Quality control

Many countries have developed competency frameworks to support workers faced with the growing complexity of public health practices. To better understand the utilization of these frameworks in Québec, identify courses of action for optimizing their use, and ascertain updating requirements, the Direction générale de la santé publique of the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux du Québec tasked the Institut national de santé publique du Québec with preparing an advisory to that effect.

Main observations and courses of action based on a competency-based approach

Competency frameworks are usually viewed as tools associated with a competency-based approach in the workplace. Therefore, their use depends on contextual factors, such as the extent to which managers and other staff, human resource departments and labour unions understand and adopt this type of approach. Despite the fact that a competency-based approach is promising, there is legitimat…

Since 2000, the resurgence of syphilis in Québec has led to increased screening and resulted in a greater number of reported cases, particularly in the Montréal area. To meet the growing demand for laboratory testing, some medical diagnostic laboratories have introduced an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) test into their syphilis detection algorithm. This situation raised concerns among general practitioners, microbiologists and infectious disease specialists with regards to the interpretation of screening results and the diagnosis and confirmation of syphilis infections.

In response to these concerns, the Comité sur les infections transmissibles sexuellement et par le sang (CITSS) of the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) established the Sous-comité Épreuves de détection de la syphilis whose mandate was to make recommendations for optimizing syphilis diagnosis in Québec.

To fulfill its mandate, the subcommittee:

• conducted a literature revie…