Navy Industrial Hygiene and Bio-detection Laboratories Recognized for Top Quality Performance
Navy News Service
Story Number: NNS120515-13
5/15/2012
From Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center Public Affairs
PORTSMOUTH, Va. (NNS) -- The Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center (NMCPHC) announced May 15 the re-certification of its east coast industrial hygiene and biological detection laboratories, both located on Naval Station Norfolk.
NMCPHC's Comprehensive Industrial Hygiene Laboratory (CIHL) Detachment Norfolk, often referred to as the "chill lab," and the Navy Environmental Preventive Medicine Unit (NEPMU) 2 bio-detection laboratory were awarded COLA, formerly the Committee on Office Laboratory Accreditation, a nationally recognized certification for compliance with Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) and the DoD Clinical Laboratory Improvement Program (CLIP) requirements.
"The nationally recognized COLA certificate translates into ensuring mission readiness and giving customers high-quality results through analytical process improvement," said Helen Penn, NMCPHC CIHL industrial hygienist. "Without the bi-yearly nationally accredited COLA certification, the CIHL could not continue to analyze blood samples for lead or other chemicals for the Navy."
Similarly, the bio-detection laboratory would not be accredited to analyze for infectious biological agents such as flu viruses.
The CIHL analyzes pediatric blood samples for lead exposure and adult blood samples for occupational exposure to lead. Patient samples are tested using only Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved reagents.
The criteria for passing the COLA accreditation process are increasingly more difficult as quality control requirements become more stringent.
"The process of accreditation is a lengthy and thorough evaluation of the documentation of compliance with technical, safety, quality and administrative criteria," said Lt. Cmdr. Jamal Dejli, NEPMU2 laboratory director. "Essentially, this certification is an expression of the high standards of excellence in quality healthcare in general and diagnostic procedures in particular."
CIHL East, NEPMU2's bio-detection laboratory, and its sister laboratories in San Diego, provide comprehensive laboratory services to the fleet, but receive patient blood samples for analysis from Navy military treatment facilities (MTFs).
In 2011, CIHL East processed more than 5,000 blood samples alone, with the numbers of samples varying month-to-month. The bio-detection laboratory's sample workload is based largely on a particular disease occurrence or outbreak.
"The workload varies by disease and the time of occurrence; our busiest period was during the H1N1 outbreak 2009-2010, as we were the only testing facility in Hampton Roads and processed hundreds of samples per day. We also get involved in many disease surveillance and outbreak investigations in our AOR," said Dejli.
The Bio-detection Laboratory is equipped to test for a wide-variety of diseases including certain biological warfare agents, but it continues to expand the scope of its surveillance capabilities and most recently developed the ability to test for Norovirus, most commonly associated with acute gastroenteritis.
"We recently launched Norovirus surveillance on board Navy ships using a new sample collection method, and responded to two Norovirus outbreaks on the East Coast," said Dejli.
Tests for more diseases are expected in the coming months.
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