Hotel-based Industry Workshop programming at AACC’s 2015 Annual Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo places a special emphasis on heart health and laboratory management and quality improvement. These free educational events take place at either the Atlanta Marriott Marquis or Hyatt Regency Atlanta, either at 7 a.m. or 6 p.m. on July 28 or 29.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is on the agenda for at least eight sessions. Several workshops address the issue of myocardial infarction and assays used to diagnose this condition, including: Sensitivity Matters: Transforming Clinical Decision - Making Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) with High-Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin by Abbott Laboratories; Contemporary Use of Troponin I: New Clinical Studies and Current Practice Guidelines, sponsored by Beckman Coulter; and Transitioning Your Institution to Next Gen Troponin T, sponsored by Roche Diagnostics.
CVD risk assessment and prediction will be discussed at several sessions, including: Secreted Phospholipases A2 and Cardiovascular Risk sponsored by Randox Laboratories; Advances in Laboratory Testing for Coronary Heart Disease; The New PLAC Test for Lp-PLA2 Activity by Diadexus; and Lipoprotein(a) and Remnant Cholesterol - Cardiovascular Risk Prediction and Analytical Considerations by Denka Seiken.
Emerging CVD-related science and clinical practice will be at the fore in two sessions, New Frontiers in Lipid Testing by Helena Laboratories, and NT pro-BNP in Latest Heart Failure Treatment, sponsored by Roche Diagnostics.
Several sessions will discuss quality improvement and how labs can make their operations more efficient, including: From Operations to Innovation: Driving and Sustaining Change in the Laboratory by Beckman Coulter, and Transforming Operations and Maximizing Resources Using Abbott Inventory Manager by Abbott Laboratories, QC Frequency: An Objective Solution using Risk-based Principles, sponsored by Bio-Rad Laboratories, and Transforming Lab Quality Using Six Sigma, Informatics and Moving Averages, sponsored by Abbott Laboratories. In addition, The Cleveland Clinic Utilization Experience will highlight the Cleveland Clinic’s successful laboratory test utilization program in the clinical setting and genetic counseling’s role in identifying and optimizing genetic testing.
Testing for conditions ranging from diabetes to celiac disease will be the subject of several sessions. These include two Bio-Rad Laboratories-sponsored workshops: HIV Testing - Progress Made, Preparing for the Future, and HbA1c: Paving the Way for Better Patient Outcomes. In addition, Thermo Fisher Scientific will be exploring the spectrum of gluten-related disorders in Diagnostic Testing for Celiac and Non-Celiac, Gluten (wheat) Related Disorders.
Finally, in a session titled
Avoiding Bloodborne Virus Disease Transmission – Is Your Facility at Risk?, Abbott Diabetes Care will identify specific point-of-care testing practices in assisted monitoring of blood glucose that can pose risks to patient safety.
Last but not least, even as mass spectronomy is being implemented in a growing number of clinical laboratories, Thermo Fisher Scientific will explore emerging applications of this technology in A Shift in Perspective – How New approaches Using Mass Spectrometry are Changing Clinical & Translational Research.
These workshops provide attendees the opportunity to hear from industry experts on the latest science and best practices, all great reasons to join in.