Compare our software packages to find out which one is right for you.
For over a decade Westgard QC, Inc., has been offering QC software solutions to the healthcare laboratory market. Over the years, we have introduced a variety of software programs to suit different needs and requirements. We have two QC Design software packages, EZ Rulestm and QC Validator®, which help you choose the best control rule to use on a test. We also have one QC Charting software package, EZ Runstmwhich generates the Levey-Jennings charts for daily operation:
For the routine monitoring of laboratory QC through Levey-Jennings charts
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Open entry of controls
and methods (no vendor lock-in):
You can use any control material, any method, any instrument.
You aren't limited to using just one vendor's products. Levey-Jennings Charts: Traditional display of Levey-Jennings charts. You can control what data is displayed, either by date or by record number. Each material and level can be displayed as a separate chart, with all charts from a test displayed on one screen. Manual Choice of Control Rules: You pick which rules you want to use. You have complete freedom of choice. Action Log for Exclusions: All out-of-control data points are recorded in the Action Log. Supervisor Privileges: Supervisors can create new files, edit existing files, enter information about tests, methods, etc. Analysts without Supervisor status can enter new data, but cannot make any changes to existing files or create other files. This prevents unauthorized tampering with files. Flexible Setting of Control Limits: You can use any of 5 different methods to calculate the mean and standard deviation used to set control limits. Using Labeled or Assigned means and sds gives you the power to define the mean and sd explicitly. Using Fixed or Moving Intervals allows you to calculate mean and sds from a subset of relevant control data. Finally, Cumulative-to-date Intervals allow you to calculate means and sds from as much data as you have available. |
Easy Transition between
Lots: A single
file can handle multiple changes in control lots. You can test
out a new lot and gather relevant mean and standard deviation
data, then "adopt" the lot for routine use, and finally
"retire" that lot when it's time to switch again. All
steps are noted and recorded and can be handled by a single file. Smart Setting Defaults for Fast Data Entry: When entering control data by hand, default settings in the MultiCharttm worksheet repeat common entries - reducing your need to enter the date over and over again, for instance. Also, pop-ups allow you to toggle or click the relevant control materials, control rules, for each entry. All you really have to type in is the control data. Everything else is a tab or a click. Automatic Interpretation of Control Data: As soon as you enter control data, it is interpreted immediately by the software based on the control rules you've chosen and the mean and standard deviation you've calculated or defined. Any out-of-control events are brought immediately to your attention - allowing you a chance to record a corrective action or review the data to see if you made a mistake. Automatic Recording of Exclusions to Action Log: For every out-of-control event, an automatic entry goes into the Action Log. Users can enter notes of explanation or corrective action, but the software prevents the elimination of data or logged out-of-control events. This provides traceability of records and assures that no data can be deleted. |
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EZ Interview for test
setup: The
setup of tests, materials, lots and more is made easy by a step-by-step
interview process. The software walks you through the procedure,
gathering information from you by asking you relevant questions.
Depending on your answers, it asks you more or fewer questions
about your test. Thus, you only have to enter the absolutely
essential information about your tests - no wasted time. On-screen advice and Help files, including CLIA requirements: On every screen of the EZ Interview, helpful advice is displayed on what to enter, where to get data, etc. A comprehensive Help system is also available at a click. CLIA requirements for proficiency testing are listed right in the Help. Over 300 quality requirement recommendations: In addition to CLIA requirements, European biologic goals, Clinical requirements, and a database of over quality recommendations for nearly 300 tests based on biologic variation data are available in the Help system. This is the most comprehensive source of quality requirements available. Largest Library of Single-Rules and "Westgard Rules": Nearly 100 single control rules and multirule combinations ("Westgard Rules") are present in the library of every Westgard QC software product. All of these rules come with known performance characteristics for error detection and false rejection, allowing you to choose the rule that best fits your QC needs. Other software programs offer rules that have unknown performance, or combine rules in illogical ways -- there is no way this can happen with Westgard QC software, which only makes available the best rules. |
MultiCharttm View: All your controls and levels on
one screen:
This innovative feature of EZ Runstm allows you to view data from
different controls and different levels on one single screen
- and still be able to interpret the data quickly and easily.
It's a powerful summary that centralizes your control over your
tests. QC Runs Report: Complete control over custom reporting: You can select whatever you want to include in a QC Runs report. Show all the charts, or just one. Show the entire worksheet, or just a few columns of data. Show the entire history of the test, or just the most recent month. It's all in your control, as well as the ability to add pages of text comments, too. Multistage QC: Multiple control rules running on one test: This innovative feature can be found only in Westgard QC software. Only Westgard QC provides you with a solution to even your hardest-to-QC test - Multistage QC. Begin with a comprehensive Startup QC Design to scrutinize your data and your test for any problems, then switch to a less strict Monitor QC Design to detect only the big problems you need to detect. All of these control rule switchs and QC switches can be performed within a single screen and a single file! No one else in world offers this feature. Special data calculations: For estoric tests, logarithm transforms, proportional transforms, regression transforms, and signal-cuttoff ratios can be added right into the MultiCharttm worksheet. QC for specialized testing has never been easier. |
For the selection of optimal control rules and procedures for laboratory tests
| An Explanation of Extension Features | |
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Available as an Embedded
QC Engine or DLL:
Both EZ Runstm and EZ Rulestm are available as components
for other software, instruments, and information systems. You
can insert Westgard QC software right into your latest product,
with the option of having the Westgard software in direct view
or merely running in the background, crunching all the numbers
for you while your product provides the interface For more information
on this see our Embeddable QC Engines
page. |
Export to Excel file: EZ Runstm allows you to export the data from the
MultiCharttm worksheet to an Excel file. Direct Import of Instrument Data (with Data Innovations Instrument Managertm): This feature is no longer available. |
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Patented Automatic QC Selection Process: Dr. James O. Westgard holds
a patent on the Automatic QC Selection process. No one else can
provide Automatic selection of control rules with dynamic performance
evaluation and feedback in the same way as Westgard QC. Customizable Automatic QC Selection criteria: QC Validator® allows you to choose the specific criteria for the Automatic QC Selection process. Only want Automatic QC Selection to consider controls run on three levels? on two levels? Only want to look at "Westgard Rules"? No problem. Customizable Automatic QC Selection logic: QC Validator® allows you to choose the specific logic of how the Automatic QC Selection process chooses control rules. When choosing, do you prefer single-rules over "Westgard Rules"? Do you prefer maximum QC performance or "just enough"? You can choose. Control Rule Editor: QC Validator® allows you to enter the performance characteristics of NEW control rules and procedures and then compare them to the existing standard rules. For the cutting edge of QC, this is a mandatory feature, and one that only Westgard QC can provide. QC Rule Validation Report: Custom QC Design Reporting: Both Validator® and EZ Rulestm give you control over what you want to appear in a QC Design report. Show OPSpecs, Critical-Error, and/or Power Function graphs. Include text comments if you want. Automatic QC Selection criteria can also be displayed. Graphic Exports of Charts and Graphs: Only QC Validator® allows you to export OPSpecs, Critical-Error, and/or Power Function graphs. With or without axes, bold lines, bold text. Use these graphics in your other reports and documents. Analytical Quality Planning Model: This is the quality planning and requirements model used by the CLIA'88 proficiency testing requirements. It incorporates the imprecision and inaccuracy of the method, as well as the performance of the control rule. See an example application of analytical quality here. |
Clinical Quality Planning
Model: This
model incorporates factors like sampling variation, biological
variation, and other sources of variation. Clinical guidelines
and interpretation cutoffs can be transformed into clinical quality
requirements, allowing you to get the quality specification right
from the doctor's mouth. See an example
application of clinical quality here. European Biologic Goals Planning Model: This model uses biologic variation to calculate goals and requirements for the best performance of laboratory tests. See an article about this here. Patient Data Planning Model: For those who want to use Average of Normals (Patient Data QC) control rules, EZ Rulestm is the only software that incorporates those rules into an Automatic QC Selection process. EZ Rulestm can tell you how many patients you need to adequately control a test using Patient Data. Power Function Graphs: These graphs show the performance characteristics of control rules. Critical-Error Graphs: These rules impose the critical-error - the size of error that your test must detect in order to assure the quality the test needs to achieve - on a power function graph. As result, you can quantify your error detection (i.e. 90%, 50%, etc. error detection). With EZ Rulestm, this critical-error is also combined witha Six Sigma metric calculation, which evaluates the quality of the process. OPSpecs charts: These charts show the imprecision, inaccuracy, and control rule that are necessary to achieve a defined quality requirement. With just one glance at an OPSpecs chart, you can quickly and easily know the quality you're achieving, as well as improvements that you need to make. OPSpecs charts can be used by themselves to plan quality for your test. Custom creation of OPSpecs, Critical-Error, and Power Function graphs: Only QC Validator® allows you to create OPSpecs, Critical-Error, and/or Power Function graphs with any set of control rules you choose. |
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EZ Runstm is a QC Charting tool. It generates Levey-Jennings charts for daily control values, automatically interprets control data, automatically flags out-of-control events, and automatically records out-of-control events and corrective actions in an Action Log. It can produce graphs and reports of any span of time or number of records, can set control limits based on labeled values, or fixed, moving, or cumulative intervals of data, and more. When purchased with Instrument Managertm, it can import data directly from hundreds of instruments. |
| If you need Levey-Jennings charts - and want the best charting - choose EZ Runstm! | |
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EZ Rulestm is an extremely easy-to-use QC Design tool. It walks the user through a set of interview questions and gives the QC recommendation at the end. The Automatic QC Selection process has a set of criteria and logic built right into the software, so users don't have to understand the details of the process. All they do is click, and a control rule is immediately recommended to them. EZ Rulestm also allows Patient Data QC control rules, which is not available in QC Validator®. |
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QC Validator® is our most powerful and flexible QC Design tool. It includes the Automatic QC Selection process, including criteria and logic that you can define. For creation of OPSpecs charts, Critical-Error graphs, and Power Function graphs, this software gives you the most flexibility. It also requires the most amount of knowledge and understanding on the user's part. |
| If you want powerful, fine-grained control over the design of your QC procedures, choose Validator®! | |
