Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
Why do some numbers and statistics in the laboratory attract more attention than others?
While we consider ourselves scientists who make decisions based on rational cost-benefit analyses, an objective look at some of our priorities often reveals the opposite. Labs often make decisions and set priorities based on the emotions of the moment, rather than a cold analysis of the data.
Let's put it another way. There is an infamous quotation attributed to Stalin: "When one man dies it is a tragedy, when thousands die it's statistics."
Do labs respond more to individual tragedies or their own statistics?
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Laboratory Quality Control Based on Risk Management
Posted by James O. Westgard, Sten A. Westgard
Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
One more shot at error rates! At the IFCC Berlin conference, there was an intriguing abstract about the use of Quality Design/Planning tools in the laboratory:
Abstract #1062: Efficiency of Analytical Qualit yControl with Various Quality Planning Tools in Thai Clinical Laboratory. K. Sirisali, S. Manochiopinj, S. Sirisali.
How high do you think out-of-control rates can go?
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Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
Earlier we discussed error rate issues at the Point-of-Care. But we didn't want to leave the "regular" laboratory out of the fun, so here's a study of error rates that came out in 2010:
Evaluation of errors in a clinical laboratory: a one-year experience, Goswami B, Singh B, Chawla R, Mallika V, CCLM 2010;48(1):63-66.
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A new study in Clinical Chemistry investigated the errors rates for Point-of-Care (POC) devices:
Quality Error Rates in Point-of-Care Testing, O'Kane MJ, McManus P, McGowan N, Lynch PL, Clin Chem 2011 Sep;57(9):1267-1.
Can you guess what the error rates were?
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Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
[This picture is actually from Curitiba, Brazil, the SBAC conference back in late June, at a lecture I gave there on Sigma-metrics. I don't have a picture of my lecture from Atlanta, but there is video.]
I gave a short booth presentation on Best Practices for Sigma-metrics at the Abbott Diagnostics booth during the AACC/ASCLS convention. This is now available online for those interested.
The link, after the jump.
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Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
It's that time of year again, where the usual and not-so-usual suspects of the laboratory world gather and discuss science - mixed in with a healthy dose of commerce. We have just returned (and are still recovering from) the annual AACC/ASCLS meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
James O. Westgard at the Westgard QC booth for the 2011 AACC/ASCLS exhibition
More pictures and details of the convention after the jump...
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