The EC4 register of European clinical chemists and EC4 activities.
The freedom of movement of people and goods within the European Union (EU) has a large impact for the member states. Particularly within health care it is important to recognize, or if necessary obtain, an adequate level of the quality of profession and practice, so that citizens know that health care is offered in their country at a level comparable to other countries. The importance of recognition also applies to laboratory medicine. European Communities Confederation of Clinical Chemistry (EC4) is the organization of societies for clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine in the EU. In Europe, health care develops in the direction where patients are treated in a health care chain environment. In this chain, patients move quickly from primary health institutes to secondary and tertiary institutes, and vice versa. This situation involves many health care workers including several laboratories. Diagnosis and therapy are now 'core business' of health care. Medical laboratories play an essential role in this. The broad spectrum of medical laboratory investigations make consultancy of medical laboratory specialists ever more important. The quality of both professionals and laboratories, as well as continuity of laboratory data within and between laboratories, are of utmost importance.EC4 is active in giving support to attain such quality. In most countries, this is the case at present. EC4 plays a central role in the Coordination of Automatic Recognition of Equivalence of Standards (CARE), if such a level exists or is achieved. Such CARE is focussed at three levels, the profession, quality of laboratories and calibration of laboratory data. The EC4 Register of European Clinical Chemists is open for colleagues educated in (bio)chemistry, pharmacy, biology as well as medicine, and trained according to the EC4 Syllabus. Equivalence of standards has been granted to national training schemes of 13 European Union countries. Since its opening in 1998, the number of applicants is growing steadily and quickly, reaching 1225 in May 2001.EC4 has published essential criteria for quality systems of medical laboratories, which formed the basis for a ISO draft international standard regarding quality and competence of medical laboratories.EC4 stimulates projects like the Calibration 2000 project in the Netherlands which focus on continuity of laboratory data, within-as well as between-laboratories.