What's New on Westgard Web: December 2011

Posted by Sten Westgard, MS

THE QUALITY OF DIABETES TESTING IN 2011

Dr. Westgard participated in the Top of Diabetes Symposium in Zwolle, Holland. This special conference tackled not only harmonization, standardization, biologic variability, and tight glycemic control.

How good are our HbA1c methods?
https://westgard.com/the-quality-of-diabetes-testing-2011.htm

IT'S OFFICIAL: EQC IS OUT AND QC PLANS ARE IN

The CLIA Final Rules of 2003 put into place a set of scientifically unsound practices known as Equivalent QC. For years, CMS has been seeking a solution to the problem. Now that CLSI has published EP23A, a guideline for Risk Analysis and QC Plans, is the future based on risk?

Read the CMS memo on Lab QC based on Risk Management
https://westgard.com/official-risk-qc.htm

DOES THE TOTAL BRAIN-TO-BRAIN LOOP ALLOW ROOM FOR ANALYTICAL ERROR?

A popular concept of the moment is to talk about the Brain-to-Brain loop in laboratory medicine. But does that concept mean we should stop thinking about the allowable error in our analytical methods? Can our brains handle more than one idea at a time?

When we talk about Total Analytical Error, doesn't that mean we're talking about the analytical process?
https://westgard.com/brain-to-tea.htm

A RISK ANALYSIS EXAMPLE: HFMEA FOR SPONGES

Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is the most common tool associated with Risk Analysis. As we move toward a time when Lab QC will need to use Risk Analysis, it's useful to review examples of how FMEA is used in other healthcare processes.

How many ways can a sponge fail?
https://westgard.com/hfmea-sponges.htm