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Basic QC Practices manual
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Westgard QC offers several courses in online continuing education and professional development. These courses are accredited by the ASCLS and the AACC and are available through each society at a discounted rate.
"I enjoyed the course a lot and found all of the lessons to be structured well, very informative, and well written. The concepts are presented so logically that the progression is easy to follow."
Doretta Lloyd, Laguna Hills, CA"Thank you for your course. It has been worth the time."
Walter Kowalewski, Oakland, CA"I really enjoyed taking the course. Offering CE courses over the internet is great. Being able to complete the required CE hours at the comfort and convinience of home at the right time wherein you could concentrate and really learn is very rewarding....Thanks."
Jeannette Mangrobang, San Jose, CA"I have been a Med Tech for 14 years and have some background in QC. The Basic QC course was just what I needed to dust out the cobwebs."
Mark Bormann"I appreciate the fact that you kept the course material in an easy to printout and organized format. I carried the material around with me to study. I also appreciate the fact that I can still read the other material available through the hyperlinks as I find time to fit them in....Thank you so much."
Carmeline Utz, St. Louis, MO.Over 400 laboratory professionals, students, and educators from more than 30 different countries have taken Westgard QC online courses. Shouldn't you be taking one, too?
Basic QC Practices manualNEW REVIEW!! From Am J Clin Pathol 2000:113
More than a year ago, I had an opportunity to review quality control (QC) practices with residents in a training program. The format for this review was a digital projector and access to the Web site of the Westgard Quality Corporation. During our sessions using the Web site, we had the opportunity to review basic QC practices, the multirule procedure ["Westgard rules"], and planning processes for the QC of individual analytes. This Web tool has been a useful training and reference tool for me and was very well received by the residents in the program.
....Dr. Westgard and his coauthors have now extracted the material...from the Web site and published a useful paperback book encompassing basic QC practices. I am personally pleased to see this volume....
This text compiles basic QC principles into a single volume. It will be a useful text for the training of technologists and residents in pathology for the development of QC procedures in the laboratory. The text is also a good resource for nursing and other services that struggle with control in point-of-care testing. The text explains the way that appropriate planning of the QC process and the application of QC rules can detect varying types of analytical error. It can be helpful both in improving the quality of testing in the laboratory by reducing the detection of false errors and in increasing the probability that true errors will be detected.
The book has 12 chapters with 4 appendices and is well referenced. The book is organized into 3 sections: (1) QC Basic Training 101, in which the principles and practice of QC are discussed in some detail; (2) QC Basic Training 102, in which control materials, calculations, the multirule procedures, and the interpretation of multirule procedures are discussed; and (3) QC Basic Training 103, in which regulations, medical decision levels, probabilities of rejection, record-keeping, out-of-control problems, and the planning process are reviewed for supervisors and laboratory directors....
The book, the CD-ROM version that is also available, and the accompanying Web site (www.westgard.com) have provided a solid, back-to-basics approach to QC and have taken a perceived confusion and difficulty of multirule QC to a level of orderly basic understanding. The text contains the information that should be required study for any student of laboratory medicine and should be available for reference in clinical laboratories dealing with QC. When teaching medical technology students, residents of clinical pathology, and others, it is always emphasized that medical instruments are designed to fail; that anytime technologists or clinicians approach an instrument to perform an analysis, they must assume that since the last time the instrument was used, a malfunction has occurred; and that the instrument must demonstrate that it is functioning properly and capable of generating data within control limits. This book tells them how.
From Clinical Biochemist Newsletter, March 1999:
The book is written in a very user-friendly manner, and at times you may feel that the authors are sitting beside you, guiding you through the lessons. We learn that Mrs Westgard's Rules controls the Westgard household and these are the rules that have kept Dr Westgard under stable control for many years.....
I particularly enjoyed James Westgard's non-technical description of the multi-rule QC procedure. He says, "When my daughter Kristin was young and living at home, she liked to party. One day when she told me she was again intending to be out late, I felt the need to exert some parental control over her hours. So I told her that if she was out once after three o'clock, twice after two o'clock or four times after one o'clock, she was in big trouble. That's multirule control"....
Basic QC Practices is an introduction to the backbone of the laboratory, which is statistical quality control. It is an ideal reference material for those who want to implement and operate valid QC procedures in central laboratories or point of care testing settings. With its links to the Internet it is an ideal resource for those studying for higher qualifications....I enjoyed working through the book and visiting the Internet references. Books on quality control can be boring, this is not one such book.
From Clinical Laboratory Science, March/April 1999:
With the information accessible in three formats, these lessons can be available to students with different learning preferences, to learners with different computer skills, and to laboratory personnel with different forms of Web access. In a classroom setting where computers and the Web are readily available, however, the instructor may want to push the students into using the most technologically advanced format and assign the CD where the program simulates surfing the Internet or use the Web format itself.
The lessons included in the package cover the following topics: regulatory guidelines, characteristics of control materials, calculations, plotting and interpreting results on a Levy-Jennings chart, Westgard's multirule QC system, solving out-of-control situations, documentation procedures, and guidelines for establishing QC procedures....
Westgard's unit on Basic QC Practices can be used easily by the beginning clinical laboratory science student as well as by the practiced clinical laboratory scientist who needs to review the concepts of quality control. With the variety of formats that can be used to access the material, learners can find the format that best suits their preferred way to learn the material.
From Books in Brief, CLMA Management Review, November/December 1998, p.463:
A resource for training laboratory and point-of-care personnel to perform statistical quality control, Basic QC Practices counteracts the notion that if something does not seem broken, why fix it. The assumptions that test results are satisfactory and processes adequate do disservice to the patients and physicians served by laboratorians. Automated instrumentation and high-tech information systems do not in themselves ensure test quality. Laboratorians need proactively and continually to assess quality control.
The text is divided into concise lessons with learning objectives and activities designed to reinforce basic concepts. The required reading (included) addresses each topic in reader-friendly language and includes charts, diagrams, and graphs. In addition to relevant statistical information, instruction and interpretation, the book incorporates the application of regulatory matters to quality control practices, helping managers understand, as well as perform, the procedures necessary to achieving their quality goals.
The book is unique in that the lessons were published first on the Internet, and the materials still can be accessed at http://www.westgard.com. CLMA members can take special note: one of the acknowledged contributors is Sharon Ehrmeyer, Ph.D., a frequent presenter at CLMA annual conferences. Dr. Ehrmeyer covers the government angle by providing information gleaned from the Federal Register on the latest regulations and their role in quality control. She discusses HCFA, CLIA, and JCAHO requirements for QC, focusing on HCFA's requirements on test complexity, waived testing provider-performed microscopy, as well as CAP's and JCAHO's stipulations. A basic QC glossary and a section of frequently-asked-questions round out the series of lessons, bringing the overwhelming idea of quality to a more manageable level.
September/October 1997, Clinical Laboratory Science - The Journal of the ASCLS (10, No.5):
"The pick of the Web in this issue is a site established by laboratory quality management expert James O. Westgard (http://www.westgard.com), which provides information through essays, lessons, applications, and FAQs (frequently asked questions with answers). Updated monthly, the site has been in operation for nearly 2 years, [Webmaster's note: we've only been on for one year this October. It only looks like two years of material.] providing a wealth of free material on quality issues, some of which is archived for easy reference through hyperlinks. I clicked 1st on the message from Dr. Westgard, and instead of a brief greeting, was met with an in-depth, referenced essay on trends in quality control, and a list of past essays on many topics of interest, including trends in quality management, and myths of quality. A substantial Guest Essay on 'European Approaches to Analytical Goal Setting' was available, as were step-by-step lessons employing OPSpecs [charts] ('operational process specifications,' a Westgard quality tool introduced into the literature in 1992).
"The site is of value to anyone who wants a solid, technical grounding in quality issues and applicable tools, including CLIA'88 topics. The thoughtfully written articles offer both historical context and technical breadth. Previews of seminars and meetings can help visitors plan their year. A bit of levity is thrown in: a contest to create the right words of JCAHO's acronym, "O.R.Y.X.", its new performance measurement initiative. I had to look that word up, as had Dr. Westgard, to learn that "oryx" is a type of gazelle. As Westgard points out, that can't be what JCAHO refers to. The contest winner will win....see for yourself at this website of the Wes[T]gard Quality Corporation."
[Webmaster's note: some links were made active and some corrections were made to this review in brackets.]
Mary Jane Gore
CLS Trends and Technology Editor, ASCLS
7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 530
Bethesda, MD 20814
QC
Validator Version 2.0 with Automatic QC Selection
June 1997, Clinical Chemistry (43, No.6):
"QC Validator is an excellent tool for optimizing QC rules for an individual analyte; for evaluating whether established QC rules are adequate for a particular analyte; and for teaching residents, technologists, and students about QC."
"The program has the look and feel of a genuine Windows application; thus, experienced Windows users will learn the program very quickly. I was happy to see that the program provides readily-accessible utilities to export graphics as Windows metafiles (*.wmf), and to add free-text comments to reports."
"Overall, I enjoyed using QC Validator. It is an indispensable tool for sophisticated users who want to take an academic approach to QC."
QC Validator Version 1.1March 1997, Laboratory Medicine:
"QC Validator can be installed easily....and can be learned easily, even for those who don't have much computer experience....
"Comprehensive help files present quick overviews of graphs and reports, definitions, and even proficiency testing criteria mandated by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Ammendments of 1988. For users who understand how statistics apply to laboratory procedures, QC Validator will seem logical. For users uncertain of quality control applications, a reference list is provided....
"The user manual is well written and easy to follow. It provides definitions and guidance in program operations. Graphic examples guide the user in determining which program operation should be used. The program also features a review of terminology, calculations, QC procedures, quality planning models, and CLIA proficiency-testing criteria used to determine analytic quality requirements for specific laboratory tests."
OPSpecs Manual, Expanded EditionClinical Laboratory Management Review, May/June 1996:
"Dr. Westgard has done it again. This manual provides a useful tool for the experienced laboratory director or quality control manager to optimize statistical control of the measurement process....OPSpecs charts allow one to identify control rules that will reliably identify an out-of-control situation....
"All laboratories will improve their quality control decision processes based on the information provided in these tables and graphs....
"This book is highly recommended for the experienced laboratorian....For those less experienced in quality control decision making, this manual provides a starting point to acquire the knowledge necessary for the rational design of quality control systems.
Clinical Chemistry 42, No.6, 1996:
"The OPSpecs Manual is a statistically sophisticated approach to selecting appropriate quality-control (QC) methods....a valuable guide for the laboratory scientist responsible for developing and monitoring QC control."
Clinical Laboratory Management Review, Letters to the Editor, January/February 1997:
"I found the report by Westgard in the Quality Management Series [1] regarding error budgets and their application most interesting and, on a practical basis, useful....Practical in that the recommendations, based on commercial tools cited, are, nonetheless, scientifically sound and at the same time useful to the busy laboratory manager who can't always readily decipher the appropriate applicable rules for each analyte and method."
