Tools, Technologies and Training for Healthcare Laboratories

Diluting Quality Standards: Validation, Verification and now "Confirmation"

CAP just made changes to their 2020 checklist on test verification. Are those changes more stringent or less stringent? Are we going futher on the road to defining Quality down?

In 2007, Method Validation Skills are Still Vital

A recent "false epidemic" makes it clear that rigorous statistical skills are not optional in the new era of instrument diagnostics.

Points of Care in Using Statistics in Method-Comparison Studies

A top 10 list of things you should know about method validation. If you're not sure you're using the right statistics, the right regression, or the right plots and graphs, read here.

Method Validation: The Inner, Hidden, Deeper, Secret Meaning

We run controls, we collect data, we create graphs and charts and plots and crunch numbers. Then we stuff it all in a folder and hand it to an inspector. It's called method validation. But what is it? How do we do it? Why do we do it? Dr. Westgard reveals the secret meaning behind it all. (Preview)

Myths of Quality

We like to assume that everything works perfectly in today's healthcare laboratory; that analytical quality is a given; that even if we don't know what quality we need to achieve, we're achieving it; that today's methods have better imprecision and inaccuracy than needed; that no further improvements are necessary in the QC of the 21st century. Dr. Westgard discusses these myths, sorting fact from fiction, and providing commentaries. (Preview)