Day 7 in Kyiv

It's Saturday and I am free all day to be a tourist.  As part of the U.S.-Ukrainian Assessment Team, we conducted post- assessments at the laboratories who volunteered to be a part of the Country Project: Preparing Medical Laboratories to Earn International ISO 15189 accreditation.  We were ecstatic to find so many improvements to the Quality Management Systems in each of the laboratories.  These improvements were based on our findings from a pre-assessment conducted last year.  Implementing improvements in any setting and organization is tedious.  This was an international project, which adds another layer of commitment and potential barriers.  However, this time, the U.S. consultants were mindful to research cultural characteristics of Ukraine and its peoples prior to planning the training approach and methodology.  Selecting the appropriate Ukrainian laboratorians to participate in the training was also done including those professionals accepting of new concepts and open to "change".  Suffice it to say:

The right people + culturally appropriate methodologies + trust and respect + mentorships = A Successful Improvement Project augmenting improved health care for Ukraine.

Of course, this project also demonstrated fiscal responsibility and use of PEPFAR and other funds supporting this project.

Collaboration between two unique but different countries and their respective citizenry further promoted a personal bond and camaraderie between  all members of the team.  In addition to a plethora of discussions on laboratory issues, there was also time for discussions and sharing of personal stories, hobbies, travels, etc.. Lifestyles, expectations of gender roles, marriages, and children were also shared creating even stronger bonds.  Turns out- all laboratories and their staffs have identical challenges with proper identification of patients, writing SOPs, Fire and Biosafety regulations, and balancing work and family time.

Below are pictures last week from Kyiv.  Due to confidentiality respect, the majority of pictures are related to outside the lab.  It was a week of cold temperatures - minus 6 to minus 12 degrees Centigrade and lots of snow and ice!

Street Musician in subway 

Funicular running from upper to lower Kyiv City

St. Andrews Cathedral

Entrance to Laboratory caption

Training Classroom on Process Mapping

View inside a laboratory

Dr. Cathy Presenting at the International Meeting in Kyiv

Sunset before the snowstorm