Basic QC Practices
Historically, the first publication of the “Westgard Rules” was shown with an example from
clinical chemistry. As a result, some people believe that QC does not apply to other areas of testing, like hematology, immunology, etc. nor to the new technologies and devices that have been introduced to the laboratory in recent years. This lesson explains how QC techniques apply and can be implemented in "other" areas of testing. (Preview)
Dr. Westgard explains how an analytical testing process works to reject the bad runs and keep the good runs. False rejection and error detection are explained. The different kinds of problems (precision , accuracy, etc.) are also described. If you've ever wondered whether there was method to your laboratory madness, this article is for you.
Tricia Barry MT(ASCP) gives us another valuable article on the basics of quality control, explaining the who, what, when and how of recording your QC history -- plus the why we need to do it. It turns out your records are important - they provide a voice for the method. If you listen closely, you'll understand why things are out-of-control sometimes.
What do you do when you're control is out-of-control? Conventional wisdom is that you repeat the control or try a new one. But that ignores the problem. It doesn't solve anything. Elsa P. Quam BS, MT(ASCP) explains what bad habits we have and what good habits we can adopt to make our laboratory practice better
An introduction to proficiency testing, external quality assurance, and peer testing programs. Measures like SDI, CVI, and Total Error are defined and discussed.