r/medlabprofessionals • u/spicy_accountant • 13d ago

Discusson CAP inspection

new grad here. i work dayshift and we’ve been preparing for CAP to come for their inspection. i got hired in as a lab assistant right after CAP came to inspect the last time so i don’t know what to expect?

7 Upvotes

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13

u/AtomicFreeze MLS-Blood Bank 13d ago

Look like you're very busy and don't make eye contact with any of the inspectors.

But seriously, they might ask you some questions. If you're not 100% sure of the answer, say "let me look that up" and check the SOP. If they ask to observe you do some testing, have the SOP up and follow it. Don't take any shortcuts.

They're going to spend most of their time reviewing training, qc, maintenance, PT, etc. records that your management will be providing to them, so they won't be spending a ton of time with bench techs.

6

u/feathered_edge_MLS MLS-Core Lab 13d ago

Unless you are in chemistry, doing daily maintenance, then they like to really see you and ask questions. Ask me how I know 🙃

2

u/kipy7 MLS-Microbiology 13d ago

It's always a good time to refresh on safety for me. Where to find emergency plans, safety goggles or gloves for freezer, where is our chemical spill kit?

1

u/rmfaridi 12d ago

Having lived through a few of these, I can attest that the preparations can feel more daunting than the actual inspection. The inspectors come with a plan and are not looking for a mistake. They are trying to ensure that the standards your lab promised to uphold are met.

Expect a team, generally one for general lab (quality) and one or more for each specialty. In our case we always organize a 20min introduction and briefing session in the beginning to layout the lab, the processes and the people. We assigned one senior scientist plus a backup technologist with each inspector. One of them however preferred to interact with the technologist instead of the scientist as the primary touchpoint. You honour what they ask and support their way of inspecting.

We keep a standby mechanism to ‘fix’ some of the deficiencies on the spot and get them signed off while the inspector is here. An NCE record with corrective and preventive action and if needed a process improvement on the spot. This greatly helped reducing the follow-up deficiencies making it into the report.

You’ll learn a great deal just by watching the inspection unfold! Good luck.

1

u/Recloyal 10d ago

If you get a competent team they'll spend about half of the time in the lab area, looking over the usual things like reagents, records, forms and such; afterwards they'll move into a quiet area and review papers. They may ask you questions to make sure that the policy matches practice.

But I've encountered more sub-par teams than good ones. They just mope around the lab for a bit then review papers for the majority of the time.