CMPT Accomplishments & Impacts

Canadian Microbiology Proficiency Testing (CMPT) and the Program Office for Laboratory Quality Management (POLQM) have a mandate to improve the quality of testing in Canada and worldwide through proficiency testing programs, educational programs, and contributions to international guidelines and conversations about laboratory testing quality.

Our educational mandate has led to the creation of a catalog of courses that promote high-quality microbiology testing including an Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing and Interpretation course to address the growing global Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) crisis, a Laboratory Quality Management course to address the need of high level laboratory quality management, an ISO 15189:2022 short course that educates laboratories about the newly updated standard requirements, and the Professional Development course which is continuously updated with the results of recent proficiency testing challenges. In the last couple of years these courses have helped more than 400 students in Canada and around the world from as far as Ethiopia, Gambia, India, and the Philippines.

Last year’s Laboratory Quality Conference – organized and run by POLQM – had more than 90 attendees from around the world. A new hybrid-remote model not only allowed a record high number of attendees but also enabled a greater range of speakers, including renowned quality expert Dr. Michael Laposata.

This year, CMPT responded to British Columbia’s mandated shift to molecular testing for infectious diarrhea by introducing a gastrointestinal panel that specifically addresses each pathogen tested in the panel, allowing laboratories to easily test their proficiency with one program.

CMPT has published a number of papers recently that shed light on laboratory quality practices through the lens of proficiency testing, including a paper on the educational importance of PT at point-of-care testing sites based on data gathered during the COVID-19 pandemic, a paper examining the effectiveness of different methods of water testing, and a paper detailing the importance of clarifying whether test results indicate the absence of a pathogen or whether they simply do not indicate its presence.