Too Loose? Too Strict? The Secret to Designing a Balanced Quality Control Program

Statistical quality control or QC is a fundamental part of clinical laboratory practice; it assures that methods are performing at their usual level. Laboratories can make two main types of errors in selecting QC rules: too tight or too loose and both have ramifications, explains CAP inspector Dr. Robert Dufour in this CAPcast. If control limits are set too tight, time and money will be spent evaluating results that are already acceptable for patient care needs. However, use of too loose control limits will prevent them from detecting changes in method performance that may lead to suboptimal patient care and PT failures, explains Dr. Dufour, who also led the development of a CME course (https://capatholo.gy/2YXzY2M) on this topic as part of the CAP’s Clinical Laboratory Improvement Program or CPIP.