Laboratory quality worldwide
Donald S. Karcher, MD
August 2024—The CAP has been expanding its international footprint in recent years, and I hope to accelerate that trend during my presidency. The reason is simple: The CAP has established the world standard in quality for clinical laboratories, and it is our responsibility to share that standard as broadly as we can to improve care for patients everywhere in the world.
If you have ever been involved in laboratory accreditation or proficiency testing for the CAP, you may already know just how large our reach is. CAP volunteers inspect several hundred international laboratories in more than 60 countries, and many times those volunteers also take the opportunity to provide education. Our inspectors routinely give lectures or seminars at hospitals and other facilities, and some even tie their laboratory visits to nearby pathology conferences where they also give talks. We are proud of our expertise and are happy to share it to benefit others. In addition to laboratory accreditation, the CAP also provides proficiency testing materials for more than 23,000 laboratories worldwide, including those in more than 115 countries. We’re also beginning to provide free access to online educational tools and other resources for pathologists in lower-income countries.
Laboratories around the world want to be accredited by the CAP because we are considered the gold standard in quality. CAP accreditation is prized. It demonstrates a laboratory’s commitment to quality, no matter where that laboratory is. And the CAP’s educational materials are also highly valued because they are developed by the best of the best.
For the CAP and its members, focusing on international expansion is not only the right thing to do but also the smart thing to do. It’s the right thing because we are helping to make laboratories and pathologists anywhere in the world the best they can be, ensuring they deliver excellent care to their patients. It’s the smart thing to do because parts of the world that cannot afford CAP fees today may be able to do so in the future, and we should be paving the way now to welcome more members and more CAP-accredited laboratories in the coming years. The CAP Foundation is also doing great work to support pathologists and laboratories in under-resourced settings (and if you haven’t considered how you can contribute to the Foundation lately, I hope you take a moment to do so now).
Already, our international membership is growing. We have many international fellows and international residents within the CAP, and I hope to see even more join us in the future. For these pathologists, there is tremendous benefit in becoming part of the CAP and tapping into our great network, resources, and expertise.
I strongly believe that CAP members within the U.S. and Canada also derive great benefit from broadening our ranks to include more pathologists in more places. Getting the perspective of our colleagues in other countries can be helpful in our own practices, and expanding our network always gives us a better chance of finding someone who may have already seen a particularly unusual infection or other condition and can help us interpret a new case that comes across our desk. Representing greater numbers of pathologists also gives the CAP more clout when dealing with regulators and policymakers, ensuring that our advocacy work is taken more seriously. And on a practical note, having more customers and dues-paying members allows the CAP to develop more educational materials and other resources we can all use, as well as to support our annual meeting and other high-quality events.
As physicians, we inherently want as many people as possible to benefit from our expertise. As an organization of physicians, the CAP should be aimed at the same goal: sharing what we have to offer with everyone, even those who may not be able to afford it.
If you have ideas for how the CAP can do more to support pathologists and patients around the world, I’d love to hear from you.
Dr. Karcher welcomes communication from CAP members. Write to him at president@cap.org.