Biobanks support various actors in biomedical research. Sometimes they are dependent on the services of others – for example, when they outsource certain tasks. In this case, the efficiency and process quality of the service providers must be ensured. Especially for biobanks that have introduced quality management systems according to ISO 9001, ISO 20387, ISO 15189, 17025 or ISO 17020 or intend to do so, this management is an important aspect. However, the ISO standards provide few concrete specifications for this. The webinar of the German Biobank Node (GBN) "Management of external service providers by biobanks" on 25 June 2020 provided information on the requirements of and the handling of applicable standards and demonstrated how biobanks manage the relationships with their suppliers in a process-oriented and target-oriented way. Christiane Hartfeldt and Bettina Meinung (both members of the QM core team) discussed the following topics:
- normative requirements and ISO conformity
- basic principles of process management
- supplier management
- contracts and possible contract arrangements
- incoming/quality control
If you have suggestions for future webinars, please contact us at germanbiobanknode@charite.de.
The slides shown during the webinar can be found here (in German).
