Accurate Results In The Clinical Laboratory

Accurate Results in the Clinical Laboratory: A Guide to Error Detection and Correction, Second Edition, provides a comprehensive review of the factors leading to errors in all areas of clinical laboratory testing. This trusted guide addresses interference issues in all laboratory tests, including patient epigenetics, processes of specimen collection, enzymes and biomarkers. Clinicians and laboratory scientists will both benefit from this reference that applies discussions to both accurate specimen analysis and optimal patient care. Hence, this is the perfect reference for clinical laboratorians, from trainees, to experienced pathologists and directors. Provides comprehensive coverage across endocrine, oncology, hematology, immunohistochemistry, immunology, serology, microbiology, and molecular testing Includes new case studies that highlight clinical relevance and errors to avoid Highlights the best titles published within a variety of medical specialties Reviewed by medical librarians and content specialists, with key selections compiled in their annual list

Clinical laboratory tests play an integral role in helping physicians diagnose and treat patients. New developments in laboratory technology offer the prospect of improvements in diagnosis and care, but will place an increased burden on the payment system. Medicare, the federal program providing coverage of health-care services for the elderly and disabled, is the largest payer of clinical laboratory services. Originally designed in the early 1980s, Medicare's payment policy methodology for outpatient laboratory services has not evolved to take into account technology, market, and regulatory changes, and is now outdated. This report examines the current Medicare payment methodology for outpatient clinical laboratory services in the context of environmental and technological trends, evaluates payment policy alternatives, and makes recommendations to improve the system.

Implementing safety practices in healthcare saves lives and improves the quality of care: it is therefore vital to apply good clinical practices, such as the WHO surgical checklist, to adopt the most appropriate measures for the prevention of assistance-related risks, and to identify the potential ones using tools such as reporting & learning systems. The culture of safety in the care environment and of human factors influencing it should be developed from the beginning of medical studies and in the first years of professional practice, in order to have the maximum impact on clinicians' and nurses' behavior. Medical errors tend to vary with the level of proficiency and experience, and this must be taken into account in adverse events prevention. Human factors assume a decisive importance in resilient organizations, and an understanding of risk control and containment is fundamental for all medical and surgical specialties. This open access book offers recommendations and examples of how to improve patient safety by changing practices, introducing organizational and technological innovations, and creating effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable care systems, in order to spread the quality and patient safety culture among the new generation of healthcare professionals, and is intended for residents and young professionals in different clinical specialties.

Contemporary Practice in Clinical Chemistry, Fourth Edition, provides a clear and concise overview of important topics in the field. This new edition is useful for students, residents and fellows in clinical chemistry and pathology, presenting an introduction and overview of the field to assist readers as they in review and prepare for board certification examinations. For new medical technologists, the book provides context for understanding the clinical utility of tests that they perform or use in other areas in the clinical laboratory. For experienced laboratorians, this revision continues to provide an opportunity for exposure to more recent trends and developments in clinical chemistry. Includes enhanced illustration and new and revised color figures Provides improved self-assessment questions and end-of-chapter assessment questions

Mass Spectrometry for the Clinical Laboratory is an accessible guide to mass spectrometry and the development, validation, and implementation of the most common assays seen in clinical labs. It provides readers with practical examples for assay development, and experimental design for validation to meet CLIA requirements, appropriate interference testing, measuring, validation of ion suppression/matrix effects, and quality control. These tools offer guidance on what type of instrumentation is optimal for each assay, what options are available, and the pros and cons of each. Readers will find a full set of tools that are either directly related to the assay they want to adopt or for an analogous assay they could use as an example. Written by expert users of the most common assays found in a clinical laboratory (clinical chemists, toxicologists, and clinical pathologists practicing mass spectrometry), the book lays out how experts in the field have chosen their mass spectrometers, purchased, installed, validated, and brought them on line for routine testing. The early chapters of the book covers what the practitioners have learned from years of experience, the challenges they have faced, and their recommendations on how to build and validate assays to avoid problems. These chapters also include recommendations for maintaining continuity of quality in testing. The later parts of the book focuses on specific types of assays (therapeutic drugs, Vitamin D, hormones, etc.). Each chapter in this section has been written by an expert practitioner of an assay that is currently running in his or her clinical lab. Provides readers with the keys to choosing, installing, and validating a mass spectrometry platform Offers tools to evaluate, validate, and troubleshoot the most common assays seen in clinical pathology labs Explains validation, ion suppression, interference testing, and quality control design to the detail that is required for implementation in the lab

The goal of clinical laboratories is to produce accurate information for clinical decision making in medicine. More than half of the medical decisions made depend on clinical laboratory tests. Patient safety represents an important and critical problem for laboratories. They need to assure that the information they deliver to physicians is accurate, and therefore safe for clinicians to use. Endogenous compounds can interfere with laboratory tests, decreasing accuracy and threatening patient safety. Elevated bilirubin (bilirubinemia) and elevated lipids (lipemia) are common conditions that cause significant interferences with laboratory results. Clinicians depend on laboratories to detect these endogenous interferences. Laboratories must have a means to detect these endogenous interferences, make decisions about reporting results, and evaluate their impact. Most clinical pathology books provide only an abbreviated introduction to the subject, or provide a long list of references, without the necessary foundation for evaluating their significance. Package inserts typically provide scant information. This book provides the empirical and theoretical foundation for these interferences, describes the clinical settings where they occur, and explains their evaluation and detection, allowing the laboratory to interpret the available data on interferences and make the appropriate decision to effectively report test results while protecting patient safety.

A complete full-color guide to selecting the correct laboratory test and interpreting the results –- covering the entire field of clinical pathology A Doody's Core Title ESSENTIAL PURCHASE for 2011! "The editor and authors are well respected in their fields of expertise - this is an all-star cast....This book nicely fills the gap between comprehensive clinical laboratory science texts and the traditional and well-recognized, definitive laboratory medicine texts....It would be perfect for medical students and practicing physicians and it would be a perfect companion textbook for those teaching laboratory medicine in a medical school curriculum. 3 Stars."--Doody's Review Service Laboratory Medicine is the most comprehensive, user-friendly, and well-illustrated guide available for learning how to order the correct laboratory test and understand the clinical significance of the results. The book features an easy-to-follow, consistent presentation for each disease discussed. Chapters begin with a brief description of the disorder followed by a discussion that includes tables detailing the laboratory evaluation of specific disorders, diagnosis, baseline tests to exclude diagnostic possibilities, and clinical indications that warrant further screening and special testing. With new, increasingly expensive and complicated tests appearing almost daily, Laboratory Medicine is required reading for students and physicians who want to keep abreast of the latest testing procedures and maximize accuracy and patient safety. Features 36 clinical laboratory methods presented in easy-to-understand illustrations that include information on the expense and complexity of the assays More than 200 tables and full-color algorithms that encapsulate important information and facilitate understanding Full-color blood-smear micrographs that demonstrate common abnormal morphologies of red blood cells Valuable learning aids in each chapter, including learning objectives, chapter outlines, and a general introduction Logical systems-based organization that complements most textbooks 13-page table of Clinical Laboratory Reference Values that show the conversions between U.S. and SI units for each value Coverage that spans ALL of clinical pathology: Concepts in Laboratory Medicine; Methods, Autoimmune Disorders Involving the Connective Tissue and Immunodeficiency Diseases; Histocompatibility Testing and Transplantation; Infectious Diseases; Toxicology, Diseases of Infancy and Childhood; Blood Vessels; The Heart; Diseases of Red Blood Cells; Bleeding and Thrombotic Disorders; Transfusion Medicine; Diseases of White Blood Cells, Lymph Nodes, and Spleen; The Respiratory System; The Gastrointestinal Tract; The Liver and Biliary Tract; Pancreatic Disorders; The Kidney; Male Genital Tract; Female Genital System; Breast; The Endocrine System.

The first edition of this manual appeared in 1992 and was entitled ECAT Assay Procedures. It was the result of a unique cooperation between experts brought together by the European Concerted Action on Thrombosis and Disabilities (ECAT). The Concerted Action was at that time under the auspices of the Commission of the European Union. The second edition, like the first edition, deals with diagnostic tests within the field of thrombosis. However, the second edition has a broader scope because it is no longer limited by the frontiers of ECAT. Experts allover the world, in and outside ECAT, have contributed to this edition. The editors are very grateful for their contributions. The need for a new edition is obvious. Since 1992 new assays have been introduced for research, diagnosis, and therapy of thrombosis; for other assays improvements have been suggested, while a few others became redundant. The editors waived the radioimmunoassays of ~-thrombog1obulin and platelet factor 4 due to the fact that the kits required for these assays are rarely, or no longer, available. Also the PAI-1 activity assay was waived as it is liable to many inconsistencies and to large variations. A list of names and addresses of manufacturers marketing the kits and reagents has been compiled, together with a list of the recommended nomenclature of quantities in thrombosis and haemostasis, in order to facilitate the use of the updated version. These lists have been carefully compiled by Johannes J. Sidelmann, PhD, Department of Clinical Biochemistry in Esbjerg, Denmark.