APHL/LRN Operational Work Group

March 22, 2010

CPT Trent J. Peacock, Ph.D.

Northern Regional Medical CommandHealth Service Areas

Walter Reed AMC (DC) REFWomack AMC REF(Ft Bragg, NC)Ft Drum (NY) SENWest Point (NY) SENFt Monmouth (NJ) SENFt Knox (KY) SENFt Eustis (VA) SENFt Lee (VA) SENFt Meade (MD) SENFt Belvoir (VA) SEN

Southern Regional Medical CommandHealth Service Areas

SAMMC (FSHTX) REFEisenhower AMC REF (Ft Gordon, GA) CRDAMC (Fort Hood, TX) REFRedstone Arsenal (AL) SENFt Sill (OK) SENFt Campbell (KY) SENFt Jackson (SC) SENFt Benning (GA) SENFt Stewart (GA) SENFt Rucker (AL) SENFt Polk (LA) SEN

Western Regional Medical CommandHealth Services Areas

Madigan AMC (Ft Lewis, WA) REFWilliam Beaumont AMC REF (Ft Bliss, TX)Ft Wainwright (AK) SENFt Irwin (CA) SENFt Huachuca SENFt Leavenworth SENFt Polk SENFt Leonard Wood SENFt Riley SENFt Sill SENFt Carson SEN

Pacific Regional Medical CommandHealth Service Area

Tripler AMC REF

Korea REF

Japan SEN

Europe Regional Medical CommandHealth Service Areas

Landstuhl RMC, GE REF**

Heidelberg SEN

SHAPE SEN

Vicenza SEN

LRN laboratories located across the United States

APHL/LRN Operational Work Group

The APHL/LRN Operational Work Group provides feedback and makes recommendations to the Laboratory Response Branch (LRB) that help to improve the quality of products and services provided by the LRN Program Office to network members.

The APHL/LRN Operational Work Group provides feedback and makes recommendations to the Laboratory Response Branch (LRB) that help to improve the quality of products and services provided by the LRN Program Office to network members.

APHL / LRN SCOPE OF WORK

• Protocol and algorithm revisions

• Assessment of reagent utility

• Proficiency testing implementation

• Enhancements to electronic data messaging

• Evaluation of customer satisfaction levels

Operational Work Group Topics

• For each quality improvement initiative or task assigned by the CDC, the Operational Work Group:

1.Collect any relevant documents from the designated CDC representative

2.Discuss with LRB and determine whether the entire network can be represented solely by workgroup members or if queries of the entire network are required.

3.Develop quality improvement recommendations and report results to the designated CDC representative*

* Final authority to make changes recommended by the APHL/LRN Operational Work Group, resides with LRB.

Operational Work Group Topic Assignment Responsibility

Operational Work Group (OWG) membership

• Members are selected based on regional distribution, laboratory function and size, and respective LRN gate1. Members are rotated every 2 years

• OWG is comprised of representatives from 10 member labs, 2 APHL staff and 2 CDC staff.

• Participant criteria: 1. Extensive knowledge of LRN protocols and

algorithms

2. Affiliated with a member lab that is approved to perform testing for all or most LRN agents

3. Have expertise with survey design and development

Me

mb

er

lab

s

PublicHealth Lab

Dept. of Defense

FBI

Veterinary Diagnostic

Agri-cultural

Environ-mental

CDCRepresentative

APHLRepresentative

Operational Workgroup Members

Department of the Army Participating Members

U.S Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases

(USAMRIID)

U.S. Army Operational Work Group (OWG) membership

…

…

APHL/LRN Operational Workgroup Communication, Objective, Methods and Flow

• Communication objective1. Solicit information from LRN members for quality

improvement process and projects

• Communication methods1. Quarterly conference calls2. Help desk3. LRN Program Office4. OWG

• Communication flow 1. Bidirectional

LRN member labs OWG LRB

APHL/LRN Operational Workgroup receives feedback for protocol revisions

• Army LRN member feedback

1. Conventional methods training identified improved methodology for India ink assay on blood specimens; thin smear instead of a drop.

APHL/LRN Operational Workgroup Projects

Army support and participation in the OWG projects

Acknowledgements

• Chaitram, Jasmine, LRN Special Projects Manager, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• Lee, Phil M.Sc. FIBS, Biological Defense Coordinator, Molecular Microbiology Florida Department of Health Bureau of Laboratories

• Nauschuetz, William Ph.D., Clinical Laboratory Coordinator for Biopreparedness, and U.S. Army Coordinator for the Laboratory Response Network for Bioterrorism