A recent publication of large academic medical centers in the USA revealed that 90% of them still set their control limits at 2 standard deviations from the mean, and only 10% use a variation of the "Westgard Rules". Have we really fallen so far?

A new abstract for the IFCC meeting in Istanbul returns to Italy to study the frequency of errors in laboratory processes across the Total Testing Process. Italy was where the study of errors rates really began back in 1997. Has Italy improved since then?

A new study looks at the frequency of errors in laboratory processes across the Total Testing Process. The study covers pre-analytical error rates from 2011 at the County Emergency Clinical Hospital in Timisoara, Romania. We looked at pre-analytic rates a few years ago. Have labs improved significantly since then?

Is our QC asleep at the wheel? QC and driving share many of the same characteristics - it's a task we do constantly, one that most of the time is safe and, frankly, can be boring. But in both cases, we need to maintain our vigilance against the danger of an accident or mistake.