November 2006

Dr. Westgard recently attended the Spanish society of Clinical Chemistry and Chemical Pathology in Bilbao, Spain. Here are a few highlights.

In October, I had the privilege of participating in the meeting of the Spanish Society of Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Pathology. This meeting was held in Bilbao, the home of the famous Guggenheim museum that was designed by Frank Gehry. If quality means surpassing customer expectations, the museum and the city of Bilbao were truly quality experiences. I tried to capture a picture of the museum, but it is too overwhelming to be contained in any single view.

Back to business - my presentation was about Six Sigma applications for quality assessment of laboratory testing. This includes the use of Six Sigma criteria for judging the acceptability of methods during method validation studies, Six Sigma metrics for selection of QC procedures, and Six Sigma metrics for estimation of quality from proficiency testing results.

My dear friend Dr. Carmen Ricos chaired the session and has also translated my slides to make them available to our Spanish audience.

To download the Westgard presentation at Bilbao, fill out the form below...

Thos who regularly follow Westgard Web will recognize Dr. Ricos as a contributor to our website. On behalf of the Analytical Quality Commission of the Spanish Society for Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Pathology [http://www.seqc.es/], she chairs a group that maintains a database on biologic variation, which can be found on Westgard Web.

• A description of the information in this database.
• Information on the 2006 update of the database.
• The database, with tests listed in alphabetic order.

For participants at the conference, I promised to provide a list of some reference materials available on Westgard Web.

• Background on the application of Six Sigma Quality Management can be found in several lessons, e.g., Six Sigma Quality Management and Desirable Laboratory Precision; Six Sigma Quality Design and Control Processes; note that there is a whole section of Six Sigma lessons.
• Some examples of the use of Sigma-metrics in method evaluation are found in applications, such as POC Glucose meters.
• The application of Sigma-metrics for the selection of QC procedures can be found in our CLIA section, particularly Appropriate QC Procedures.
• The implementation of quality-planning models using a PC program called EZ Rules 3.
• Our own examination of PT data makes use of sigma-metrics to assess quality. The methodology for estimating sigma-metrics from EQA or PT data.
• Those who want hard-copy materials on Six Sigma may consider our book on Six Sigma Quality Design and Control, 2nd edition, which was published just a few months ago.

Many thanks to Bio-Rad for supporting my participation in this meeting, and again, to Dr. Carmen Ricos, for making available the translation of my slides.

Again, many thanks to my hosts and the attentive audience.

James O. Westgard, PhD, is a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison. He also is president of Westgard QC, Inc., (Madison, Wis.) which provides tools, technology, and training for laboratory quality management.