Trends
Dr. Westgard attended an AACC meeting in 2000 on "New Approaches to Quality Control." Statistical QC was implemented in industry in the 1930's and in the healthcare field in the 1960's. It's still faithfully used in industry today, but for some reason a lot of people in healthcare want to give up on it. Dr. Westgard summarizes the "new" thinking and examines some of the underlying reasoning. (Preview)
There is a crisis in laboratory staffing; the demand for laboratory professionals has exceeded the supply by thousands. Yet fewer and fewer students are pursuing medical technology. Dr. Westgard examines why this is, what impact it will have on the laboratory, and what solutions will be devised to deal with the scarcity of staffing.
An updated version of this essay appears on the Nothing but the Truth about Quality book.
This isn't the first nor probably the last article to compare this year to the landmark film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Over 32 years ago, Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke predicted a world of routine space travel, giant computers, and vast possibility. Has our 2001 met these expectations -- in the laboratory? Dr.Westgard muses on what laboratory professionals thought back in 1968 and how things have "changed" since then.
Yes, it's a mixed metaphor. It's also an essay on the Ford/Firestone debacle, and what it means to us in healthcare laboratories. First we saw the $100 million fine on a medical device manufacturer, now the recall of millions of defective tires. When will we realize that higher management has a problem with quality? (Preview)
An updated version of this essay appears on the Nothing but the Truth about Quality book.
As the Enron scandal unfolded, it was tempting to believe that those terrible practices could never happen in healthcare. Alas, Dr. Westgard has examined the facts of the Enron case and seen the hidden face of our healthcare industry. We have much of Enron in our laboratories, our institutions, our regulators, our control and diagnostics manufacturers, even in our professional standards. Read this essay to see what we can learn -- and unlearn -- from the Enron scandal. (Preview)