Course Outline
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- Definition of Quality Control
- Important Concepts in Quality Control
- Controls
- Precision and Accuracy
- Aiming for the Target
- Closer, but not Quite
- Bull's-eye!
- An assayed glucose control produces the following results in 10 runs: 99, 99, 99, 98, 98, 98, 98, 97, 97, 97. The established range for this control i...
- Specificity
- Sensitivity
- Random and Systematic Error
- Types of Error
- Random Error
- Systematic Error
- Indicate which of the factors in the list below are more likely to be random errors or systematic errors.
- Internal and External Quality Control
- Reference Ranges
- Quality Control Procedures, Documentation and Interpretation
- Basic Terms
- Mean
- Histograms
- Standard Deviation
- Acceptable Standard Deviation (SD)
- Establishing Quality Control Limits
- In a normal distribution, approximately what percent of data would be more than +/- 3 standard deviations (SD) from the mean?
- Levey-Jennings Chart
- Westgard Rules
- Using Westgard Rules
- Westgard Rule 13S
- Westgard Rule 22S
- Westgard Rule 41s
- Westgard Rule R4s
- The Levey-Jennings charts on the right represent two levels of control for an analyte. Do they show acceptable quality control results?
- Does the Levey-Jennings chart to the right show acceptable quality control results?
- Trends
- Shifts
- Cumulative Summation Limit
- Youden Plot
- What is a Youden Plot?
- Using a Youden Plot
- In the accompanying Youden plot, what conclusions can be drawn about the data?
- Systematic Troubleshooting
- Establishment of Verification of Method Performance Specifications
- References
Additional Information
Level of instruction: Intermediate
Intended Audience: Medical Laboratory Scientists, Medical Technologists, and Medical Laboratory Technicians, Clinical Laboratory Science students.
Author Information: Garland E. Pendergraph, PhD, JD, MLS(ASCP)SM, HCLD/CC(ABB) is a former Laboratory Director & Director of Laboratory Operations, Quest Diagnostics-Valdosta RRL. Dr. Pendergraph received his MSPH from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, his PhD in medical parasitology and mycology from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and his law degree with a concentration in health care law from Concord Law School, Kaplan University. He also did a Fellowship in Tropical Medicine at Louisiana State University School of Medicine. He is the author of a textbook in phlebotomy, a number of scientific articles, plus internet training programs.
Reviewer Information: Barbara Cebulski, MS, MLS(ASCP)CM is a retired program director for MediaLab, Inc. Prior to 2007, Ms. Cebulski was an Inspection Specialist in the Laboratory Accreditation Program for the College of American Pathologists (CAP). During this time, she also presented on behalf of CAP at Inspector Training seminars and Point-of-Care Group conferences. In her career as a medical technologist, she has held management and supervisory positions. Barbara holds a Masters degree in Instructional Design and Technology from Georgia State University.
Reviewer: Alex Casapu, MBA, MLS(ASCP)CM, has 20 years of experience as a medical laboratory scientist, section supervisor, and laboratory manager. He is the former Director of Clinical Laboratory Technology Program at Georgia Piedmont Technical College. He is currently a Program Director at MediaLab, Inc. Alex holds BS degrees in Biology and Medical Technology from Clark Atlanta University and a MBA from the University of Georgia.