activity is our half-day annual meeting open to a broader group of professionals from Switzerland and neighbouring countries with local and international speakers, held since 2004 and attended by 60 -90 persons. Topics we have covered include: Genetic connective tissue disorders; Metabolic and Genetic networks; Mitochondrial disorders in children; Brain disorders and defects of Vitamin B12 metabolism; Amino acids, ammonia, creatine and  the developing brain; Future of newborn screening in Switzerland; Inborn errors affecting the liver; Inborn errors of metabolism in adults.
http://www.ssiem.org/nationalsocieties/membercountriesdetails.asp?cid=20

DRG
Heike Freidank (chair), Tiziano Balmelli, Daniela Buhl, Willi Conrad, Andreas Huber, Wolfgang Korte, Jürgen Muser, Arnold von Eckardstein, Philip von Landenberg, Brigitte Walz
With the 2nd revision of the Swiss KVG in 2007, the reimbursement of hospital treatments was announced to be put on a new basis by applying the DRG system in Switzerland from 2012. 
In 2009 the Swiss Society of Clinical Chemistry (SGKC) founded a working group DRG intending to prepare laboratories to work under conditions of DRG financing in the hospitals. The members of the working group DRG decided to develop diagnostic pathways for the detection and differentiation of clinical questions. Based on existing recommendations these pathways should be structured to be used as a basis for implementation into hospital and laboratory information systems in the future.
Regular meetings of the working group take place to discuss and summarize the experience of the group members as well as to guarantee an “unité de doctrine” between the different Swiss laboratory centres involved in the establishment of the pathways. Decision was made to ask experienced clinicians (e.g. from the corresponding scientific societies) to give input to the pathways under development. The first diagnostic pathways concerning renal diseases were published in 2011. Further pathways are in process.