Trends in Laboratory QA/QC

Lab manager Magazine has an interesting interview Michael Noble, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia and chair of the Program Office for Laboratory Quality Management.

In the article, Professor Noble emphasizes that while increased awareness, education and standardization of information and protocols have helped improve laboratory quality, people still need to be reminded that the pursuit of quality is a commitment that needs constant time, effort and money. Hence, he advises lab managers to start small, stay committed and keep an eye on the “cost” of having poor quality as opposed to focusing on just the costs incurred for quality improvements.

Here is an extract:

“The reality is that, with quality, the notion is one of continual improvement. It’s not a matter of doing it right the first time. It’s picking up the error, learning from it and always going forward a step at a time. And that’s where we tend not to be particularly good in our quality implementation. We always make this assumption that we have to get it right the first time. We don’t. Quality takes a long-term commitment. But it’s worth it in the end because costs are guaranteed to go down, the amount of energy people have will go up, the amount of enthusiasm will remain, we will stop losing personnel and we will make laboratories better.”

To access the article, go to: Laboratory Manager

Posted by Tim Sandle