Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
It's that time of year again...
Guess where we're going?
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Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
Could your lab catch this error?
A recent letter to the Journal of Clinical Pathology showed an
example of the consequences of missing a lab error for 10 days.
Commendable that this laboratory was willing to share its challenges
with the wider world. But it raises the question, how many labs could
have caught this error? When we widen our limits with larger SDs and
reduce our use of control rules, are we at risk of becoming blind to
medically important errors?
Does this look like an error to you?
From ISO, What's New? Labs must MU!
The latest ISO 15189 version has a new rule. Measurement Uncertainty is no longer optional, it's mandatory.
Do you know how to calculate MU?
Cancer markers on the Vista, Second look
Another chance to review instrument performance on the Siemens Vista.
Back in 2012, we looked a study that assessed the method performance of
cancer markers on the Vista. Now we've found a second study, this time
one that compares method performance of the new Vista with the older
Immulite methods.
Do two studies tell the same story?
Quality Kickstarter: Patient Percentile Monitoring
Would your lab like to join a pilot project that monitors patient 50th
percentiles? A project that would look across labs and manufacturers to
develop a direct, real-time Quality Indicator that would fulfill ISO
15189's requirement for monitoring the quality of analysis of patient
samples?
Looking for a few, good labs willing to share data
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Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
Recently, the Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation had an interesting paper on error rates:
An error management system in a veterinary clinical laboratory, Emma Hooijberg, Ernst Leidinger, Kathleen P Freeman, J Vet Diag Invest 2012 24(3): 458-468.
If we look at error rates in a vet lab, do you think they're better or worse than the "normal" clinical laboratory? The results may surprise you...
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Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
For years, we've known that the "Westgard Rules" has generated frustration, tears, and sometimes even curses.
But we never thought it would inspire verses...
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Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
A lot of interesting studies coming out this month, unfortunately none of them with encouraging news about the US healthcare system.
The latest, from Sunil Eappen, MD, Atul Gawande, MD et al, Relationship Between Occurence of Surgical Complications and Hospital Finances, JAMA, April 17, 2013, Vol. 309, No. 15 1599-1606
Take a guess: do US hospitals make more money when things go wrong, or less?
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Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
There was some very interesting testimony given in front of the US Congress this week. Boeing and other FAA officials discussed their failure to adequately test the lithium-ion batteries found in the 787 Dreamliner. As you probably already know, on two of the Dreamliners, those batteries malfunctioned and caused fires, which then caused the entire fleet to be grounded.
In the New York Times, it was reported "Boeing’s chief engineer on the 787, Mike Sinnett, said the calculation
that a battery would fail only once every 10 million flight hours
applied to the design of the battery and did not include possible
manufacturing flaws."
In fact, two battery failures and serious fires occurred after less than 52,000 flight hours. The risk was actually over 350 times higher than their estimate!
How could they be so wrong? More after the jump...
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Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
Can you guess which of these categories is the leading source of successful malpractice claims?
Surgical mishaps
Obstetrical problems
Medication errors
Anesthesia disasters
Diagnostic errors
Treatment errors
Something else entirely?
The answer, after the jump...
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