1. Ralf Lieberz Lab-ManagerSenckenbergisches Institut für Pathologie Universität Frankfurt am Main Window on Europe: II° European Hysto-Cytotechnicians meeting. Coordinatori: A. Bondi, S. Simonazzi

2.  What qualifications does it take to work in a Biomedical Laboratory: MTA; BTA; Biologielaborant BIOMEDICAL LABORATORY TECHNICIAN  In which kind of laboratories can Biomedical Laboratory Technicians work ? (Clinical Chemistry, Pharmacy, Veterinary Medicine, Forensic Medicine, Molecularbiology Laboratories, Cellculture-Labs,  The Biomedical Laboratory Technician is generally employed in public and private laboratories. He also work as a freelancer, but he is not allowed to make diagnoses. Therefore you need a pathologist.

3.  Is there a technicians’ register for Biomedical Laboratory Technicians ? No! BIOMEDICAL LABORATORY TECHNICIAN  Are there professional associations for Biomedical Laboratory Technicians ? In Germany the DVTA; www-dvta.de

4.  The Biomedical Laboratory Technicians must continually update his knowledge. How? Autonomously, you have to visit congresses, talks, workshops ect.  How can your professional career develop or improve? You can become a lab manager or a lab leader. You can work at research and being a part in publications. You can teach young technicians. BIOMEDICAL LABORATORY TECHNICIAN

5. LABORATORY FEATURES  Does the technician chief work together with other technicians or does he only manage a department ? In private department he works together with the other technicians. In university-departments he has nearly only management functions.  Is there a technician chief or a coordinator? Yes, in Germany we called it leitender med.- technischer- Assistant ( chief-technician!)

6.  Is Surgical Pathology Laboratory able to develop methods and procedures and to carry out scientific researches? Yes of course.  Do Biomedical Laboratory Technicians cooperate with other hospital professionals in different? Yes! For a brilliant technical result it is very important to cooperate with other hospital professionals. We do a lot of talks and work-shops together. We have to understand the problems from each other. LABORATORY FEATURES

7.  Do technicians work in all laboratory sector or dedicated sectors? I our department the technicians work in the routine-lab, the immunhisto-lab, the RNA-lab ect. They change there working places in the lab weekly. LABORATORY FEATURES  Are there specialists in safety management, technology equipment and tutorship? Yes, we have special quality-manager and technology managers and we have different persons who are specialized in safety management.

8. LABORATORY FEATURES  Is There a system of employee rating or skill evaluation? How does it work ? We have no employee rating or skill evaluation in Germany!

9. LABORATORY FEATURES  Is Surgical Pathology service available at daytime or 24 hours a day? How is an emergency managed? The service in our department is available from 6am to 6pm. For emergency reasons open end. Therefore it is necessary to have a telephone call before 5pm.

10.  Has the laboratory a budget which enables it to choose instruments and his staff autonomously ? Yes here at the Frankfurt university hospital is that possible! LABORATORY FEATURES

11.  Which fixatives do you use in a SP laboratory? Do you use formalin substitutes ? 4-5% (10%) buffered formalin.  Do you make reagents yourself or do you use commercial kits? Most of the reagents are commercial kits. RTU-reagents!  Do you use xylene / toluene substitutes ? We use Xylene LABORATORY TOOLS

12.  What is the average running time for a histology/cytological preparation ? Fast embeddings: 4h; Normal embeddig: over night; cytological preparation 1,5h  In the cytological screening may the technician sign the report ? No, they sign only the pre-report. The final report is only signed by the pathologist. LABORATORY TOOLS

13.  How does your company take care of your health? Do you have sufficient personal protective equipment available? Do you have compensating payment for the risk exposure? Yes we have!  Do you have a personal insurance ? Yes we have! In Germany we called it “Berufsgenossenschaft”. If you become ill from workplace-reasons you get money from the Berufsgenossenschaft. LABORATORY TOOLS

14.  What tools do you have for internal quality management? In Germany it is possible to have certification (ISO 9001) or a “Akkreditierung” and there are a lot of special cancer centers by the german cancer society. Here you must have a special “pit-fall management”. You have to use controls during immunhisto. You have to use CE-certified reagents. For immunhisto and molecular-pathology we have a nationwide test-system. Here you can see what’s going on in your lab. Witch tests are running quite good and with are running not so good. LABORATORY TOOLS

15.  Do you have an external quality assessment service? Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft und Deutsche Gesellschaft für Akkreditierung. LABORATORY TOOLS

16. Thank you all! It was a pleasure to be a part of your meeting! Many greeting from Germany to Italy